John 17
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
10:57 AM
Theme:  John 17 stresses the importance of Christian Unity for the sake of Christian witness
Nearly every discussion of Christian Unity will quote John 17:20ff, "that all of them may be one . . . So that the world may believe that you have sent me . . . May they be brought to complete unit to let the world know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."  However, some New Testament scholars (Eduard Scheizer and Rudolf Bultmann are the two most frequently cited in this regard) would be surprised to see references to John in a discussion of ecumenism.  Ecumenism belongs to the branch of theology known as Ecclesiology--the study of the nature and purpose of the Church.  A few significant mid-Twentieth Century New Testament scholars argued that John had no real strong ecclesiology.  What matters here is how one views the congregation and the Church.  Is the Church an entity recognized by God?  Are local congregations rightly thought of as having some identity collectively?  OR is the Church merely an association of individual believers?  If one believes that the church is simply a necessary part of creating individual disciples then, ecclesiology is little more than an instruction manual for assembling believers within a group setting.  However, if the one regards the Church as a people called together and called into being by God, then the charge that John has no ecclesiology is a serious charge.  
An important Catholic New Testament Scholar named Raymond Brown assessed this question thoroughly in several different works (he wrote the Anchor Bible commentaries on the Gospel of John and the letters of John as well as authoring several other books). He identified three primary arguments that people have against claiming John has an Ecclesiology.  First, one of the chief symbols of Jesus establishing the Church comes in the synoptic emphasis on The Kingdom of God.  This is understood by some as the chief metaphor of Jesus gathering together a people and not just a collection of persons.  The Gospel of John never repeats Jesus's language about Kingdom.  Second, one of the chief concerns of the church is worship and sacraments.  John does not narrate the baptism of Jesus as all three synoptics do.  John does not tell the story of Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper as do the other three gospels and Paul's letter to the Church in Corinth.  John does not name the Twelve which is taken by some to be an assignment of authority within the Church.  John also does not seem focused church office.  The Johananine letters, for example, do not speak of the role of elders, deacons, teachers, etc.   (see The Anchor Bible:  The Gospel According to John I-XII, volume 29A, pp. cviii-cxi)).  That said, Brown stressed that we should see how John does envision a God-formed collectivity.  "In Christ god saved a people.  That the fourth evangelist thought collectively is shown by the vine and branches symbolism of chapter 15 and the shepherd symbolism of chapter 10.  Nevertherless, with this collective presupposition there is an unparalleld concentration on the relation of the individual believer to Jesus."  (Raymond Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind.  New York:  Paulist, 1984, p. 85).  So, Brown gives some credibility to the argument that John's has a less defined ecclesiology.  However, he still insists that John has an important message for the Church as an act of God--as a people.  
So, if John does envision a community of faith, what does this community of faith do?  What is its purpose?  The prayer of Jesus in chapter 17 gives us a clue.  The prayer of Jesus is belongs to the final discourse of Jesus (John 13-17).  It ought to be read together with the whole of these chapters.  Here's a brief outline of these chapters:
John 13:1-20--Jesus washes his disciples feet and calls them to wash one another's feet.  One purpose of the community of faith is service.  
John 13:21-38--The Disciples are distressed over Jesus's words and prediction of death.  
John 14--Jesus comforts his Disciples with the promise of return and ongoing presence through the Advocate.  The community of faith is to receive the Holy Spirit (Paraclete) and serve as a peaceful presence in the world. 
John 15:1-11--Jesus offers the vine and branches analogy.  The community of faith has unity in Christ.  It comes as each one has a direct connection to Christ.   
John 15:12-170--The community of faith is a community devoted to love.  
John 15:18-27--The Community of faith along with the Holy Spirit serves as a witness to Christ in the world despite opposition from the world. 
John 16--Jesus predicts that the Disciples will experience trouble and hardship.  They will depend on the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit to continue to teach them.  Jesus predicts they will scattered.  The Community of faith is a community in which people fail, pressures cause them to scattered but, they will continue to be led by the Holy Spirit.  
John 17 is a prayer addressed to God but it speaks about this community of faith.  The community has been formed by their belief in Jesus as one sent from God (17:8).  The community of faith is formed around the shared acceptance of Jesus's death and resurrection as the salvific work of God in Christ.  He speaks of the hour having come which has come for Jesus to be glorified.  This word links the prayer to the whole preceding storyline and ties the prayer to the coming death/burial /resurrection/gift of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus prays for glorification which is that he affirms that he has worked toward that  purpose for which God had sent him and now he was going away.  
