The Prayer That Started It All

In John 17:20-23, Jesus is hours from the cross. Judas is already moving through the dark toward Gethsemane. And in that moment — with everything pressing down on him — Jesus prays for his followers. Not just the eleven in the room. He prays for every person who would ever believe in him.

He prays that we would be one.

Here's what I've come to believe: a group of people who have every reason to be divided, choosing each other anyway — that's something the world can't explain apart from God. And that explanation is exactly what Jesus was praying for.