This Holy Wednesday morning I’ll reflect on Jesus’s Great Eucharistic Prayer to the Father as recorded in John 17.  It is said in the presence of the Apostles just days before His Passion. Here is a portion of that prayer:

At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, ‘As you, Father, did send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.

‘I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; even 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. The glory which you have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to behold My glory which You have given Me in your love for Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You; and these know that You have sent Me. I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them’ (John 17:18-26).

Our Lord is praying for us—for all who believe in Him through the Apostles. This prayer reveals the reason for Christ’s coming—to bring divine unity into the world: “that they may all be one, even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in us”.  We are to participate in God’s very life and thus be united with the Father and the Son. And it is the Holy Spirit, the Helper and Spirit of Truth sent by Christ on Pentecost, who is working in us to complete God’s plan for our salvation and for the salvation of the world.

This means we are in the world to bear witness by living our faith and being what we are—The Body of Christ. We belong to Christ, and now we must act.  Christ’s plan is to continue His ministry in the world through us. The world will be saved through us. And this happens as we deny ourselves and follow Him. This is how we are “consecrated in truth”.

We are about to witness Christ’s Passion, his death and Resurrection. Die with Him so that you may live in Him. Work with God to become more fully what you are, a part of Christ’s Body. Then in God’s time, all shall be well, for all shall be one.

Believe this, pray for this, and act!

Fr. Paul Martin
Annunciation & St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church
New Buffalo, MI