The Lord's Big Prayer Part 3

I do not ask for these only, 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.” 

First Jesus prayed for himself, then for his disciples, now for you and me.  "Those who will believe in me through their (the disciple's) word," or TWWBIMTTW if you like really long acronyms.  If you are reading this, it is because the word of the disciples has been recorded and passed down from generation to generation.  What an amazing thought!  Jesus does all this amazing stuff, his buddies tell about it, their buddies write it down, some dude named Paul literally tells the world as he sails around Asia, people believe and share, and two thousand years later, you are listening.  And you are listening because Jesus prayed that you would listen!!!  

Imagine a man walking by the sea.  He has a pen and notepaper and a corked bottle.  He writes and writes and writes, then stuffs the paper in the bottle, puts in the cork, and throws it to sea.  You are walking down the beach one day and you find the bottle.  You can't read what's inside because it is written in a strange language.  So you take it to the local university and the language professor translates it for me.   It turns out the message in the bottle is written just for you, and it is thousands of years old "insert your name here, I have amazing things to tell you. . .Love, your friend Jesus." 

Jesus is praying that his message in a bottle works, that it finds it's way to a beach thousands of years later and that people like Matthew and Amber and Steve-o and Casey and Kristen and Brittney and Emily and Kristen would read it and believe.  

"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".  Jesus wants us, as Christians, to be as close as Jesus and God the Father are.  Jesus and his dad are crazy-tight, just as if they were one.  What God thinks, Jesus does.  What Jesus asks, God does.  Picture the synchronized divers in the Olympics.  They are so closely linked in physique and training that we can hardly tell them apart, the two operate as one.  

Jesus asks that we be one, just as he is one with God.  "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all".  Ephesians 4  We are to be one with each other (this is what is called the Church), and one with Jesus and God.  

In fact, in Ephesians, the church is called the body of Christ.  So you and I may be fingers or toes.  But Jesus is our head, it explains.  Just as the nerves and blood vessels and spinal cord connect our brain to our bodies, so are we with Jesus.  His thoughts compel us to action, his loves are our loves, his desires are our desires.  When he was human, Jesus literally had a human body, but now we are Jesus's body.  

1 Corintians 12 talks about what the body of Christ looks like.  We are not all eyes and hands and feet.  A.k.a., being ONE does not mean that we are literally identical.  The church is NOT a colony of meerkats.  Each Christian has a unique set of gifts and abilities that enable him or her to serve God in a unique way.  We don't look the same, but neither do we consider ourselves more important than other parts of the body.  "The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”.   We need each other in order to be "perfectly one" as Jesus pray we would be.  

Jesus asks that "we would be one so the world may believe that God sent him".  Can you picture that - as we as Christians work, love, act, and pray as one, the world will believe in Jesus.  We are a body, with Jesus as the head, walking around the world and doing Jesus-like things.  We take care of the needy, heal the sick, care for the oppressed, adopt orphans and widows, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty and food to the hungry.  As we do this, walking and acting like Jesus's body, the world will see and believe in Jesus, that God sent him to earth to live and die for us.  

  "I (Jesus) in them (us) and you (God) in me (Jesus), 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".  Jesus wants us to be with him, both right now and in heaven.  Heavenly Jesus is flipping amazing (check out the descriptions of him in Revelation).  He radiates glory, and he wants us to be with him in heaven with him to experience it.  

Isn't it amazing what we learn about God here.  God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit existed before the world.  For some unexplainable reason they wanted to share their glory and love, so they created the earth and us people.  And after the fall and all our fighting and stupidness, they still love us and want to share both themselves and heaven with us.  God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us.  Jesus loved us so much that he prayed we could be perfectly one with Him, forever.  We are loved so much that if we could even grasp the tiniest understanding of it, our heads would explode!!  

"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".  For all eternity, Jesus will reveal Gods awesomeness to us.  We don't believe and know God and bada-bing, the show is over.  No, every day God shows us a little more of who He is.  We realize a little more of Jesus's love bit by bit, forever.  Heaven is not only a place, it is a relationship and a journey into the amazing love of Jesus.

And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.  - C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle