Gospel of 28 May 2020
Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
John 17:20-26
Father, may they be completely one
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: ‘Holy Father, I pray not only for these, but for those also who through their words will believe in me. May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one that the world will realise that it was you who sent me and that I have loved them as much as you loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Father, Righteous One the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.’
Reflexion
After decades of politically motivated race-based policies in Malaysia, it’s hard to put aside ethnic and religious stereotypes. Although most people express a desire to move forward, no one seems to have any concrete blueprint for change.
Today’s gospel provides us with a schema. In the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, our Lord prays for the whole world; asking that the love with which the Father had lavished upon Him might also be ours, and that through us the Father’s love might be evident to the world. That is what Jesus died for.
The prayer reminds us that unity is never the result of human social engineering. There have been many failed attempts at forming a common national identity. But the unity of God’s people can never be fabricated by man. It must be generated by the Spirit of God. Because this unity proceeds from grace, it is therefore patterned after the life of God, a pattern of unity unlike anything else on earth. It is nothing less than the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. If Christians are drawn to each other it is because they are drawn to Jesus Christ Himself, and through Him, they are drawn into the Most Holy Trinity.
The prayer of Jesus tells us that we must begin by becoming one within ourselves. The prayer of Jesus challenges us to look deep into ourselves, as it is a call to repentance and conversion. We must allow Him to restore the inner unity of our very soul, which has been wounded by sin. Our society is broken and divided because each of us are broken by sin. It is easy for us to accuse others of being racist, but it takes great courage and self-honesty to recognise our own bias and racist tendencies. No one readily acknowledges himself as a racist. Martin Luther King, once wrote that the redemption of a society trapped in racism “can come only through a humble acknowledgement of guilt and an honest knowledge of self”.
After having looked within ourselves, we must begin to look outwards. If we confine our discussion of unity within the ranks of the Church or just among Christians, we may be guilty of limiting the prayer of Jesus. No, the church exists in order to reach the world. The church is here to be God's instrument by which human life in every area and at every level is penetrated by the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. That men may see that in Jesus Christ there is the authentic voice of God; that in Him, we can find the ultimate purpose of human destiny.
Finally, as we come to the end of the Easter season, the prayer of Jesus directs our gaze upward. If our view is only confined to ourselves and others, we will most certainly find the drudgery of life unbearable. Our looking inwards and outwards only prepares us for this final viewing. The model that ,Christ gives us on the eve of His own death, as reflected in His priestly prayer at the Last Supper, shows us a man serene and intimately united to his Father. Union with the Father gives Him the serenity and peace to face the suffering of the cross. In today's gospel, as Jesus finishes the Last Supper, He begins His prayer by raising “his eyes to heaven.” As we look up to heaven, what do we see? We see an embrace, a clasp of the deepest friendship, a union of hearts and minds, greater than the most satisfying earthly relationship could ever be. It is here in heaven that we will see the final fulfilment and realisation of Jesus’ prayer, “may they all be one.”