Gospel: John 17:20-26
It’s incredibly powerful to know someone is praying for you. For some, having that feeling might bring about a deep and surprising emotional response. For many, it may frankly be difficult to put into words exactly how it feels in those moments – having an awareness that someone is taking time out of the busyness of their own life to lift to God the concerns, uncertainties, and even joys of yours. Now take it a step further and consider that people might not only be praying for you in this moment but have been since before you were even born – not just for months or years but generations.
The disciples of Jesus saw, heard, and experienced first-hand the impact of his work and ministry in the world. In today’s passage from John he begins to shift their focus away from the here-and-now to the yet-to-come, and he does it using a wonderful extemporaneous prayer. This isn’t just a prayer offered for those gathered around Jesus who already knew him; it’s a prayer for those who don’t yet know God, both in their time and in the time to come. It’s a prayer emphasizing the fact that while the disciples were direct witnesses to Jesus, future generations would instead be brought to the faith through the words and actions of those same disciples. It’s for those who didn’t walk the roads alongside Jesus and share in conversations with him but who will one day find themselves “believing the gospel based on trust in others.”[1]
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word.[2] These are words of intercession rooted in that single moment that will spring forth and spread broadly and with even greater reach in the countless moments to come – a reach the disciples themselves couldn’t have dreamed would be attained. Looking back through the millennia to that point and comparing it to where we are today, we can find even greater truth in the words of the Italian poet Dante: “From a small spark Great flame hath risen.”[3]
But there’s even more to verse 20. “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.” That they all may be one. This prayer from Jesus is offered for more than the disciples and those who would one day come to know. It’s also a prayer for unity.
This prayer for unity is reflected in the tradition and liturgy of the Episcopal Church. In The Book of Common Prayer, for instance, the response to the very first part of Form III of the Prayers of the People – “Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church” – is “That we all may be one.”[4] For those who may want to take a deep dive into the historical documents section of the prayer book, you’ll find this statement in an 1886 statement from the House of Bishops: “Our earnest desire that the Saviour’s prayer, ‘That we all may be one,’ may, in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled.”[5]
When you consider that prayer for unity as offered by Jesus, there are two ways to look at it. First, in the context of the early church at the time this gospel was written in the late-first century, there were already signs of division. Consider as an example the early disputes about which of the Mosaic laws the Gentile converts to early Christianity should observe – a Christianity that in those early years was still deeply rooted in Judaism. This was the root of a mid-first century dispute between Paul and Peter, one outlined (from Paul’s perspective) in the Letter to the Galatians. There we read,
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”[6]
It was a division ultimately mediated by James, but it was division nonetheless – not one witnessed by Jesus but undoubtedly one known by the author of John.
Then we can look at this in the context of the divisions seen in our own day: divisions in political and theological perspectives; divisions in social issues; divisions in a broader view nationally and a narrower view locally. They are not just divisions found between churches and communities but sometimes within churches and communities – and sadly, when those divisions aren’t addressed and discussed they sometimes explode into visible conflict.
So if we encounter those circumstances in the communities in which we live and move, what should we do?
First, we should remember that just as later believers in Jesus were brought to their faith because of trust in the words of the disciples and others, the strength of our relationships – our unity – depends on trust in others. Thomas Breidenthal writes, “Unity is a relationship of mutual dependence and trust, such that our primary access to God is by way of one another.” But that’s not the only way, and he notes this as he continues,
This does not mean that we cannot have private encounters with God. We can and do have such encounters. As a long line of Christian mystics reminds us, though, these experiences are only to be trusted if they drive us back into community. It is our capacity for community that is the glory God has given us.”[7]
Trust one another.
Second, we’ve been reminded in the lectionary readings in recent weeks of the value of love. So I’ll simply say this: love one another.
Finally, I return to the words in today’s reading. Pray for one another, that we all may be one. Pray for the unity that we call for in our historic documents and liturgies. Pray for a place of unity out of the Baptismal Covenant that we all share, the promises we make together several times each year to “[C]ontinue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship … proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ … seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself … [and] strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”[8]
Jesus instructed the disciples to pray for those yet to come. We know the feeling of having others pray for us. As you go from this place into your lives, do as the disciples were instructed. Trust one another, love one another, and – most importantly – pray for one another and for those who one day, in God’s time, will come to know Jesus.
Amen.
[1] Thomas Edward Breidenthal, “John 17:20-26 – Pastoral Perspective.” Feasting on the Gospels: John, Volume 2, p. 578 (Kindle edition).
[2] John 17:20 (NRSV).
[3] Dante Alighieri. The Vision of Paradise, Canto I. Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8796/8796-h/8796-h.htm.
[4] “Prayers of the People: Form III.” The Book of Common Prayer, p. 387.
[5] “The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral 1886, 1888.” The Book of Common Prayer, p. 876.
[6] Galatians 2:11-14 (NRSV).
[7] Breidenthal, pp. 578-9.
[8] “The Baptismal Covenant,” from the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 304-5.