A Prayer for Us...

I imagine that in many ways Holy Week was a blur for Jesus and his disciples. So many things unfolded during those days. And much of what happened was beyond the disciples' ability to understand. From the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to cleansing the temple to growing anger toward Jesus to the upper room to the garden and eventually to the cross, the week must have been a whirlwind! I wonder what it was like for Jesus? I wonder what it was like to know that by the week's end, He would be nailed to a cross? I just can't imagine. And yet, knowing that death was just around the corner, He wasn't wrapped up in that and sulking about his coming fate. Instead, we find that he was concerned about His disciples. And He was concerned about us - those coming after Him and his disciples who would also believe in Him. Yes, that's right. He mentions US during Holy Week. That's right. He mentions you and me.

In John 17, there is a beautiful prayer recorded. It is a prayer that Jesus prayed in the upper room on the night before he died. The prayer has three basic parts. In the opening verses he prays for himself and the things that will happen to him in the coming hours, that God's glory may be revealed through Him. Then he prays for his disciples, that they will be guarded against the evil one and that they will have the strength to be faithful to their calling. And then He prays for us. Here is that part of his prayer, found in John 17:20-26.

“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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus prays that all who believe in Him will be one. Jesus knew that there would be plenty of things to divide those who believe in Him. From styles of worship to theological debates to simple human squirmishes, there would be plenty to distract us from our mission: to continue the work that Jesus started during His time on earth by sharing the news that the Kingdom of God has come. And it was important enough to Jesus that we not let these things get in the way of this mission that He took time to pray about it hours before he was betrayed and put to death.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that we all need to worship the same way or agree on all points theologically. Nor am I condemning denominations. I am simply pointing out that sometimes as Christians we let these things get in the way of the bigger picture. And in doing so, it can be a stumbling block to those who have not yet believed.

So as we continue moving through Holy Week toward the cross and the empty tomb, I challenge us all to think about what may be getting in the way of our Christian witness as the Church. Perhaps we could take our focus off of our theological difference and place greater emphasis on the theological tenants upon which we all agree: that Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, and willingly gave up that life in order that each of us might experience eternal life. And the story did not end with death. Instead, three days later he arose. There is an empty tomb that stands as a symbol of the promise that death will not have the last word! Think about how powerful it would be if all believers would unite with one voice to proclaim the mystery of our faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again!