Jn 17:20-26
[Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,] 20“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. 22And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. 24Father, they are your gift to me. 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. 25Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. 26I 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.”
THAT THEY MAY BE ONE: Jesus claims that the strength and credibility of his mission is founded on this: he and the Father are one. This oneness is not simply based on the fact that Jesus was sent by the Father, and that, therefore, his words and works are according to the Father’s will. It is based on something primordial: a unity of essence, a profound union in the Godhead. The Gospel of John underlines this point (Jn 1:1; 8:24, 29; 10:33, 38; 14:9-10; 17:11, 21).
In the Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays not only for the first disciples, but for the community of believers gathered by the witness of the first disciples. He prays that this ekklesia (church) may truly be a revelation of his mission by its oneness. The author of the Letters of John, in fact, writes later that true experience of God in Jesus leads all to a “sharing of life” (Greek koinonia) (1 Jn 1:1-4). This is the central idea in the author’s view of authentic mystical and spiritual life. Union with God in Jesus must show itself not only in a person’s life of faith, but, above all, in the person’s love for his brethren (1 Jn 1:7; 4:7-21).