What Jesus Asked for Us

Toward the end of John chapter 17 there's a section that's very special to me.  John 17 is one of Christ's last prayers before His death.  It's called the high-priestly prayer because unlike His other prayers in Gethsemane, this one is intercessory.  He is not praying mostly for Himself, but mostly for His followers.  Much of the prayer focuses on His disciples, the Twelve (well, eleven at this point, Judas having left and Christ knowing why).  But at the end of this prayer, in verses 20-26, He includes a prayer for us today.

"I do not ask for these only [the disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.  Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.  I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

This is the only time in scripture I can think of where Christ speaks  directly about us today.  I think it is very significant what He says here and what He asks for us.  His prayer is first and foremost for us to have unity.  This unity is to be His sign: a sign to the world that the Father has sent Him and that the Father loves us as He loves Christ Himself.  To give us this unity, He has given us His own glory, the very glory that the Father gave to Him.  He also makes known to us God's name and character, so that we may be unified with Him and filled with His love.  Christ's desire here for us is that we all be unified with each other in a unity based on experiencing the love of God and unity with God as individuals, and receiving His glory individually as well as collectively.

It's also worth noting what Christ doesn't ask for us here.  He does not ask for a unity based on conformity or complete agreement on all issues.  The early church did not have such a unity, nor did it aspire to it.  Paul records in Romans 14 how Christian practices and beliefs differed from individual to individual (One believes he may eat anything, another is vegetarian; one observes holidays, another does not), and how Christians were to respect one another's beliefs out of love rather than trying to enforce universal agreement on non-essential doctrines and practices.  He also doesn't ask for unity based on blind obedience to a leader.  No leader is named in the passage, and even if there were the unity of the church is to mirror the unity of the Trinity.  Christ certainly felt free to question the Father's plans for Him in Gethsemane--asking the Father three times to call off the crucifixion: the whole purpose for Christ coming to Earth--, though He ultimately obeyed them.

There's also other things Christ doesn't ask for.  Christ doesn't ask for the Father's blessing on a moralizing crusade and culture war.  He does not call upon the Father's aid in social activism campaigns.  Christ doesn't even ask anything regarding evangelism.  Though it's tempting as an evangelical (which I am) to consider soul-winning the ultimate goal and high calling of all Christians, it is not so.  Neither is winning the culture war (or fighting it) or engaging in social activism.  If these were Christ's highest aspirations for us, He would have made mention of it here, but He doesn't.  Instead, He focuses  His prayer on relationships within the church, rather than without...and this is a place where some churches are sadly lacking.