Oneness

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ONENESS

John 17:20-23

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

NIV

Although Jesus has been focused for the most part on the twelve, he now turns his attention to those of us who have believed because of the message of the disciples. We have heard the message of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as those messages of Paul, a later disciple of Christ. Now we are the disciples with a message for others so they can hear it. Our message is needed so others may believe that God sent Jesus into the world to die for all our sins. In this one act he did for all of us as if we all were one, one creation of God, his creation. Even though God confounded their language and thus scattered all peoples from Babel to prevent them from thinking they could reach heaven on their own, we have scattered and divided ourselves even more. We have separated ourselves by cultural, social, economic, educational and even ethnic, as we might not be racist, but we are still divided.  By most human standards we are not one, but by the standard of God we are. There is not even a hint of unity in the world, and maybe just a slight hint within Christianity. At least most Christian churches base their faith on Jesus Christ, using the Holy Scriptures as the only source of truth, although some have added additional material to base their doctrines on. But that is as far as it goes, for unity does not exist where it should. If Jesus prayed that we all would be one as he and the Father are one so that we would be brought to complete unity to let the world know that the Father sent Jesus and that God loves all the people of the world, as John so eloquently stated it through the power of the Spirit in what we know as the sixteenth verse of chapter three, then we should be that one. If Jesus prayed it and the Father answered his prayer why are we not one? Is it human disobedience? Is it the deceitfully wicked heart within us that refuses to be one with each other as the Father and Jesus are one? We would think that within the body of Christ we would be one, as they are one, but it seems we still have so many divisions keeping us from being that one. If we were one, there would be no barriers in our beliefs, in our conversations, in our position in life or the church, for we would truly be transparent with each other, being one, but that is not the case. Perhaps that is why our message is so weak, and we are not effective in declaring our message. In a world so divided by the entire human standard, if they actually saw all those things melted away by the believers, the followers of Christ, they would see the love of God at work and turn from their wicked ways and believe. We know the way to unity, to being one, but we must make the journey to that unity, to that oneness.