A unity comes from God, not from us

Notice, Jesus does not pray that we would agree on everything. He does not pray that we would all look alike, vote alike, worship alike, or think alike.

He prays: “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.”

The model for our unity is not a club. It is not a committee. It is the Trinity itself.

The Father and the Son are not one because they have no differences. They are one because they share the same life, the same love, the same purpose. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. They are distinct, and yet utterly united.

That is what Jesus wants for the Church. Not uniformity, but a unity so deep that it can only come from God living in us.

We cannot manufacture this unity by trying harder to be nice. We cannot achieve it by ignoring truth. It comes when we are, as Jesus says, “in us” — when we abide in the Father and the Son, and they abide in us.

A church that is united is not a church where everyone is the same. It is a church where everyone is held together by Someone greater than themselves.

2. A Unity That Is Given, Not Earned

Verse 22 is astonishing: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.”

Jesus does not say, “I have given them a good example, now go and be one.” He says, “I have given them glory.”

What glory? The glory of the cross. The glory of a Savior who laid down His life. The glory of being loved by the Father with the same love with which He loves the Son — verse 23: “you have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Think about that. God does not love you with a second-class love. He does not love you because you are useful. He loves you as He loves His own Son.

That is the ground of our unity. We are not one because we chose each other. We are one because He chose us, loved us, and gave us His glory.

When we forget that, we start dividing over preferences, personalities, and politics. When we remember that, we look at the person next to us — even the person we disagree with — and we say: “God loves you as He loves Jesus. Who am I to love you less?”

3. A Unity That the World Can See

Why does Jesus pray this? He tells us twice:

“…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (v. 21)
“…so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (v. 23)

Our unity is not for us. It is a witness.

The world will not be convinced by our arguments. It won’t be convinced by our buildings, our programs, or our cleverness. The world will be convinced when it sees a people who love each other the way the Father and the Son love each other.

In a world fractured by hatred, by tribalism, by endless division, a united church is a miracle. It is proof that Jesus is real.

When we forgive when the world says to cancel, when we stay at the table when the world says to walk away, when we love across the lines that divide us—the world stops and asks, “What is different about them?”

And the answer is, Jesus prayed for them, and the Father answered.

4. A Unity That Ends in Glory

Jesus ends His prayer not on earth, but in heaven:

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (v. 24)

Jesus desires—He wants—us to be with Him. To see His glory. To be where He is, forever.

Our unity now is a rehearsal for our unity then. One day, there will be no more divisions. No more denominations. No more broken relationships. We will be one, because we will be with Him.

Until then, He has not left us alone. Verse 26: “I made your name known to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Jesus is still making the Father known. Still pouring that love into us. Still living in us.

So what do we do with this prayer?

We receive it. We do not have to create unity. We have to live in the unity Christ has already given us.

Forgive the brother who hurt you. Contact the sister you have avoided. Lay down your need to be right, for the sake of being one. Let the love of the Father who is in Jesus be in you, and let it flow through you to others.

Jesus prayed for you the night before He died. He prayed that you would be one—with God and with each other.

May His prayer be answered in us.