In the Shadow (Bulletin Article for August 19)
John 17 contains words from the very heart of Jesus. This chapter contains the longest prayer recorded in the New Testament. It has been called, “The High Priestly Prayer” and “The True Lord’s Prayer.” While the language of the prayer is remarkable, the setting is just as amazing. Jesus prayed this deeply emotional prayer just hours before He was crucified. It has been said many times that this prayer was uttered “in the very shadow of the cross.”
The prayer contains three parts. In verses 1-5, Jesus prays for Himself. Verses 6-19 contain a prayer for Jesus’ immediate disciples (i.e., those there with Him at that time). Finally, in verses 20-26, Jesus prays for all believers, including those of future times.
That final section should cause us all to take notice. Jesus, facing the cruelest form of punishment possible, took the time to pray for you and me!
For what did He pray? While there are a few thoughts contained in this section, the major focus is on unity. While Jesus often emphasized evangelism, stewardship and judgment, in these final moments, He prayed that all believers “may all be one.”
But Jesus did not, as some teach, just pray for unity at any cost. He didn’t throw doctrine away, so we could just be “one” in name. Rather, He continued, “Even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (v. 21).
What was Jesus saying? In the same way as He and the Father are “one,” we as followers need to be “one.” Simply put, we need to unify in all areas, while remaining true to God in every area.
The Father and Son would not have been unified, had they said, “If you want to believe that, and I believe this, we can still be one.” That’s not unity! That’s disunity. So many in the religious world today teach that such is unity, though. We need to be unified on the Word, Jesus, and His teachings. Learn the Bible and teach others how to be unified by the words found in it. After all, that was Jesus’ prayer.
