John 17

In John 17 Jesus says a prayer for those “who will believe in me.” Jesus says a prayer for us.

What does Jesus pray for?

Does he pray that we would all be rich? No.

Does he pray that we would picket funerals and tell people they are going to hell? No.

Does he pray that we would argue over every little theological detail? No.

Jesus prayed “I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (Verses 22-23)

Jesus’ prayer for us is that we would be united, that we would work together... all of us.

Ever since Jesus left the church has been dividing. In the book of Acts the disciples and Paul had disagreements and went their separate ways. The creeds we recite in church were written in part to tell others that they believed the wrong thing.

If we were to chart the history of the church we would start with Jesus, and from him we would have split after split and eventually end up with a reverse tournament bracket that included dozens of denominations, dozens of splits in each denomination and new denominations like non-denominationalism. Since Jesus prayed this prayer we have been busy separating ourselves from each other instead of uniting.

Maybe we have spent too much time focusing on our disagreements instead of focusing on the items that we actually agree on.

Maybe our egos and desire to always be right have hindered the growth of the church.

Imagine the possibilities if we all admitted that the mysteries of God were exactly that, mysteries… And maybe we all have it a little bit right, but none of us has it all right.  

Maybe Jesus should have prayed that we would all be a little humble. Without humility, unity will never be possible.