Here’s the summary of this text in a nutshell: Jesus prays for his disciples that they may be One just as the Father and Son are one. That the disciples may be in Jesus even as Jesus as in them. The fruit is that the world will know that Jesus love his disciples, and believe that the Father sent the Son. Additionally Jesus gives the disciples his glory, and wants them to see the glory he was given by the Father before the creation of the world.
The first part is easy in theory, much more difficult in practice. Unity is not everyone looking the same. It is everyone with different styles, personalities, temperaments, and more. Yet like creation, all of these can work together to create great diversity and beauty.
Does that mean we all have to be friends and be near one another? Not necessarily. We must honor and respect one another. But even in nature, some things do not come together. You can’t put a walnut tree near flowers. The black, oily substance from the walnut tree will kill the plants below. It needs space,
Other plants in nature benefit by nearness. A tomato plant is helped by having marigolds right next to it in order to ward off bugs.
There is diversity. And yet there is unity. We see this in nature.
How do we see the Oneness of the Father and the Son? There was communication and mutual honor.
These are all things we work towards. Mutual respect and honor of all people, even those completely different form us. Because in this there is great beauty.
Is such unity possible? Well, we have two facts.
1) Jesus prayed for it so yes, it is possible.
2) We still sin even as Christians. But with forgiveness and repentance (and humility), unity is still possible because of it.
The next part of these verses is much more challenging to understand. How is it that Jesus bestows upon us glory (v. 22)? There are many answers that some try to come up with, but perhaps we really do not understand. Except that somehow the glory that Christ gives us helps enable us to be One, just as the Father and the Son are one.
These things are a great mystery.
Yet the heart of this passage is very clear:
- Jesus desires unity among us
- Our unity is a reflection of the unity between the Father and Son
- Unity comes from being in him and being connected together
- Unity shows others that He love us and that the Father sent Jesus
Unity within our diversity. Love without compromising truth. Honor and communicatin with one another.
This is to the glory of God. It’s something we have to work towards every day.
John 17:20-26
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—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”