That We May Be One

~~~ Acts 22: 30, 23: 6-11 ~~~ Psalm 16 ~~~John 17: 20-26 ~~~

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:

"I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe

 in me through their word..."

This prayer for us is so profound that the church divides it into two readings.

So if you missed the message from yesterday you get another chance today.

I cannot help but think of the lyrics from We are One Body...

we are one body one body in Christ. This is exactly what Jesus is praying for;

for us all to be one.

To be one in the Spirit. Of course years later we are still struggling with what this concept of unity should look like.

Is it a unity in words? Is it a unity of thoughts?

It is a unity of practices or rituals?

It is a unity as we stand together at the table of the Lord?

What does this unity imply?

Does this unity mean that everyone must be of the same thought?

Is it possible to have unity within our diversity?

Does unity mean we are preaching the good news to others?

How do we keep our unique identity within this unity?

Does unity mean we get lost in the crowd?

Does unity mean we are merely an anonymous number?

How does this prayer for unity effect us today?

How can we not be in unity? We have been brought to God the Father through the intercessory prayers of Jesus, the Son.

Jesus and the Father have the same substance...

the same DNA in lay terminology.

Jesus became one of us and gathered us to himself

so that we might become one with him in our mind, body, and soul.

He sent down the Holy Spirit that we might have the power of God

to strengthen our resolve to remain in unity.

To remain in unity in love for one another.

It is this love of God that sustains our desire to have this unity

that Jesus so fervently prayed for us.

If this unity were not important then I do not believe that Jesus

would have lifted his eyes to the Father with such a prayer.

This unity of course does not trump our free will.

We can always reject this prayer of unity.

We can take another path leading away from the love of Jesus.

If you are reading this you too most likely desire a greater unity with God.

This desire gives us the incentive to pray for those who do not hear

this prayer of Jesus for us. It gives more purpose for our prayer life.

This prayer gives us cause to thank Jesus for praying on our behalf. 

On the other hand we only have our own interpretation of this unity for which Jesus is praying, and there could be a much broader unity in play here.

For as we know God's ways are often so unlike our ways.

Our ways are always biased to some extent.

If we believe God too is biased; his bias is always through the lens of LOVE.

Jesus became human through pure love.

It is only possible to have true unity through pure love...

This pure love will forever be the greatest commandment.

We cannot experience this pure love until we have been united in death with Christ in the hope of being raised with him to share in the beatific vision.