John 17:20-26
”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may 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 that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Reflection
Here we listen in on Jesus praying. Jesus praying to the Father for us. Do you ever stop to consider how God prays for us? I always think of myself or someone else praying to God for another person or myself, but I never think of God praying for me. Why not? The Bible is full of these examples of Jesus, who is God, praying for us. Jesus prays for us. He prays for you and for me. Jesus goes to the Father time after time in prayer for us. But listen in on what he prays for in this passage of scripture.
Jesus prays for the believers in him. He prays for our unity with and in one another and especially our unity to himself and the Father. Not only that we be united with God but that, in this unity the world may come to believe that Jesus was sent by God. Jesus sent by God into this world to save all people. Not to just save certain people of one race or place or time, but all people. God came in flesh in Jesus to save us and unite all people with him through a love that God has shown since before the foundation of the world.
This is a Love that has been present all, or rather even before, time. God's love for and the desire for unity with creation and the created. A Love that is to be made known in you and me as believers of Jesus. So, Jesus not only displayed the love of the Father, he is the love of the Father and unites us with God as we believe in him. So, in and through and with Jesus we know the love of God. A love that surpasses understanding. A love that guides our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Prayer
Lord, as I believe in the One you sent, unite me with you that I may live out the love you give to me in the situations that you place me in... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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