John 17:20-26 (7th Sunday of Easter) – June 1, 2025

Introduction

If you used the alternate text last week then you had a brief reprieve, but if not, then you are in your third straight week (of five—including Pentecost and Holy Trinity) of the Farewell Discourse on Maundy Thursday in the Gospel of John (Chapters 13-17).

Narrative Context: A Prayer Beyond the Disciples

The passage we get this week concludes Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” in John 17, spoken just before his arrest. The prayer has three movements: first for himself (vv. 1–5), then for the disciples (vv. 6–19), and finally for “those who will believe through their word,” in other words, for us (vv. 20–26). This final portion is Jesus praying not for his past or present, but for the church’s future.

This is one of the rare places in Scripture where Jesus speaks directly about future believers, not hypothetically but hopefully and prayerfully. That intimacy gives this text a remarkable pastoral tone. It is a window into Jesus’ desire for the community that would follow in his name. We are being prayed for in this text today.

That They May Be One: Unity, Not Uniformity

Jesus’ repeated desire “that they may all be one” is not a call for everyone to be the same. Unity in this prayer is not sameness, it’s relational. It’s a reflection of the relationship between Father and Son, a deep and abiding ‘in-ness,’ (“As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.”).

We can’t use this text to try to (as Bishop Bill Gohl says) demand “a false altar of unity.” Unity here is not achieved through control, conformity, or assimilation. It is born of love. The same love the Father has for the Son. That love doesn’t erase difference, it holds people together across it. In a world and a church fractured by polarization, institutional decline, and mistrust, Jesus’ prayer is not a strategy, it’s a vision for what love in community might look like.

A Witnessing Unity

Twice Jesus connects this oneness with mission:

“…so that the world may believe…” (v. 21)
“…so that the world may know…” (v. 23)

This unity is not an internal reward or the culmination of everything for faithful people. It’s a sign for the world. In other words, Jesus seems to believe that unity among his followers is evangelism. This is not a “come and see” message but a “look how they live” witness. When the church fails at this, when our public face is divided, hateful, or power-hungry, the world is given good reason not to believe.

Glory and Love from the Beginning

Jesus references a glory “given before the foundation of the world” (v. 24), revealing a cosmic timeline of love and belonging. The community he envisions isn’t just an idealistic project for the early church. It is rooted in the eternal love of God.

This means the church’s unity is not something we have to invent or manufacture. It already exists in the heart of God. Our task is to live into it, to participate in a unity that transcends us. Jesus makes clear that the glory he shares with the Father, he has already given to the disciples. We aren’t waiting for some better version of ourselves or our institutions to receive it.

Preaching Possibilities
Ecumenism and Division

This text is often cited in ecumenical work, and rightly so. The prayer “that they may all be one” has been a rallying cry across denominational lines, urging collaboration, mutual recognition, and unity in Christ amid institutional differences. But perhaps it’s just as relevant (maybe even more urgent) for our internal divisions.

We live in a time when congregations are experiencing deep fracture. Not always in visible ways, but in the quiet undercurrents of distrust, disengagement, or disillusionment. Generational differences pull at the seams: younger members asking hard questions about inclusion, authenticity, or institutional relevance, while older generations grieve change and long for the stability of what once was. Political differences, often left unspoken, sit just beneath the surface and subtly divide the life of the church, shaping which ministries we support, which mission efforts get funded, or even who stays and who leaves.

Then there’s the wear and tear of congregational life itself. There’s grief, burnout, transition, budget challenges, all of which stretch the bonds of unity and make it tempting to either paper over conflict or polarize around it.

As leaders and as congregations, our temptation often pulls us in one of two directions. One, to build a false unity, where peace is equated with politeness and any real tension is silenced for the sake of institutional calm. This is the “let’s not rock the boat” version of unity that may seem peaceful on the surface but actually isolates and wounds people beneath it. Or two, to draw firm lines in the sand, where we demand conformity to one perspective or culture or theological stance, and those who differ are encouraged to conform or leave. This kind of unity is rigid and ultimately fragile.

But Jesus’ prayer in John 17 invites a third way, a relational unity rooted not in agreement or silence, but in love. A unity where difference isn’t erased but held together in the life of God. It is a unity formed not by control, but by shared belonging.

Preaching this text invites us to ask hard questions about what kind of community we are cultivating: Is it one where people can speak and still belong? Where love doesn’t require agreement? Where unity isn’t an absence of conflict but a commitment to stay at the table?

Jesus’ prayer doesn’t ask for uniformity. It asks for oneness grounded in relationship, humility, and trust. The call, then, is not to avoid our differences but to navigate them faithfully, anchored in the love that has already made us one.

Christ Prays for You

The intimacy of this passage shouldn’t be lost in abstract theology. Jesus prays for us. Not as a theological construct, but as people he desires to be with (v. 24). Jesus’ prayer is that we might experience the love God has always had for him and live as people marked by that love. This prayer is for us. Not just the disciples that night. Not just for the early Church. Jesus is praying for us, that we too might know the love of God intimately and deeply.