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:  I in them, and You in Me; 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

Over the course of the past two readings, we have been given Jesus' prayer to the Father made at the Last Supper, at the end of His Farewell Discourse to the Apostles.   For the beginning of the prayer, see Thursday's reading, This is eternal life, that they may know You,  the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued, "I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.  Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave Me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  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.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth.  As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the 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."  My study bible tells us, of the words who will believe: "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."

"And the glory which you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; 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."  Here, my study bible says that "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."  To my way of thinking, this is a love poem to God, a profound sort of love poem that includes not only Christ's declaration of love between Father and Son, but all of us, each of us who are capable of participation in that love.  When Jesus says, "And the glory which you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me,"  this is a prayer of love that is a kind of extraordinary love, one that takes us far beyond our conventional or worldly understanding of what love is or what it can do.  It not only speaks of a depth within us of relatedness or relationship, but it is one that incorporates vast numbers, unheard-of expanse, sharing in that depth of love.  This relationship is first linked through glory, in Christ's words:  we are to share in the glory that He is a part of, just as He has spoken of the time of His glorification which is at hand.  To know God, to share in His glory, to participate in a relationship of love:  all these things are combined in this statement about who we are -- or are capable of being, this love poetry in prayer from Christ, given to us in John's Gospel.   Ultimately, this grand union of love is for identity:  "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."  We are to live as one:  with Him and with the Father.  Just as God's love is from "before the foundation of the world" for Christ, so Jesus would have us know that we are loved, too.  Our unity is complete, made perfect, as Jesus says, in this love, which is inseparable from knowledge.  There is no knowledge without love, as my study bible says, and all the debates and didactics in the world will not convey true knowledge without that love -- and this is how we know who we are.  It is the God who loves us who gives us shape and form, who imparts that love in us, and defines who we are through it.  In this, Christ's joy is fulfilled, His prayer is manifest.