20 February 2010
Psalm 30, 32; Ezek. 39:21-29; Phil. 4:10-20; John 17:20-26

The people went into exile for their “treachery” but the Lord will bring them back. What reason does He give for the mercy? None. He simply chooses to bring them back, for the sake of mercy, not because of their righteousness. This is to display His holiness, to proclaim His Name, first given to Moses as "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation." The prime characteristic revealed was mercy and yet it wasn’t the only characteristic revealed. Nothing in that self-description has changed.

Jesus continues to pray for the unity of the disciples. Their unity among one another is to be the same as the unity of the Father and the Son and their unity is to be their confession of Jesus and in that confession they will share in the unity and love of the Father and the Son. Not only does He pray for those gathered that night but also for those who will believe because of their testimony or their word. That would be us! Jesus prays that we will share in all that the disciples shared with Him, we don’t have a lesser degree of love and unity with Him simply because we were born, as Paul says, “out of time.” The fellowship they experienced is available to us via the Holy Spirit living in us. Not only does Jesus ask the Father that we have unity, He also asks that we be with Him, “where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Do we believe that the Father said yes to that prayer?

Paul gives thanks for the financial support he had received from the Philippian church. It seems Paul never liked asking for help. The work of missions deserves our support, in fact it requires our support. In that support we are connected with not only the missionaries but also the people served. The church is meant to be one throughout the world. Even where we have no immediate physical contact with one another, we can share in the joy of those who are being evangelized as brothers and sisters. Just as we are physically separated from Jesus yet together in Spirit, so do we share unity and love with those who are distant from us when we share our abundance to relieve their need.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!