A Paradox

A Paradox

John 17:20-26

“May Jesus Christ be today the companion of my thoughts, so that His [divinity] may more and more take root within my soul.  May He be in me and I in Him, even as Thou wert in Him and through Him mayest be in me and I at rest in Thee.”

These words are from John Baillie’s prayer for Sunday morning.  At first reading, this demands a second reading—and perhaps a third and fourth.  It’s confusing:  who is to be in whom?  Is Jesus Christ in me, or am I in Jesus Christ?  Am I in God, or is God in me?  Is it possible that all of the above can be true?  If so, how?

We get some clarification from Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper, as recorded by John.  For more than two chapters Jesus has been teaching the disciples his final lesson.  He has finished speaking to them.  Now he turns his attention heavenward and spends the next chapter praying for them.  Near the end of the prayer he asks not just that God will hold the disciples close, but that God will hold them within the relationship that unites Jesus and the Father.  He makes clear once again that he and the Father are one, united although separate—another paradox, but one we understand somewhat through the doctrine of the Trinity. 

But Jesus doesn’t stop there.  He also asks that all who believe in him through the words of the disciples will be united with the Father in this same relationship—that all may be one.  While we do not believe solely because of the disciples’ words, we are direct descendants of those first Christians.  There is, we believe, an unbroken line from Jesus through the apostles, down to us.  Through the answer to Jesus’ prayer, we know we live within the bonds of this relationship.  We are within God the Father.

What about the other part—Jesus being within us?  How does that work?  We teach our children in Sunday school that we can have Jesus in our hearts.  It’s not the easiest concept for children to understand, but it is a way of explaining their relationship with God.  Jerome Bruner, the American psychologist and educator, taught that any concept can be understood by children if it can be explained simply enough.  We tell children that Jesus once walked this earth and now dwells with God in heaven, and so can be in our hearts.  They can grasp the idea of a flesh and blood person, and, we hope, stretch that concept to understand that Jesus is in heaven with God, and also within us.

Trying to explain the Holy Spirit is much more difficult.  Many times I’m not sure I understand completely myself.  We know from Jesus’ last words to his disciples that it is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and who guides and protects us.  Jesus—and God the Father—through the Holy Spirit, dwells within us. 

This is how the paradox works:  through our belief in Jesus and our confession of that belief, we become united with the Trinity.  We don’t have to understand how it works, we just have to accept it.  We are not, of course, part of the Godhead, but have been granted a relationship as the children of God (as Paul says frequently).  We now live within God and God lives within us.  We are part of God’s family.

Slowly reading through Baillie’s prayer untangles the confusion and helps us see past the paradox to the beauty.  We are within God.  God is within us.  God within us helps us to know how we should live.  We within God can claim what the psalms so frequently talk about:  God is our rock, our fortress, our help in times of trouble.  Because of this mutual relationship, we can realize the last words of Baillie’s prayer.  We can be at rest in God.