Epistle for June 19, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 3:23-29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul begins to make some applications of the doctrine of justification by faith to the church at Galatia.  He briefly addresses the tension of law and grace, and then makes a startling claim that has broad socio-economic and racial implications.

We are mistaken if we draw the conclusion that the Apostle Paul was anti-law. He tells the Roman church that the law is a kind of mirror that reveals our sinful nature because it reveals the holy standard of God’s nature:

What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

In today’s lectionary passage from Galatians, Paul elaborates on the purposes of the law.  The law was a guard and a disciplinarian prior to the coming of Christ.  It is faith in Christ that justifies, not the law.

This suggests that the purpose of the law was not only to convict but also to prepare the believer for faith.  The word that the NRSV translates as disciplinarian is the Greek word paidagogos.   This word is the root of our English word pedagogue — one who is a strict teacher or trainer.

This is not necessarily a negative connotation — the pedagogue raises the bar of expectations for a student or an athlete by demanding the best from them.  The dilemma is that the law raises the bar of expectations but cannot fulfill those expectations.

The advent of faith accomplishes what the law could not do:

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

In the verses prior to our passage, Paul has explained that the righteousness of Christ has fulfilled the demands of the law through his death and resurrection:

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Galatians 3:13).

This echoes the famous declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteous, sinless one becomes a curse, and becomes sin by fulfilling the just requirements of the law on our behalf.  This is the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.  And this righteousness is accessed by us through faith.

In our baptism, then, we are represented as having been identified with Christ by faith:

 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

This is part of that new life that Christ now invites us to live with him as we are crucified with Christ and raised to life with Christ — and as a result Christ lives his righteous life in us when we live by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).  Baptism is a sign of death to sin and resurrection with Christ.

And then, in an unexpected application of the effect of this new life that is the result of faith in Christ, Paul makes a few very radical statements about the effect of such new life in social and cultural terms:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It is so easy for readers in the 21st century to miss just how radical this statement is.

• Jews in Paul’s time considered Greeks and Gentiles to be cursed, and ineligible for covenant with God; and many Greeks regarded non-Greeks as barbarians. And yet, these two groups are now one in Christ Jesus!
• Slaves were regarded as living tools who could be used as their owner pleased, and could even be killed by their masters without consequences. Yet slave and free are one in Christ Jesus!
• Women were subjugated to the authority of men, and regarded as useful for breeding purposes and pleasure, but with little status in the Jewish or the Roman world of the day. Yet male and female are one in Christ Jesus!

Clearly, this was a radically counter-cultural statement for Paul’s time, presaging the end of class distinctions in the church to be sure, but also looking ahead to the permanent end of slavery and to women’s equality in countries influenced by Christianity in the future.

And finally, Paul repeats a theme that appears also in Romans 4:13-17, that those who follow the example of the faith of Abraham are his true heirs, rather than those who share his DNA:

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

APPLY:  

The great doctrines of the Christian faith, derived from Scripture, are not simply dogmas that appear in our creeds — these great doctrines have very practical applications in our lives.

We can be grateful for the law that acted as a strict pedagogue and harsh disciplinarian in our lives — the law helped us realize that we can never be “good enough” by obeying the law.  While the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12), when we look into the mirror of the law we see just how unholy and unjust and evil we really are in comparison.

As John Wesley would say, the law ‘drives us to Christ.’  Christ fulfills the law on our behalf , and gives us grace in the form of his own righteousness.  This grace we receive by faith.

And here are some of the results of this faith:

• We become children of God through faith (verse 26).
• We are united as one in Christ — Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, black and white, first world and third world — our unity in Christ transcends socio-economic-racial-national differences.
• We become the true heirs of the promises to Abraham because our faith emulates his faith.

So, perhaps we should begin acting like the children of God, the one body in Christ, and the heirs of Abraham!

RESPOND: 

The story is told that when the evangelist Billy Graham preached an historic crusade in Montgomery, Alabama, he insisted that the mass choir be integrated.  The local newspaper editor was appalled, and wrote an editorial that declared “Billy Graham has set the church in Alabama back one hundred years.”

Billy Graham’s response was wonderful .  He said, “If that’s the case, I failed in my mission.  I intended to set it back two thousand years!”

If we truly believe, as I do, that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, then we need to go back before we can go forward.

Do we see churches today where sinners are transformed into saints, filled with holy love for God and neighbor? Where there are no distinctions between races and socio-economic classes? Where people are truly being equipped to become disciples and to make disciples?  Where there is real, substantive ministry to the poor and the homeless that offers dignity, and doesn’t depend upon the government?

