Jesus is overwhelmed with the desire to bring honour to His Father and to unite those who have followed Him and placed their faith in Him.
John 17:20-21
“I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.”
Wow! Jesus was praying not only for His disciples then but for us now, those who would later place their faith in Him because of their words. He desired that we might have the same oneness as the Father and the Son have had from eternity past and continue to have. When others see this oneness, they will believe that Jesus, indeed, was sent by the Father.
John 17:23
“I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”
This oneness testifies to the unity between the Father and the Son and shows the world that God loves us as He has loved the Son.
Jesus wants the same love that He has enjoyed from the beginning with the Father to be expressed in and through our love for one another. This demonstrated oneness is a powerful witness to the world.
John 17:26
“I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”
In fact, Jesus specifically prayed that the Father’s love for the Son would also be in those who trust in Him and that He Himself would dwell in them. This is complete oneness: the Father in the Son, the Son in us, and we share in the Father’s love.
When we, as followers of Jesus, love one another and become one with each other, we demonstrate to the world the oneness that the Father has with the Son, and we draw people’s attention not to ourselves but to Jesus and the Father. Jesus’ prayer was to make us one as they are one.
How are we doing with that? How are we doing with loving our brother or sister? Are we working as one, sharing as one, caring as one, loving as one, forgiving as one? By this, all men will know you are my disciples, Jesus said.
May we look to bring glory to the Son by our love and oneness with one another.
