The night before His crucifixion, with hours to live, Jesus prayed an extended, beautiful prayer for His followers. One commentary calls it the greatest prayer ever prayed on earth. The whole thing is recorded in John 17, and it deserves a full, slow read.
Of all the things He could have prayed for in His final hours, what did He ask the Father for?
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20–23)
He prayed for unity. Not “them alone,” not just the disciples in the room, but everyone who would later believe in Him through their message. That’s a prayer for us. Of all the things Jesus could have prayed for, why unity?
If you’ve ever parented small children, you have an instinct for the answer. Few things erode the peace of a home faster than kids fighting, and they’ll fight about anything: a toy untouched for two years suddenly becomes the most important artifact of a child’s existence the moment a sibling picks it up.
The New Testament keeps coming back to unity. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, famous for its divisions, and asks one short, devastating question: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). Since Christ isn’t divided, and you pattern your life after Him, you ought not to be either.
A plea for unity isn’t always a felt need for a Western person, because we’re individualistic by default: personal freedom, individual rights, being ourselves, pursuing our goals. Biblical unity emphasizes others, defines identity in Christ rather than in self, and orients itself around what’s best for the body of Christ. Joining the church can feel topsy-turvy. The Bible describes Christians as having dual citizenship, earthly and heavenly. Hebrews calls heaven “a better country.” Things work differently there. Isaiah pictures it: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox … They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain” (Isaiah 65:25). No more division. No more bitterness. No more looking out for #1.
Our destiny is unity, and Jesus’ last prayer before the cross is that we wouldn’t wait for it but would live it now.
It’s tempting to define unity as not fighting, but that isn’t what Jesus has in mind. He prays “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:20–21). The unity Jesus prays for is modelled on the unity inside God Himself.
The God of the Bible has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: three persons, one God. Christians call this the Trinity, literally a tri-unity, the great mystery of God and the model of unity for His people.
Two aspects of the Trinity tell us what Christian unity should look like.
They share the same purpose. Earlier in the prayer, Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” (John 17:1). Elsewhere in John, the Holy Spirit’s role is described as glorifying Jesus. Glorifying one another is the eternal rhythm of God.
They love one another. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). For us, love is mostly a verb, something we do. For God, it’s primarily a noun; it’s who He is. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally love one another in perfect unity.
So, when Jesus prays that our unity would mirror God’s, He’s praying that we would share the same purpose and love one another.
Whatever differences Christians have are massively overshadowed by what unifies us. We share the same need for a Saviour, the same truth, the same Christ, the same Spirit, the same baptism, the same Father, and one day the same heaven.
And our unified purpose mirrors the purpose of each member of the Trinity: that our lives would glorify God.
We have different backgrounds, dreams, careers, and family dynamics. All real. But because we are brothers and sisters in Christ, those differences move into a secondary place under one uniting theme: to glorify God.
When life feels small or lost or like a failure because the promotion didn’t come or things aren’t going as planned, here is the reorientation: your life is about glorifying God. Your work, family, relationships, money, school, parenting: all of it.
Just as the heart of the Trinity is love, the heart of Christian unity is love. Love is the glue.
The preference for worship style isn’t what unifies the church. Going to the same building isn’t powerful enough either. Shared interests, life stages, and hobbies create connection, but can’t sustain unity. Only Christian love is strong enough to bind people together across real differences. Love is the centre of the Trinity, and it’s the centre of Christian unity.
Sometimes we confuse the absence of conflict with love. They’re not the same: not calling the bylaw officers on my neighbour doesn’t mean I love my neighbour. Unity entails love, and love always looks like something concrete. The New Testament is full of “one another” instructions. Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16). Stir one another up to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). Serve one another (Galatians 5:13). Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other (Ephesians 4:32). Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21). Encourage one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
That’s a sample of what Christian love looks like. Conflict avoidance isn’t enough. Active, costly, one-anothering love is what unity actually requires.
So why this prayer? Why unity above everything else? Jesus tells us inside the prayer itself: “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me … so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:21, 23).
Jesus prays for unity in the church so the world will know that God loves them.
A lost world needs a united church. The world cannot see God, but it can see Christians, and what it sees in us is what it tends to believe about Him. If we don’t love one another, how could they believe that God loves them? If we don’t forgive one another, how could they believe He will forgive them? Jesus is saying there will be something so undeniable, so magnetic about Christian unity that an unbelieving world will look at it and believe.
The world cannot see God. They can see us. What do they see?
If you want to pray better, fill your prayers with requests for unity. Ask God to bind your heart to other believers, to show you opportunities to serve, to replace apathy toward the body of Christ with His own love for it, and to reveal anything in your life that contradicts Jesus’ prayer. Thank Him for the people He’s put around you, so you don’t walk this out alone.
But there’s one obstacle that has the unique power to wreck unity, and Jesus addresses it directly: “When you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:25).
If you hold anything against anyone…
Unforgiveness is the great enemy of unity. It destroys the connection between believers, weakens our witness to a watching world, and places an obstacle between us and God Himself. It contradicts the nature of grace to ask for it from God but refuse to extend it to others. Freely we receive; freely we give.
So, if there’s unresolved tension, bitterness, or anger toward another person, especially another believer, the work is forgiveness. It’s the hardest part of Christian love, and many of us have known what to do for years yet haven't done it. Don’t let it linger another day.
Three steps.
Remember how much you’ve been forgiven. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). When the depth of God’s grace toward us starts to land, it softens us to extend grace.
Pray for the person who hurt you. “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Prayer is an act of obedience that moves you toward forgiveness. It changes you (it doesn’t change them; that’s on them). It’s hard to pray for someone and hate them at the same time.
Choose to forgive. “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:21–22). Forgiveness is a choice. Feelings cannot be the gatekeepers; some people have been waiting decades to feel like they can forgive. The choice goes first. The feelings follow.
Christian unity isn’t a polite agreement to ignore one another’s flaws. It’s a shared purpose, to glorify God, and a shared, costly love. Jesus prayed for it on His way to the cross because He knew it would be the most powerful sign to the world that He was telling the truth about who He is. And the simplest place to begin praying it into your own life is to forgive.