Today his prayer is for unity among those who will come to believe in him through the word (the teaching, preaching and New Testament writings) that will be passed on by Jesus’ disciples. But why should there be unity among Jesus’ disciples? And more importantly, how is this unity to come about? What is it about believing in Jesus that brings about unity consequently?
It is all about the new creation that is established through Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus is himself the first-born of God’s new creation. When Jesus died, he took with him to the cross the sin and fallen nature of all of humanity. Humanity’s fallen nature is that nature in which the self-life has been allowed to rule and control us. It is a nature that, in the end, cannot have union with God, because the self-life-refuses to let God take the central place – it is my will that I do, rather than God’s will. Jesus throughout his life revealed a true human life which was completed surrendered to the will of the Father. However, the cross was necessary because the power of the self-life, and of the self-will, needed to be put to death. It was brought to an end on Calvary. The resurrected Jesus is not the source of a life that is entirely one with the will of God.
For the same life to be manifested in us today, it is essential that we have union with both the death and resurrection of Jesus. The key elements of our willingness to let go of the self-life that can so dominate our lives – even, and perhaps especially, when our self-will produces actions and thoughts that we consider good. Part of the difficulty for us is that we often fail to realise just how much and how often our actions are determined by self-will. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the extent of our self-will, and as he brings this to light, it will be his work also to bring that self-life to the cross.