I would love to be a member of that church!

Lord, I believe that you have given guidance to your church through your holy Word.  But I confess, our application of your Word has been selective at best, and corrupt at worst.  As we place our faith in you, break down the barriers of division and make us one in Christ. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Galatians 3.28" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for May 29, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 17:20-26
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings do not focus on the Day of Ascension.

Ascension Day always falls on the Thursday forty days following Easter Sunday.

If you prefer to use the Day of Ascension Scripture for this Sunday, click here for “The Gospel for May 28, 2017”.

OBSERVE:

This is part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus on behalf of his disciples — not only those who followed him two thousand years ago, but all through the ages:

 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  that they may all be one.

Jesus is praying not only for the powerful witness of his apostles, which will have an ongoing impact throughout the world and throughout the time to come; Jesus is praying for the unity of his disciples.

Jesus reiterates his unique co-inherence (as the Christian writer Charles Williams calls it) with the Father; but he also prays that those who believe might also be incorporated into this unique union with the Father and the Son:

As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The fruit of this co-inherence is relationship, but it is also witness to the world that results in faith; it means that the glory of God is shared with believers; and it means the love that the Father has for the Son is also shared with those who are identified with Jesus.

Jesus reiterates also what we know from John 1:1-14, that his own existence as the Son was from the beginning:

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus wishes to bring his followers with him into this shared eternal glory.

We are also reminded, as John 1:10-11 pointed out, that the world seems to have been oblivious to the reality of God.  But Jesus has been faithful in making the Father known, and increasing the reciprocity of love between Father, Son and his people:

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.  I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Unity and love will be a major mark of relationship with the Father and the Son.

APPLY:  

First, we need to simply revel in the reality that Jesus, our high priest, prays for us.  Jesus prayed for us two thousand years ago as those who will believe because of the words of the apostles — and he is praying for us right now, even as he sits at the right hand of the Father.

That is powerful intercession!

And what Jesus prays for still resonates throughout the millennia — that we may all be incorporated into union with the Father and the Son and with one another; that we may be one; that we may be filled with the same love with which the Father loves the Son.

And now the task of those who know the Father and the Son, and who know their love, is to make this love known to the world as well.  A noble task, only doable through the power of the Holy Spirit.

RESPOND: 

This concept of co-inherence is both challenging and inspiring to me.  It is challenging because it seems so impossible.  I know how weak and feeble my faith and witness can be.  But I also know that Jesus is praying for me now, and that inspires me with the reality that I am in him and he is in me; and that my witness and my love can come from him and not from my own frailties.

Lord, I have come to believe because of the witness of disciples, who also believed because of the witness of disciples, who also believed because of disciples — all the way back to the very first disciples.  And you have incorporated me into your own unity, and unity with the church everywhere and at all times.  Fill me with yourself, and your glory, and your love, that I may freely tell others about you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"John 17:22" by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for June 23, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 3:23-29
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul begins to make some applications of the doctrine of justification by faith to the church at Galatia.  He briefly addresses the tension of law and grace, and then makes a startling claim that has broad socio-economic and racial implications.

We are mistaken if we draw the conclusion that the Apostle Paul was anti-law. He tells the Roman church that the law is a kind of mirror that reveals our sinful nature because it reveals the holy standard of God’s nature:

What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

In today’s lectionary passage from Galatians, Paul elaborates on the purposes of the law.  The law was a guard and a disciplinarian prior to the coming of Christ.  It is faith in Christ that justifies, not the law.

This suggests that the purpose of the law was not only to convict but also to prepare the believer for faith.  The word that the NRSV translates as disciplinarian is the Greek word paidagogos.   This word is the root of our English word pedagogue — one who is a strict teacher or trainer.

This is not necessarily a negative connotation — the  pedagogue raises the bar of expectations for a student or an athlete by demanding the best from them.  The dilemma is that the law raises the bar of expectations but cannot fulfill those expectations.

The advent of faith accomplishes what the law could not do:

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,  for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

In the verses prior to our passage, Paul has explained that the righteousness of Christ has fulfilled the demands of the law through his death and resurrection:

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Galatians 3:13).

This echoes the famous declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteous, sinless one becomes a curse, and becomes sin by fulfilling the just requirements of the law on our behalf.  This is the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.  And this righteousness is accessed by us through faith.

