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\(^{20}\)I do not ask for these only [the disciples], but also for those who will believe in me through their word, \(^{21}\)that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. \(^{22}\)The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, \(^{23}\)I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Jesus’ plea to his Father that his followers should be united couldn’t possibly be worded more strongly. In chapter 10 Jesus said “I and the Father are one”. Jesus is praying for unity among his followers that is as close as the unity in the Trinity. He’s praying that we’ll be bound to each other through our mutual bond to Christ. But Jesus wants this unity to be so close he talks about us being “one” and likens how he wants it to be the same as how he is “in” the Father, and the Father is “in” him.

The fact that Jesus wants this unity so much should be enough to make us take unity very seriously, but he gives another compelling reason, “that the world may believe”, “that the world may know that you [God the Father] sent me”. Jesus is making it clear that disunity damages the church’s witness to the world.

Unity isn’t always easy. We can’t gloss over everything. It has to be a godly unity, centred around our saviour. I haven’t always got this right. I’m sure I’ve been too lax on some occasions and too petty on others.

There’s no doubt that this is something very close to Jesus’ heart. Maybe the pain I felt growing up when my siblings quarrelled, or the pain I feel when my children fight gives some insight to how Jesus feels when I fail in this way. The thing I find saddest when reading church history is reading about the divisions, fights and falling out.

Sometimes confrontations can’t be avoided, Jesus himself didn’t avoid confrontation. But we aren’t to relish it, we should be striving for a loving, close bond of unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.