John
17:1-11
Jesus
had all but finished His mission on earth, in the flesh. He asks the Father to be glorified in His
work. He advocates on behalf of
humanity. His final prayer is that we
may be one, as Jesus and the Father are one.
We
live in a divided world. This prayer for
unity by Jesus came also in a time of deep divisions under empire.
We
are divided by race, ethnicity, economic class, spiritual practice, gender,
age, sexuality and by political ideology.
We have made division and divisiveness an artform.
Has
Jesus’ prayer fallen on deaf ears? God’s
deaf ears? Our deaf ears?
If
we who claim to love Jesus and follow Jesus do not see the vital importance of
this prayer for unity, then who will see it in the world? If we turn a blind eye to this desire of
Jesus, then who will perceive its importance and pursue it?
The
powers and principalities benefit from dividing us. We are so used to be divided along the lines
mentioned above that we now come to encounters with others looking at and for
our differences, rather than our commonalities.
When we see those differences, we immediately perceive our personhood to
be the superior and the other the inferior in the encounter, and then we try to
prove it to everyone who will listen.
Thus, we do not see the other for who they are, value the other for who
they are and we fail to understand that together, when unified, our differences
are a source of strength in life.
We
have lost the art of hospitality. We are
not gracious hosts who go to great lengths to make those who join us to feel
welcomed, seen and valued by experiencing them and their ways with receptivity
and thankfulness for who they are as different persons from ourselves. We are not gracious guests who experience our
hosts for who they are in wonder and appreciation, expecting them not to
conform to our ways, but rather to be themselves so that we may truly get to
know them. We have lost graciousness,
receptivity, openness and appreciation for the other.
Some
who see people from other countries who are visiting here or who have moved
here, and expect them to know English immediately and assimilate into American
society. They fail to remember that
their ancestors were immigrants here, too, many of whom took a while to learn
English and who lived in areas where they could be around people just like
them, buy the foods that they were used to, hear the music that they were
accustomed to hearing and speak and see written their native language. Folks forget they we too were immigrants,
unless we were brought here on slave ships or were displaced from our ancestral
lands as the First nations here. It is
arrogant and ugly how we treat the strangers in our land that our Lord commands
to welcome and for whom we are commanded to care.
Some
who go to other countries come back and complain that the people who live there
did not bother to know English, in their own land, as if Americans are entitled
to travel anywhere in the world and hear American English spoken to them. Folks come back and complain that the food
was different, the music different, the customs different and their accommodations
different from America, in a foreign country.
Or what I consider to be worst of all – they go to nations and only eat
at Applebees or Chilis or the Hard Rock Café, stay in American-style resorts
and never see the real people who live there, experience their customs or
sample their cuisine. It is the height
of arrogance and ugliness to me.
Unity
takes effort. Looking beyond our
differences and starting at our commonalities helps. Knowing with compassion and empathy that
every human being has needs and has value, that every race, ethnicity, culture,
gender, sexuality, occupation and spiritual practice is a gift to the whole of
who we are together, is a must. Seeing
one another as sisters and brothers because we see one another as children of
God is a necessity. It is a necessity of
our very survival in this world. The
only sustainable way in the world for humanity is NOT the way of intolerance,
false superiority, abuse of power and greed that divide us now. It is that we strive to fulfill the will of
Jesus when He prayed that we should be one, even as He and the Father are one.
We
will never fulfill that prayer of Jesus until we live the agaph that Jesus
commanded us to live. Until we actively
commit to the well-being of stranger, enemy and the most vulnerable in the
world, we will never have the unity that Jesus craved and prayed for to the
Father. Until we let go of the greed,
lust for power over others, desire for status above others and the hatreds that
they breed, we will never be unified as is the Will of God for us. Until we see others for who they are and
value them for who they are, especially those different from us, we in the
world together will never have the completeness, wholeness, well-being and
Peace that is Shalom for all, which is the Will of God.
Jesus
prayed to the Father that we would be one, even as He and the Father are
one. Jesus answers our prayers. Are we to be a hindrance to Jesus’ prayer
being answered? Are we as people who
claim to love and follow Jesus, going to oppose the prayer of Jesus for
unity? Are we going to continue to turn
a blind eye to the Will of God in Jesus, or are we going to come together in
compassion and empathy, not in spite of our differences, but rather celebrating
our differences and commonalities in Jesus’ name?
When
will Jesus’ prayer be our prayer and Jesus’ mission be our mission in the world
as those who claim to love Jesus?
