That the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

"O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

- John 17:20-26

This week, we continue with Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His Apostles at the Last Supper. We began on Good Friday, with the reading of Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial, and have progressed through His discourse since. In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His prayer to the Father for the Apostles. He spoke of keeping them together, in His name, except for the "son of perdition," Judas Iscariot. He said, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." He prayed that they might be safe from the evil one -- He leaves them in the world to follow in the work He did. Jesus said, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." In this passage, Jesus extends His prayer beyond the Apostles, to the future Church, to all of us. And we have to take this very seriously -- the oneness, the unity of relationship and gift of grace with which He has endowed the Apostles and His relationship to them, He also extends to us. And the world must know that He is truly sent by the Father through the relationship we bear to Him. He incorporates all of us in this relationship of truth and of glory, of abiding in Him. Ultimately, it becomes a statement about love, and that this love must communicate itself to the world through us and our relationship to the Father: "that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them as You loved Me." My study bible says, "Jesus prays for the future Church, which participates in the life and glory of the Father and the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians enjoy two kinds of unity: vertical, with the Trinity, and horizontal, with one another, the latter rooted in the former."

"Father, I desire that they also whom you gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." And this glory and unity also extend beyond the world, just as it does for the Apostles, whom Jesus has told that He goes to prepare a place for them. It is a linking of love that is absolutely complete: the place He prepares for the Apostles (in the "many mansions" of His Father's house, He also prepares for us, to keep us with Him, for the Father "loved Me before the foundation of the world." We are rooted in that love and we return to it in Him. The entire universe, from before the foundation of the world, is rooted in that love -- in this He assures us through these words.

"O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." My study bible has a beautiful note: "We cannot have love for God the Father, or receive His love, apart from the knowledge of (communion with) the Father. The purpose of the knowledge of God is to impart the love of God." Jesus says, "That the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." Again, our Evangelist is the Apostle of love; there can be no more sure statement than that, that this love with which we are loved and have known through Him is the root and anchor of our faith. In this love we abide.

As my study bible says, "The purpose of the knowledge of God is to impart the love of God." Why do we "know" God, if not to live the life we learn from that love and to express that love through what we do? Isn't this really the crux of our faith, and the means of our perfection in God, our abiding in this all-encompassing and eternal relationship? I'd like to know what that love means to you, and how you experience it in your life. I can say for myself that without this love, I don't know where I would be -- and that I have truly experienced it. It has "taken me out of the world" in the sense that more worldly behavior is not the loving beauty I find there, and that I do believe it is our job as Christians to try and live that love as we are directed, so that "the world may know," as He said. This is truly our work in the world, but we each may have unique and beautiful forms and ways in which to express it. But it all comes from this relationship of love that is, even before the foundation of the world.