And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
The unity for which Jesus prays is a unity of purpose: that His followers be united in their striving for one goal.
Jesus is not asking that His followers be all the same. ‘Unity’ is not ‘uniformity.’ Unity is not conformity.
To the contrary, Paul writes in his letters to the Corinthians that there is a diversity of spiritual gifts. There is a diversity of roles which individuals play when the followers of Jesus gather.
The ‘unity’ which Jesus gives to His people is a supernatural unity which the world cannot give. Jesus gives a unity amidst the diversity of His followers.
In Luke’s account of the early church, he records that a diversity was acknowledged: those followers of Jesus who came from gentile backgrounds were asked to do one set of tasks, while those from Jewish backgrounds were asked to do another set of tasks (Acts 15:28).