The prayer makes the distinction between the community of faith and the world (vs. 9).  The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit (14:17), hates the disciples (15:18), it hates Jesus (15:18), rejoices in the pain of Christ and the Disciples (16:20),  And yet, the world remains the target of persuasion.  Christ has lived his life in such a way that the world may know the truth about his identity within the Father (14:30-31; 16:8; 17:5).  So while the world remains in opposition to Christ, the view of the prayer is that the world would ultimately come to recognize his Lordship.  Jesus prayer affirms that the community of faith is to remain in the world but carry forward the plan God had for Jesus in sending him into the world (17:14-19).  
The prayer prays to God for the unity of the community of faith as it carries out the work entrusted to it--representing Christ to the world (John 17:20).  The unity envisioned in the prayer is a unity analogous to the unity the Son shares with the Father.  This unity refers to a unity of shared action--the primary activity of the Father is shared with the Son (5:19).  The work of the Father and Son is to give life (5:20-21).  The work of the son is to exercise authority (5:22-23).  The fulcrum of judgment with regard to the son is belief in him (5:24).  So, the community of faith within a unity mirroring the unity of the Father and Son share a common purpose, a common work, and place before the world a common call to believe and receive Jesus Christ.  This purpose refers to more than just the embodiment of a loving community of faith within life but extends to an eternal community granted glory by Christ's glory (17:24).    
As we can see from this brief overview of Jesus's farewell discourse (John 13-16) and the concluding prayer (John 17), John does present a community of faith--a community of believers--even though they may not be tied together with familiar images and symbols (like "Kingdom of God), they are defined by mutual care and commissioned to serve as witnesses in the world.  The world though in opposition to Christ and those whom Christ entrusts with his ongoing world retains a capacity to believe and the community of faith exists in order to manifest the truth to be believed in through their work.  Sandra Schneiders wrote, "The community is the key to Jesus' ongoing presence in the world.  The task of the community is to be, through love, Jesus' bodily presence, and thus the giver of his Spirit, to all who will come to believe down through the ages.  Jesus has gone to prepare a place for his disciples because, as he prays on the night before his death, 'Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me before the foundation of the world' (17:24).  In the time between Jesus' going away and his coming again to take us to himself so that where he is we also may be (see 14:3), the community is the place of encounter between Jesus and his disciples.  There we are born again of the spirit, eat and drink the life of Jesus, and share that life with fellow believers and with all those to whom we testify about him" (Sandra M. Schneiders, Written That You May Believe, New York:  Crossroad Publishing, 2003).  
We may believe that it takes more than that which is entrusted to the community of faith here to be a church.  We may believe that church needs to be a worshiping body that gathers regularly for word and sacrament.  We may believe that the Church needs offices and lines of accountability and authority.  However, I hope you will agree with me that what is here in John entrusted to the Disciples is part of the church's call.  Jesus Christ prayed for the unity of the believers, the unity of the Church, in order to serve an evangelistic purpose--to confront the world with its sin (John 15:22, 24; 16:8-9), and call them to believe in Jesus Christ (17:14-19).  This is the work of evangelism as defined by the Gospel of John.  
John also directs us to the means of evangelism.  It seems conspicuous to me that though the Church is called to serve as a witness for (John 15:27) the means specified elsewhere are not present in John.  The gospel of John does not conclude with a great commission (Matthew 28:18-20).  Unlike the book of Acts with its eight kerygmatic sermons (Acts 2:14-36; 3:12-16; 4:8-12; 5:29-32; 10:34-43; 13:16-41; 14:15-17; 17:22-31), John does not envision public preaching as the means of evangelism.  As 1 John says, "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action" (1 John 3:18).Nothing like Paul's rhetorical question "how are they to to hear without someone to proclaim?" is found in the Gospel of John.  Instead, John envisions that the means of evangelism come in the form of loving acts.  It comes in loving acts of mutual service as reflected in the washing of feet and it comes in the form of unity among believers.  In short the gospel of John does not speak of unity in evangelism; John speaks of the evangelism of unity.  Ecumenism seen through the Gospel of John is not an evangelistic strategy.  It is essentially evangelism itself. 