In our baptism, then, we are represented as having been identified with Christ by faith:

 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

This is part of that new life that Christ now invites us to live with him as we are crucified with Christ and raised to life with Christ — and as a result Christ lives his righteous life in us when we live by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).  Baptism is a sign of death to sin and resurrection with Christ.

And then, in an unexpected application of the effect of this new life that is the result of faith in Christ, Paul makes a few very radical statements about the effect of such new life in social and cultural terms:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It is so easy for readers in the 21st century to miss just how radical this statement is.

• Jews in Paul’s time considered Greeks and Gentiles to be cursed, and ineligible for covenant with God; and many Greeks regarded non-Greeks as barbarians. And yet, these two groups are now one in Christ Jesus!
• Slaves were regarded as living tools who could be used as their owner pleased, and could even be killed by their masters without consequences. Yet slave and free are one in Christ Jesus!
• Women were subjugated to the authority of men, and regarded as useful for breeding purposes and pleasure, but with little status in the Jewish or the Roman world of the day. Yet male and female are one in Christ Jesus!

Clearly, this was a radically counter-cultural statement for Paul’s time, presaging the end of class distinctions in the church to be sure, but also looking ahead to the permanent end of slavery and to women’s equality in countries influenced by Christianity in the future.

And finally, Paul repeats a theme that appears also in Romans 4:13-17, that those who follow the example of the faith of Abraham are his true heirs, rather than those who share his DNA:

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

APPLY:  

The great doctrines of the Christian faith, derived from Scripture, are not simply dogmas that appear in our creeds — these great doctrines have very practical applications in our lives.

We can be grateful for the law that acted as a strict pedagogue and harsh disciplinarian in our lives — the law helped us realize that we can never be “good enough” by obeying the law.  While the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12), when we look into the mirror of the law we see just how unholy and unjust and evil we really are in comparison.

As John Wesley would say, the law ‘drives us to Christ.’  Christ fulfills the law on our behalf , and gives us grace in the form of his own righteousness.  This grace we receive by faith.

And here are some of the results of this faith:

• We become children of God through faith (verse 26).
• We are united as one in Christ — Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, black and white, first world and third world — our unity in Christ transcends socio-economic-racial-national differences.
• We become the true heirs of the promises to Abraham because our faith emulates his faith.

So, perhaps we should begin acting like the children of God, the one body in Christ, and the heirs of Abraham!

RESPOND: 

The story is told that when the evangelist Billy Graham preached an historic crusade in Montgomery, Alabama, he insisted that the mass choir be integrated.  The local newspaper editor was appalled, and wrote an editorial that declared “Billy Graham has set the church in Alabama back one hundred years.”

Billy Graham’s response was wonderful .  He said, “If that’s the case, I failed in my mission.  I intended to set it back two thousand years!”

If we truly believe, as I do, that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, then we need to go back before we can go forward.

Do we see churches today where sinners are transformed into saints, filled with holy love for God and neighbor? Where there are no distinctions between races and socio-economic classes? Where people are truly being equipped to become disciples and to make disciples?  Where there is real, substantive ministry to the poor and the homeless that offers dignity, and doesn’t depend upon the government?

I would love to be a member of that church!

Lord, I believe that you have given guidance to your church through your holy Word.  But I confess, our application of your Word has been selective at best, and corrupt at worst.  As we place our faith in you, break down the barriers of division and make us one in Christ. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Galatians 3.28" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for June 2, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 17:20-26
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings do not focus on the Day of Ascension.

Ascension Day always falls on the Thursday forty days following Easter Sunday.

If you prefer to use the Day of Ascension Scripture for this Sunday, click here for “The Gospel for May 28, 2017”.

OBSERVE:

This is part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus on behalf of his disciples — not only those who followed him two thousand years ago, but all through the ages:

 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  that they may all be one.

Jesus is praying not only for the powerful witness of his apostles, which will have an ongoing impact throughout the world and throughout the time to come; Jesus is praying for the unity of his disciples.

Jesus reiterates his unique co-inherence (as the Christian writer Charles Williams calls it) with the Father; but he also prays that those who believe might also be incorporated into this unique union with the Father and the Son:

As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The fruit of this co-inherence is relationship, but it is also witness to the world that results in faith; it means that the glory of God is shared with believers; and it means the love that the Father has for the Son is also shared with those who are identified with Jesus.

Jesus reiterates also what we know from John 1:1-14, that his own existence as the Son was from the beginning:

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus wishes to bring his followers with him into this shared eternal glory.

