The “oneness” Jesus prays for us to experience is the same oneness he was experiencing with his Father while living in the flesh.

“My prayer is not for them alone (his disciples at the time). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them (that’s us) may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” (John 17:20-21)

Jesus prays for us to experience a unity, a oneness, a love for and peace with one another that is visible as a result of our personal relationships with him.

The NIV Application Commentary says, “His last desire is to love his followers and indwell them, to fill them with the glory and joy he has known, so that their knowledge of God will be unsurpassed and overwhelming.”

Jesus’ dream for us is that we would enjoy the same close relationship with him that he was enjoying with his Father (See verses 25-26). What an incredible thought. Imagine if we were actually enjoying this kind of daily walk with Jesus. We would not only be experiencing an awesome unity in the Body of Christ, but we would be giving the world around us a badly needed testimony of the difference Jesus can make in their lives and in our country.

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23

May this be so in me! May this be so in all followers of Jesus! May the glory and love you have given us, Jesus, be made manifest in our world, our communities, today and everyday.  Amen!