Commentary on John 17 20-23

(3^rd Section of the Post-Lourdes Study Topic) for January Prayers.

The first thing that strikes me on reading this passage is how marvellous it is to have Christ so concerned about us that he appeals to his Father to keep us so close that we become one with him. This is not just in some friendly kind of way, but in exactly the same way as Christ and his Father are one, i.e. in some mystical sort of way which we shall never fully understand until we reach heaven itself. This reading is part of a whole chapter which is called “The Priestly Prayer of Christ”, (acclaimed as one of the holiest passages of the New Testament), and it is totally focused on Christ’s two-way relationship with his Father and with us, his followers. It is a beautiful insight into the way Christ thought and felt. He was consumed with two major elements in his life: the love between himself and his Father, therefore the need to give his life to praising and glorifying this source and object of his love; the second, which was so intimately tied up with the first, was to redeem us from our sinfulness, which was, and is, a barrier we have raised between us and the Father, and bring us into that same praise and glorification of the Father, through revealing to us who, and what, the Trinity is, and how totally and utterly we are dependent upon this Almighty and ever-loving God.

There is so much in this sacerdotal prayer that we shall never understand, because the human intellect is too finite and limited to grasp the depth and breadth of the relationships in question. Only faith, trust and love can open to what is happening, and being expressed by the Divine Son in communication with his Father. Christ is the incarnation of God’s love which made him become one of us, to redeem us, and establish an eternal relationship between us and the Trinity. Christ was rejected by a world caught up in its own importance. He had invited humanity to share in his divine life and humanity had declined. Christ, in his humanity, must have felt extremely lonely just before his passion and death. Even those he had called his own, and whom he is praying for in this prayer, would turn away from him for a time. He turns to his Father and finds the solace he needs.

All families find times when the bonds that hold them together can be severely stretched, and members can find themselves being isolated, whether through their own fault or through sheer force of circumstances. Let us place our relationships, especially those that are dearest to us, in the hands of a loving Lord, who has shown his concern for us, and who desires that his loving presence should be experienced in our love for each other.

Father John Maclean