I love this prayer because Jesus is praying that His disciples would understand what He has done and what they need to do. As they got ready to share the Gospel about Jesus they would need to: First know God and Jesus and secondly complete the work Jesus started by being a light as Jesus was bringing glory to the Father. Verse 4 says, “I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” The disciples had an outward mission that involved sharing all that Jesus did and showing by their living that they believed in Him. This reality would help people see that Christ was real.
Look at verse 11 which says, “Now I am departing from the world, they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.” The unity they needed to show was in Christ. They needed to share the same message and work together to help spread the message all over. What I really like about this is that Jesus extends His prayer to everyone who would call themselves Christian.
In verse 20 Jesus says, “I am praying not only for those disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” Their message was Jesus Christ is Lord and nothing needed to be added that was created by man. So as believers we need to unite in one message not argue over man made doctrine. It is a shame that we could ever mess this up by creating a massive number of denominations that all differ in little things that don’t add to the truth of God’s word, which is here to equip us for His work.
In verse 22 Jesus continues to pray, “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” As we open our hearts we must remember that all we need to do is follow what Jesus has shown us and grow in our knowledge of His word by having a relationship with Him daily. The Spirit that fills us will guide us to use the tool of God’s word so we can be successful. We must always remember that as we grow we need to shine and as we shine we will be planting the seeds and watering them so people will believe in Jesus Christ. Amen