We are also reminded, as John 1:10-11 pointed out, that the world seems to have been oblivious to the reality of God.  But Jesus has been faithful in making the Father known, and increasing the reciprocity of love between Father, Son and his people:

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.  I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Unity and love will be a major mark of relationship with the Father and the Son.

APPLY:  

First, we need to simply revel in the reality that Jesus, our high priest, prays for us.  Jesus prayed for us two thousand years ago as those who will believe because of the words of the apostles — and he is praying for us right now, even as he sits at the right hand of the Father.

That is powerful intercession!

And what Jesus prays for still resonates throughout the millennia — that we may all be incorporated into union with the Father and the Son and with one another; that we may be one; that we may be filled with the same love with which the Father loves the Son.

And now the task of those who know the Father and the Son, and who know their love, is to make this love known to the world as well.  A noble task, only doable through the power of the Holy Spirit.

RESPOND: 

This concept of co-inherence is both challenging and inspiring to me.  It is challenging because it seems so impossible.  I know how weak and feeble my faith and witness can be.  But I also know that Jesus is praying for me now, and that inspires me with the reality that I am in him and he is in me; and that my witness and my love can come from him and not from my own frailties.

Lord, I have come to believe because of the witness of disciples, who believed because of the witness of disciples, who believed because of disciples — all the way back to the very first disciples.  And you have incorporated me into your own unity, and unity with the church everywhere and at all times.  Fill me with yourself, and your glory, and your love, that I may freely tell others about you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"John 17:22" by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for June 19, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Galatians 3:23-29

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul begins to make some applications of the doctrine of justification by faith to the church at Galatia.  He briefly addresses the tension of law and grace, and then makes a startling claim that has broad socio-economic and racial implications.

We are mistaken if we draw the conclusion that the Apostle Paul was anti-law. He tells the Roman church that the law is a kind of mirror that reveals our sinful nature because it reveals the holy standard of God’s nature:

What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

In today’s lectionary passage from Galatians, Paul elaborates on the purposes of the law.  The law was a guard and a disciplinarian prior to the coming of Christ.  It is faith in Christ that justifies, not the law.

This suggests that the purpose of the law was not only to convict but also to prepare the believer for faith.  The word that the NRSV translates as disciplinarian is the Greek word paidagogos.   This word is the root of our English word pedagogue — one who is a strict teacher or trainer.

This is not necessarily a negative connotation — the  pedagogue raises the bar of expectations for a student or an athlete by demanding the best from them.  The dilemma is that the law raises the bar of expectations but cannot fulfill those expectations.

The advent of faith accomplishes what the law could not do:

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,  for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

In the verses prior to our passage, Paul has explained that the righteousness of Christ has fulfilled the demands of the law through his death and resurrection:

 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…. (Galatians 3:13).

This echoes the famous declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:21:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The righteous, sinless one becomes a curse, and becomes sin by fulfilling the just requirements of the law on our behalf.  This is the work accomplished by Christ on the cross.  And this righteousness is accessed by us through faith.

In our baptism, then, we are represented as having been identified with Christ by faith:

 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

This is part of that new life that Christ now invites us to live with him as we are crucified with Christ and raised to life with Christ — and as a result Christ lives his righteous life in us when we live by faith (cf. Galatians 2:20).  Baptism is a sign of death to sin and resurrection with Christ.

And then, in an unexpected application of the effect of this new life that is the result of faith in Christ, Paul makes a few very radical statements about the effect of such new life in social and cultural terms:

 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

It is so easy for readers in the 21st century to miss just how radical this statement is.

• Jews in Paul’s time considered Greeks and Gentiles to be cursed, and ineligible for covenant with God; and many Greeks regarded non-Greeks as barbarians. And yet, these two groups are now one in Christ Jesus!
• Slaves were regarded as living tools who could be used as their owner pleased, and could even be killed by their masters without consequences. Yet slave and free are one in Christ Jesus!
• Women were subjugated to the authority of men, and regarded as useful for breeding purposes and pleasure, but with little status in the Jewish or the Roman world of the day. Yet male and female are one in Christ Jesus!

Clearly, this was a radically counter-cultural statement for Paul’s time, presaging the end of class distinctions in the church to be sure, but also looking ahead to the permanent end of slavery and to women’s equality in countries influenced by Christianity in the future.

And finally, Paul repeats a theme that appears also in Romans 4:13-17, that those who follow the example of the faith of Abraham are his true heirs, rather than those who share his DNA:

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

APPLY:  

The great doctrines of the Christian faith, derived from Scripture, are not simply dogmas that appear in our creeds — these great doctrines have very practical applications in our lives.

