May we be one

Sunday May 20th 2007

John 17:20-26

17:20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,

17:21 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.

17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,

17:23 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.

17:24 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.

17:25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.

17:26 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."

I sometimes think John 17 goes round and round in circles
and states, restates and then does it again
the simple idea.

May my disciples be one with me,
as I am one with you,
that they too may be one with you.

We have equivalent phrases in modern parlance
we talk about being 'together' or 'being made whole'
or about 'holistic healing', 'self realisation',
or in more recent times 'finding your voice'

This important chapter speaks thus of the high destiny
that each human being has.
It is to find that we are indeed
created in the image of God
and that that image is deep within each one of us.

It is not that we are God.
It is rather that we are like God
and that our Godliness will shine through
if we let it.

Jesus is ever praying for us that we may be open to this.
The Holy Spirit is ever working so that our Godliness will be realised.
We sell ourselves short if we understand anything less than God understands
as being our destiny and self relisation.

But what does it mean?
This Easter season shows us that this 'togetherness', this 'unity'
this 'ultimate destiny'
is realised only in so far as we live our lives as Christ lives.
The key is that we LIVE
not that we are given a perfect box
which we open and reveal it.
As we look to Jesus
we understand that he is not principally a doctrinal revelation
That is he is not a text book.
He is a life lived.

The invitation is not to understand the text
so that when we are examined on it we can get 100%
The invitation is to put into practice in our own lives
what we see being enfleshed in the life of Christ.

It will be lived at the service of others
a life of love and forgiveness
of openness to suffering
and not avoiding the darkness which is death.

An invitation
Where is Christ drawing me to be more like him?
Where do I experience "togetherness" in my life, in the world?
What might God be seeking me to be and do in order to consolidate that?