One With Him

John 17:13-26

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. (John 17:21)

“THE FATHER AND I ARE ONE,” Jesus once said to an antagonistic crowd (John 10:30). He didn’t explain exactly how they are one—whether in purpose, in personality, or in essence. But we get the sense throughout the rest of the Gospel of John that all of the above are true, that he and the Father are one in every way possible. There is no lack of unity, no hair’s breadth of difference between the Father’s nature and the Son’s. So when Jesus prayed that his followers would be one in the same way he and the Father are one, we could hardly be blamed for gasping in astonishment. He saw his followers as completely united with him and with each other, just as the members of the Trinity are united.

That’s a staggering thought, and we wonder if it could possibly be true. Are we really one with Jesus in the same way that he and the Father are one? And are we really united to other believers with that degree of oneness? In spiritual terms, the answers are yes. If God has united us to himself as the body of Christ, we know we are truly united. But in practical terms, we have every reason to be disappointed over our actual experience. We don’t feel at one with Jesus, at least not all the time. And we look around at our fractured church that hardly knows how to get along and has never managed its diversity very well. Our experience falls short of the truth we have been given.

Even so, Jesus tied this unity to the world’s belief. When we step into our oneness with Jesus, and when diverse Christians are able to live in unity with each other, people notice. It makes a powerful statement. We demonstrate the binding love of the Godhead when we embrace the binding love of the Son and his followers, and the world begins to see.

{Jesus, I want to experience the promise of your prayer in all its fullness—complete unity with you and your people, one in spirit, for all the world to see. Bind me to yourself and make your glory seen in me. Amen.