IN THE GLORY STORY
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Opening Prayer
Lord, help me set aside all internal and external distractions that would keep me from hearing your voice as I read your Word today. Please help me not only to listen but also to apply what you say.
Read JOHN 17:20–26
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Reflect
Bring to mind people from different churches, perhaps around the world, that you have visited or where you have friends. How do they reflect God’s glory where they are?We end our reading of this pastoral yet deeply theological text where we began: with glory. There seems to be a mysterious relationship between unity and glory: we are given Jesus’ glory to bring about unity, so that the world will know him (vv. 22, 23).
Jesus has given us his glory (v. 22), yet he prays for us to see it (v. 24). If this part of Jesus’ prayer is summarized as a prayer for all believers (v. 20), how then do we apply Jesus’ words directly to us? How do these words remain relevant when having a coffee in a sunlit park, watching my favorite sport, or washing up? How do I participate in glory when I am rocked by a wave of grief, or fall asleep exhausted, or go to a party, or do something I regret…?
We have been looking backward, seeing how Jesus prepared the disciples for his death. Now, as witnesses ourselves, we look ahead. We are brought into the story and his love (v. 26). There is even more waiting for us when we see Jesus as he is, in all the fullness of glory and love and life that has been there from the beginning.
Apply
In what different ways do you pray? You could write your own prayer based on one of the themes we have seen in John’s gospel.
Closing prayer
In your high priestly prayer, Jesus, you lifted up not only your disciples before your Father—you prayed for me and the unity of my faith community. Help us to be a testimony to your love, through which others will be drawn to you.
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