Daily Devotion for Friday 18th July 2025
St John 17: 20 – 26
Jesus said: ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
Reflection
Most of my ministry has been in ecumenical settings, so I have used this passage many times. It is a favourite for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. But now, in retirement, I must admit to having had qualms about this application of these profound words. It is surely anachronistic to imagine that Jesus or John was thinking about anything like modern ecumenism. Neither could ever have heard of a ‘denomination’, still less advocating that they unite!
It is, surely, not 21st century Concerns but the final sentence of today’s passage that is key. Asking for his disciples to be at one with each other and with him, as he is one with the Father, Jesus is simply asking that we love him and love one another. That is the oneness of the Gospel – as Paul and the other gospels testify. It is not unity of doctrine or liturgy, certainly not an institutional unity, but the unity which only love can bring about. Not a prissy sentimental love – Jesus elsewhere in John has plenty to say about God’s judgement as a consequence of lack of love – but a deep love that overrides differences of theology, worship or organisation.
We know from experience that the deepest, most hurtful, least loving divisions between Christians happen not between denominations but within them, not between local congregations but within them. A minister noted that one of their most faithful members never received communion. They visited and gently inquired why. “I don’t believe in the resurrection,” said the member. “Why?” asked the minister. “Because I once had to go into the back room where the Elders were gathered before worship, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. If that is how the Elders treat one another, there cannot be a resurrection.”
Prayer
Loving Father,
you made yourself known in Jesus
whose love for you and us extended even to death.
Forgive me when I fall out of love
with you and my fellow church members,
meaning that the world cannot know you.
Remind me of the love, glory and unity that are your gift.
Then, in your love, renew my love for you and your disciples,
that you may be in me and I in you.
Amen.