John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 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.”

This High Priestly Prayer of Jesus always blows my mind every time I read it, though I have read it countless times. That Jesus would pray like this for His disciples, at that time and down through the ages, just before He knew He would be arrested, horribly scourged, and then crucified, is absolutely incredible. Though the Blues Brothers made a joke of it, He was indeed on a mission from God, and He fulfilled that mission down to the slightest detail. That’s why He could say, “It is finished,” as His final words. (John 19:30) Since He was still fully human at this point I’m sure He wasn’t thinking of me individually, but even in the collective we should all be moved that He prayed for us, if we are indeed believers. And the more we think about what He prayed, the more blown out of the water we should be, because He prayed that we would be in the Godhead! This isn’t the “Borg hive mind,” but you could say that idea is a rip-off of what Jesus is praying here. Just as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are separate entities but are one God, we are to retain our individual identity but at the same time be so united with our Creator that separating us would simply be a way of speaking. Perfect agreement, perfect communication. We frankly can’t get our minds around it because we haven’t experienced it yet. What a thing to look forward to!

This strikes very close to home for me, because acceptance and understanding, and their converse of rejection and misunderstanding, have been major issues in my life. Growing up as a Caucasian in Japan, and then a Missionary Kid in a military dependents school, I was always a part but not a part of everything. I realize that just about everyone has that sort of angst to some degree, but I certainly had clear-cut circumstances for it. In college in the US I changed my major from Chemistry to Speech/English for the express purpose of improving my communication skills, since I was painfully aware of their importance. At this point in my life, I pray that God will take the words that come from my mouth and fingers and cause them to be received as He desires and intends. I have demonstrated countless times that on my own I don’t really get through, but He can do it even using me. There are some people with whom I experience real unity as brothers and sisters in Christ, and it gives me a taste of what heaven will be like. I can have assurance that it will be that way, because Jesus prayed for it!

Father, thank You for Your overwhelming grace. Thank You for having Jesus pray this prayer, and for enabling John to remember and record it. May it indeed be fulfilled to an increasing degree now, even before it comes to complete fruition before Your throne, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!