“Very truly I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the son also does.” (John 5:19) “Because I live you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20)

The oneness that Jesus describes here is mysterious. It is a new relationship with God that Jesus has always had, into which the disciples are being introduced on the evening of Jesus’ arrest and separation from them. Jesus knew that they barely grasped a word of what he said, and he also knew that his words would stay with them for their whole lives and could reach thousands of years into the future to illuminate even the twenty-first century and beyond. Even before this Jesus had said, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. (John 12:44)

When we look into the face of an infant, we seek some comparison with the child’s parentage, and we usually find it, accurate or not. “ Who does he or she favor?” we wonder, but Jesus says he was sent so that we could know who we ourselves “favor”, to whom we really belong. In these scriptures Jesus was talking to eleven mostly unrelated men, who seemed to have little in common, but each one would find his calling in the one that they all followed. Jesus was telling them that the oneness he had with the Father would transfer to them when he was physically no longer with them. After his resurrection he would call them “brothers”, and they would bring more and more brothers and sisters to share this family relationship with God Himself.

Jesus’ ministry on earth was complete. He made provision and gave direction for everyone to find oneness with him and his Father: “If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. (John 14:15-16) Oneness will always be a mystery to us on earth; we can’t control or shape it ourselves, but there is enough of Jesus and understanding in the Bible for us to recognize him in our very fractured world; and when we do, we can know that we are one, not only with him, but also with his Father, for they are one.

Love in Him,

Prue