5 June 2014 - more perfect union

5 June 2014 - more perfect union

And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,

Sometimes we hear Jesus talking about the unity he wants to have with us and the unity he wants us to have with one another and we think it sounds abstract.  Or perhaps we imagine it as more of a feeling.  But we don't imagine a lot of practical value to it.  Jesus wants to live in us just as the Father lives in him.  Is this abstract?  Is it emotion? 

that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.

This kind of unity is definitely not a mere abstraction.  It is so practical as to be visible.  It is visible as something that is obviously supernatural, something which reveals the love of God.  It is a unity by which we are "brought to perfection".  In other words, our visible unity as Church in the world is something which the world knows is beyond its ability to produce. 

Of course only a unity this real can bring us to perfection.  Ideas in our heads and feelings in our hearts won't do that.  Our unity is challenged constantly by the world, the flesh, and the devil but we are able to overcome all of these challenges by the grace of God.  This is the glory of Jesus that we taste now as it prepares us for ever greater levels of unity with him.

I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Why does he wish to have this unity with us?  It is important that we understand the reason he wants this.  This isn't a tyrant imposing a false and oppressive conformity.

Father, they are your gift to me.

Isn't that amazing?  Jesus receives us as a precious gift.  He loves us so much that he wants to share the very love that the Father gives him, the greatest love there can possibly be, with each of us.  This is why we need to enter into the practical unity to which we are called!

I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them.”

This unity will strengthen us to be witnesses when we are called.  Even if the LORD asks something difficult of us we will not shrink from the task.  Paul is firm in the truth he knows.  He says, "I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead."  Standing firm in the truth he has received (cf. 2 The. 2:15) gives Paul the strength to continue to Rome even though he knows martyrdom is likely.

The LORD wants to be both the one who gives us strength and holds us together in unity.  At the same time he is the ultimate goal to which that unity leads.

Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.

Paul knows that God will not abandon his soul to the netherworld nor suffer his faithful one to undergo corruption.  He is so close to the LORD that he is not disturbed even as he goes to Rome.  We are all called to this proximity to Jesus!

I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.