That we may be one

Easter 7 2025
John 17. 20-26

An old lady once said of a preacher,  “That gentleman just opens heaven to me, and I can look right in.”

That’s what St John does in our Gospel today. He opens heaven to us, so we can look right in. He shows us the innermost secret of the life of God. He shows us the intimate mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says of the disciples: My prayer is not for them alone. He was also praying for you on the night He was betrayed. He was praying for all of us, that we might receive the same Spirit as His disciples, and be possessed of the same love. He was praying that we may be one, truly and intimately one, just as He is one with the Father: just as you are in me and I am in you He says. He was praying that all of us may be one, united in the secret life of God.Dwelling in me by thy Spirit; and I in you— By a constant, indissoluble union; that they also may be one in us— closely and vitally united to us, and deriving from us the richest supplies of divine wisdom and grace, power, purity, and consolation.

That the world may believe— That, seeing our generosity, charity, and holy joy, people outside the Church, may believe that a religion that produces such wonderful fruits is truly from God. Our divisions as Christians make that much harder for the world to believe. Jesus says to His Father: I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. In His human nature the Holy Spirit dwelt in Jesus. Now we have the honour and the happiness of having a measure of the same Spirit dwelling in us, enriching us with different gifts and graces, and allowing us to share in the secret life of God. As the Second Epistle of St Peter says…he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature.

I in them and you in me – Jesus says—so that they may be brought to complete unity – the closest union, and enjoy a most holy and joyful fellowship with us and with each other in this life, and eternal joy in the life to come. I in them— Dwelling in their hearts by faith; (Ephesians 3:17😉 and you in me— By your indwelling presence; so that they may be brought to complete unity— May possess the most perfect and uninterrupted union of love and purity, and through that union may grow up into me their living head in all things, till they arrive at the measure of the stature of my fullness, and are perfected in that holiness without which no one shall see the Lord. That the world may know that you have sent me – That the clearest demonstration of the power of grace may be given to the world through the existence of churches full of saints who are loved as the Father loves Jesus and who are given grace upon grace for His sake.

As we participate through the Spirit in the complete unity that the Father and Son have with one another so we will grow more united with each other and with the saints who belong to other churches. Think of sunbeams. Far away from the sun, these rays of light are diffuse and spread out; but as they return to their source and become unified with the orb of the sun itself, they get closer to one another until full unity for all the separate beams is found in the sun. Likewise, as we seek and get closer and closer to the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we will be like the beams of God’s glory, becoming brighter and more concentrated with one another the closer to God we become.

Jesus gives us the deep ‘peace’ of knowing we are utterly loved. We are at home abiding in the secret unity, which is at the heart of all reality. And we are given the deep purpose of being ‘sent’ to love as He was sent by his Father. And, amazingly, we are given the ‘Holy Spirit’—breathed into us minute by minute as He dwells in us, we dwell in Him, and we are energised and inspired to learn, pray, love, and serve as never before.

Amen

The Rev’d Dr James Lawson
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, 01/06/2025