That the World May Know: A Meditation on John 17, for the last Sunday in Easter

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, 

and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name 

those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: 

those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, 

but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, 

that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, 

because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, 

but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

As thou hast sent me into the world, 

even so have I also sent them into the world.

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, 

that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also 

which shall believe on me through their word;

That they all may be one; 

as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 

that they also may be one in us: 

that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

There is an abiding truth revealed in John 17 which rings throughout Holy Scripture and down through the ages, when Jesus offers prior to His Passion what is commonly known as His High Priestly Prayer:  truth and love bring forth unity in God, while evil and deception bring forth division in the world.  The unity which Jesus prays for before heading to His Cross, is a unity with God through His Word, in which the Author of Life lives in His people by faith, working in love toward one another.  Jesus knew that He was going to reconcile the world to the Father through His sacrifice on Calvary, so that as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, all those who believe and live in Jesus would be one with God and one with each other.  This unity would be born of the Spirit working through Jesus' Word, binding everyone together in the Father with a common faith, hope, and love which could not be broken for all eternity.  This is eternal life-- to know God through His Word, to keep His Word, and to abide in His Word, fully united to the Holy Trinity and to all those who are also united in Him.

Unlike the world, God's unity isn't born of clubs, associations, political gatherings, or social groups.  It doesn't have charters and constitutions and by-laws, nor does it require lawyers and politicians to promulgate it.  There are no team jerseys, no bureaucrats, no corporate headquarters and branch offices.  It's not bound to geography, race, gender, affluence, or affinity group.  Unlike all the forms of unity fallen men attempt to create in a fallen world through power, intrigue, corruption, coercion, and persecution, God's unity comes by His Word.  The Word of God has been at work since before the foundation of the world, in perfect harmony with the Father and the Spirit from eternity to eternity.  It was through this Word that the world and universe was created, and all things were created to abide within the Word, even as all things will be judged on the Last Day by the same Word.  This Word who spoke through the Prophets of ancient antiquity, became incarnate in Jesus Christ, and moved through His Apostles to draw all people to Himself.  This Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, we know and believe through the Word He has written in His Scriptures through His Prophets and Apostles, a Word kept and believed by His people from the dawn of time and will be carried forward in faith until the end of time.

As the Church finishes her Easter season and prepares for the long rigors of Pentecost, it is good for her people to remember once again what has always brought them unity with God and with each other.  Our unity is not found in our ethnicities, our geographies, our politics, or our sects; rather it is found where it is always found, by grace through faith in Christ alone, who is the Eternal Word of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  This One True God has revealed Himself to the world through His Word, and His people have been gathered together in that Word, that as the Father and the Son are One, so too by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word, the people might be one with each other as they have been made one with God.  This unity is not made by men, but by God Himself, as the Author of life, love, truth, and beauty calls all people to abide in Him by faith in His Word, turning away from the dark and divisive ways of death.  In such abiding and living faith comes the grace of forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation, united to God and our neighbors with a love that endures forever.

Do the divisions of the world and the Church discourage you, where politics and power and evil machinations seem the rule of life?  Do the various clothing and customs of particular sects cause you alarm, when one says to another that their local eccentricities must be the norm of all?  Do you grow frustrated that clerics in pointy hats and fine vestments, sitting in great halls built upon the treasures of the poor, rule on the terms of membership and unity based on subservience to their leaders and whims?  Be of good cheer, for what fallen men cannot do through their darkened powers, God has already done through the Vicarious Atonement of His Son.  It is God who made the world, who sustains the world, who redeemed the world, and who will judge the world on the Last Day-- and it is He who has called all the world to Himself through His Word, that all might believe and have eternal life through His Son.  The evil shadows of men's compelled, coerced, or manipulated unity hold no candle to the brilliance of true unity born of God and His Word.  There in the fellowship of His Word we find the true unity given to us in our Baptism, confessed in our Creeds, eaten and drunk in Holy Communion, breathed over us in Holy Absolution, and lived out together in faith, hope, and love.  There in the unity born of Christ and His Word, God's people live forever in the power of His Holy Spirit, bound together across time and space without end.

If the divisions of our world and Church have left you despairing and broken, return to the font of true unity, where your soul is refreshed in the infinite grace of your loving and saving God, and where you will find the unity you seek with all those who likewise abide in the Eternal Word of Christ.  By the Word we are called to fellowship and unity, and by the Word we are sent to call everyone into the same unity of faith, hope, and love which only Christ Jesus can give to a dying and broken world.  As a sanctified body united in Christ and His Word, we become a witness to the world of His truth, beauty, life, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation, that all might repent, believe, and live in Him forever.  It is beyond time that the people of God stop trying to create their unity by their own fallen means, and return to the unity which God creates through the Word of His Son.  Only there will the world see in the people of God the witness Christ sends His people out into the world to be, and only in the unity of His Word is there life for everyone, forever more.  Amen.