This post is number
156 in our reflections on the Upper Room (John chapters 13 – 17). The first
reflection was posted on June 24, 2023, now we are in 2026. By God’s grace,
these posts contain around 140,000 words, all, I hope, focused on Jesus Christ;
all, I hope, seeking to reveal His amazing love and grace for you, for us.
I still recall
sitting at our computer in 2023 and wanting to write about John 17, a passage at
the core of my heart, mind, and soul; a passage which has been capturing my
life for decades, a passage which has been drawing me into the koinonia of the
Trinity; a passage which has made me know that such koinonia is about “us,” not
just about me; it can never be just about me.
I also recall
the realization that I could not write about John 17, the Holy of Holies,
without taking us on the journey to the Holy of Holies, from the Outer Court
with its laver for washing, into the Holy Place, and then into the Holy of
Holies.
I began with that
first post, An Inclusio of Identity, which contains this paragraph:
If we fully
enter into the Upper Room we will find ourselves before the foundation of the
world, in the Incarnation, and in the transcendence of koinonia with the Triune
God. We will see the unfolding of John12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls
into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit.”
Jesus took His
disciples through John chapters 13 – 16 before He could lead them into Chapter
17, I could do no less.
Knowing that “unless
the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it,” I’ve sought to
submit myself to the Holy Spirit and the Word as we’ve been on pilgrimage. I’ve
also endeavored to “take the adventure that Aslan gives us,” keeping in mind
that “those who are being led by the Spirit of God are the sons and daughters
of God.”
As Jesus draws
us into the Holy of Holies, let us keep in mind that the veil is no more.
“And behold, the
veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51; see also
Hebrews 9:1 – 14; 10:19 – 23). You and I now have a “new and living Way” in
koinonia with our God, it is time for us to come Home, the Door is open.
“I do not ask on
behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me” (John
17:20 – 21).
As we saw in our
previous reflection, Jesus prays for you, He prays for me, He prays for us…Jesus
is always praying for us (Hebrews 7:25).
What does Jesus
pray for us?
That we may all
be one even as He and the Father are one.
“That they may
all be one” (17:21).
“That they may
be one, just as We are one” (17:22).
“That they may
be perfected into one” (17:23).
Let us read
these words of Jesus to the Father over and over again, allowing them to sink
deep into our souls, our hearts, our minds. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to
create a vision of these words in our innermost beings. Let us allow the roots
of these words to penetrate the essence of our who we are, forming us into the
image of this Word, drawing us together in Christ into the Trinity.
Behold the
beauty of “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” This
is a transforming beauty, a beauty that, once seen, can never be forgotten (let
us hope). This is a beauty worth selling everything to purchase, a beauty worth
a man's or a woman’s life.
This is a beauty
that dwarfs our little religious fiefdoms, our parochial territories and
attitudes, our doctrinal distinctives, our insistence on ownership of our religious
franchises. This beauty is about more than “Jesus and me,” it is about more
than “Jesus and our group,” it is about Jesus and us His Body, and then it is
about us in the Us of John 17:21; that our “us” may be in the “Us” of the Trinity
– “that they may be in Us.”
We are to love
one another just as Jesus loves us (John 13:34 – 35; 15:12 – 13). The Nature of
our love for one another is to be the Nature of Jesus’ love for us, divinely
cruciform. We are to live in unity, in oneness, just as the Trinity is One, the
Nature of our unity is the Nature of the Trinity. We must desire no less, we
must preach no less, we must live (by His grace) in no less than the Nature of
God.
Let us note that
there are two testimonies, two elements of witness, that are the result of our
Oneness in the Trinity. The first is that the world may know that the Father
sent the Son (John 17:21, 23), the second is that the world may know that the
Father loves us as He loves Jesus (17:23)..
In other words,
as the Father loves the Only Begotten Son, so the Father loves the corporate
Son; as the Father loves the Head, so the Father loves the Body; but of course
they are One.
How foolish we
are to think that we can circumvent the prayer of Christ Jesus, that we can
relegate it to the impractical, that we can find a method for witness that
bypasses the heart of the Father, that we can impose our standards of
acceptance on others, that we have warrant to build our own houses while the
House of God lies desolate (Haggai 1:9).
We are also
foolish to think that we can organize and create the Oneness for which Jesus
prays. Let us be clear about this, only the work of the Holy Spirit and
submission to the Word of God can fulfill the prayer of Jesus. “Except the LORD
build the House, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalm 127).
As we as individuals
experience the koinonia of the Trinity, it ignites a flame on the altar of our
hearts that all our brothers and sisters may know this glorious fellowship,
this sweet communion, our prayers rising to the heavenly altar as sweet incense
to the Triune God. Our lives are transformed into a holocaust, an offering, on
behalf of the Lamb for His People. As John writes, “We know love by this, that
He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren” (1 John 3:16).
Perhaps my 5th
great grandfather, Patrick Henry, expressed (on a lower level) what our
attitude should be when he participated in the First Continental Congress. Henry
said, “I am not a Virginian, but an American.”
We must be more
than Baptists, more than Roman Catholics, more than Presbyterians, more than
Lutherans; more than Reformed or Arminian or Pentecostal or Anglican; we must
be first and foremost, first and last, Christians…followers of Jesus Christ…seeking
to obtain and preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).
Must this not
begin in my own heart and life?
Must this not
begin from congregation to congregation in our respective locations?
Must this not
begin in pastor-to-pastor local relationships?
To think that
Jesus is making the Name of the Father known to us, so that the “love with
which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).
Isn’t this worth
living for?
