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“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty; never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another.” Around A.D. 260, Dionysius of Alexandria described the self-sacrificial love and unity Christians demonstrated to one another and to unbelievers during a plague that swept the Roman Empire. He continued, “they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ . . . they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.” This response to God’s love results in powerful witness to the world that today’s passage commends.
Our Bible reading today is part of the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the New Testament (John 16:1-17:26). In sum, Jesus prayed that believers would share in God’s love, glory, and unity. Insofar as they do this, they become a sign to the world of the love that is shared between the Father and the Son (v. 23).
Jesus’ prayer describes the eternal relationship of perfect love and unity between the Father and Son, a mystery that strains human comprehension (vv. 21, 24; cf. John 1:1-2). It is amazing to hear Him pray that when believers exemplify this same love and unity, they are a symbol of God’s love to an unbelieving world.
Believers are capable of unity because they are recipients of God’s glory. Jesus is the full revelation of God’s glory; all who receive Him are privileged to become children of God (John 1:12, 14). “World” occurs four times in today’s text and refers to God’s creation that remains in darkness, hostile to Him. The world rejects Jesus and therefore rejects God. Yet, the world remains an object of God’s love (3:16). Just as Jesus is a mediator between God and the world, Jesus prays that His followers would be the embodiment of God’s love to the world (v. 23), since God’s love now dwells in them through Christ (v. 26).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Unity between the Father and Son is demonstrated in John’s Gospel as pure love and Jesus’ perfect obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus prays that as a result of sharing in God’s love and glory through Christ, believers would be unified, a “message” to the world (v. 20). How does your local church reflect God’s love? Is there hostility among you that needs to be reconciled? Are there areas of disobedience to be conformed to God’s will? Imagine how unity in God’s love would speak to the world around you.
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