This week we see Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper – specifically after the meal, after the washing of the feet – Jesus’ prayer for his disciples. At the Last Supper, Jesus gives us the eucharist and the challenge of service as ways of living as true Christians. Then, John remembers Jesus’ long prayer towards the end of that night and records it in his Gospel.
Jesus’ prayer is centered on his communion with God the Father. It is a prayer that puts us in the middle of that relationship. Jesus shared with his disciples, and now with us, all that he received from the Father. He prays that we continue on in that communion.
Unity and communion are the sign of a true Christian and a true Christian community. Beyond doctrinal considerations, judicial condemnations and labels, which have become so important and divisive factors in our political and religious lives today, Jesus has a different criterion. See how they love one another – communion and service in communion. This is the most effective form of evangelization. More impressive than a physical miracle is the miracle seeing the reality of Jesus’ prayer made into a true reality in us. One group of human beings made up of a diversity of people: young, old, different languages, different races, men, women, different political perspectives, all living in communion and serving others. That is no longer just a group or a club of human beings but rather a church living in the communion of the risen Lord. This is the miracle that our society needs to see and experience.
Our joy is that Jesus is constantly praying for our capacity to love each other and live in communion. As individual Christians and as a faith community, a church, we live in that prayer.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
Image: https://stjohnswestbrunswick.org.au/2024/03/21/john-17-the-prayer-of-jesus/