A Reflection for Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Find today’s readings here.
“Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn 17:24)
In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus’ longest public prayer. So we should pay attention!
Perhaps the most famous selection from this prayer—sometimes called the “High Priestly Prayer of Jesus”—is its plea for Christian unity: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one.”
It’s a beautiful idea, one that takes on greater poignancy when we read a line that comes later: “Father, they are your gift to me.”
Jesus is speaking about his friends, the disciples. Of course, he wants them to love and care for one another—to be of one mind and heart.
I don’t often think about the disciples as Jesus’ friends—his students, maybe. But friendship is a much better way to describe their relationship. They ate together, traveled together, witnessed God’s miracles together. I’m sure there was a lot of laughter along the way.
We all know that Jesus was God’s gift to us. Jesus is saying today that the disciples were God’s gift to him. What a wonderful way to think about friendship, and how wonderful that Jesus experienced this too.
A moment from “The Chosen” brought this home for me. Jesus is working with Matthew to develop a great sermon, but he can’t figure out how to begin. Finally, he settles on what we know as the Beatitudes. And as he speaks each line aloud, he imagines his friends, the disciples. Blessed are those who mourn—Peter comforting Andrew. Blessed are the peacemakers—Philip mediating a dispute.
It’s a moving moment and a profound idea to contemplate today: The greatest movement in human history began with a circle of friends.