We can be grateful for the law that acted as a strict pedagogue and harsh disciplinarian in our lives — the law helped us realize that we can never be “good enough” by obeying the law.  While the law is holy and just and good (Romans 7:12), when we look into the mirror of the law we see just how unholy and unjust and evil we really are in comparison.

As John Wesley would say, the law ‘drives us to Christ.’  Christ fulfils the law on our behalf , and gives us grace in the form of his own righteousness.  This grace we receive by faith.

And here are some of the results of this faith:

• We become children of God through faith (verse 26).
• We are united as one in Christ — Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, male and female, black and white, first world and third world — our unity in Christ transcends socio-economic-racial-national differences.
• We become the true heirs of the promises to Abraham because our faith emulates his faith.

So, perhaps we should begin acting like the children of God, the one body in Christ, and the heirs of Abraham!

RESPOND: 

The story is told that when the evangelist Billy Graham preached an historic crusade in Montgomery, Alabama, he insisted that the mass choir be integrated.  The local newspaper editor was appalled, and wrote an editorial that declared “Billy Graham has set the church in Alabama back one hundred years.”

Billy Graham’s response was wonderful .  He said, “If that’s the case, I failed in my mission.  I intended to set it back two thousand years!”

If we truly believe, as I do, that the Scriptures are the revealed Word of God, then we need to go back before we can go forward.

Do we see churches today where sinners are transformed into saints, filled with holy love for God and neighbor? Where there are no distinctions between races and socio-economic classes? Where people are truly being equipped to become disciples and to make disciples?  Where there is real, substantive ministry to the poor and the homeless that offers dignity, and doesn’t depend upon the government?

I would love to be a member of that church!

Lord, I believe that you have given guidance to your church through your holy Word.  But I confess, our application of your Word has been selective at best, and corrupt at worst.  As we place our faith in you, break down the barriers of division and make us one in Christ. Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
"Galatians 3.28" by Baptist Union of Great Britain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for May 8, 2016

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

John 17:20-26

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This is part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus on behalf of his disciples — not only those who followed him two thousand years ago, but all through the ages:

 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  that they may all be one.

Jesus is praying not only for the powerful witness of his apostles, which will have an ongoing impact throughout the world and throughout the time to come; Jesus is praying for the unity of his disciples.

Jesus reiterates his unique co-inherence (as the Christian writer Charles Williams calls it) with the Father; but he  also prays that those who believe might also be incorporated into this unique union with the Father and the Son:

As you, Father, 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The fruit of this co-inherence is relationship, but it is also witness to the world that results in faith; it means that the glory of God is shared with believers; and it means the love that the Father has for the Son is also shared with those who are identified with Jesus.

Jesus reiterates also what we know from John 1:1-14, that his own existence as the Son was from the beginning:

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Jesus wishes to bring his followers with him into this shared eternal glory.

We are also reminded, as John 1:10-11 pointed out, that the world seems to have been oblivious to the reality of God.  But Jesus has been faithful in making the Father known, and increasing the reciprocity of love between Father, Son and his people:

“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.  I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Unity and love will be a major mark of relationship with the Father and the Son.

APPLY:  

First, we need to simply revel in the reality that Jesus, our high priest, prays for us.  Jesus prayed for us two thousand years ago as those who will believe because of the words of the apostles — and he is praying for us right now, even as he sits at the right hand of the Father.

That is powerful intercession!

And what Jesus prays for still resonates throughout the millennia — that we may all be incorporated into union with the Father and the Son and with one another; that we may be one; that we may be filled with the same love with which the Father loves the Son.

And now the task of those who know the Father and the Son, and who know their love, is to make this love known to the world as well.  A noble task, only doable through the power of the Holy Spirit.

RESPOND: 

This concept of co-inherence is both challenging and inspiring to me.  It is challenging because it seems so impossible.  I know how weak and feeble my faith and witness can be.  But I also know that Jesus is praying for me now, and that inspires me with the reality that I am in him and he is in me; and that my witness and my love can come from him and not from my own frailties.

Lord, I have come to believe because of the witness of disciples, who believed because of the witness of disciples, who believed because of disciples — all the way back to the very first disciples.  And you have incorporated me into your own unity, and unity with the church everywhere and at all times.  Fill me with yourself, and your glory, and your love, that I may freely tell others about you.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"John 17:22" by Ted is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.