7th Sunday of Easter 2017
John 17:1-11; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
I think of the times when my children were
small, and I would walk into a room and begin talking not to my child, but with the full expectation and intention that they
would overhear me:
·
“Where
is Billy? I can’t find him anywhere – he must have left the house! We had better
send a search party to find him!” I knew
of course that Billy was hiding safely behind the drapes, the toes of his
sneakers poking out from beneath the fabric. I meant for him to hear me. Another example from those days:
·
“I think
I heard noise coming from upstairs, but I am
sure that can’t be any of our
children! Because they know what’s good for them, so I know
that when I go up there right now, I am going to find everyone sound asleep in
their beds!” Again I spoke, intending for them to hear me, and hoping they got
the message!
In our gospel lesson today, it is Jesus
himself who speaks, intending his
followers to overhear what he says and what he prays – to get the message.
As the time grows close for Jesus to be
arrested and taken away, Jesus appeals to God on behalf of all those who will
follow him, who will carry on in his name after he is gone. And so, on the
occasion of Jesus’s last evening with his disciples, Jesus engages in what has
been called a “heavenly family conversation” between himself and God.
We only hear one-half of this conversation between
the Father and the Son, a conversation in which Jesus repeats what he has
already told his disciples – that he will soon be leaving them; that he will be
returning to his father in heaven; yet he will continue to love these whom he
leaves behind, and he will not leave them either unprepared nor alone.
His meant-to-be-overheard communication with
God is a message full of hope, love, promise and truth for his followers. Jesus
reveals those things that are closest to his heart – his care and concern for
them, his love for them, and his determination that they continue to be united
in belief and purpose. Not only united with one another but most assuredly,
united with him.
Despite what they will soon witness and
endure, through this prayer, Jesus wants his disciples to believe that God will
be with them, working on their behalf.
Jesus repeats what he has already told them,
just as a good parent repeats ad nauseum the messages their children need to
remember for a good life or for safety: you are loved; you are worthy; work
hard; tell the truth; be honest in all your doings; wear your seat
belt.
Jesus will soon be leaving his disciples, but
they will never be left alone, because God has ensured that after Jesus has
been “glorified on the cross” and returns to his father in heaven, an advocate,
his own Holy Spirit, will continue to protect, teach, guide, strengthen and
inspire them.
So on this pivotal night, Jesus, who has so
often modeled prayer for his disciples gives them this gift of overheard prayer.
His previous prayers to God have often been
for guidance or strength for himself, but here is a wonderful example of intercessory
prayer: Jesus prays for them, for us, for
all who will follow.
Despite all the other things that must have
been taking up head-space for Jesus that night, his thoughts and concerns were
for those he was leaving behind: “I am asking on their behalf,” he says. “I am not asking on behalf of the world,
but on behalf of those whom you gave me because they are yours.” What a
beautiful gift!
Intercessory prayer is powerful. It is pure
gift and blessing for those who pray and for those being prayed for. How often
have you heard someone say that knowing someone was praying for them helped
them through a difficult situation? It happens all the time. Maybe it’s even been
your own experience.
It is not unusual when I visit with someone who
has been going through a difficult time of illness or loss, and tell them that
the congregation has been praying for them and in fact we had prayed for them
together, aloud, during worship, the response I receive is that in some way the
person felt the prayer, and that it
made all the difference.
So, what does it feel like, today, to know
that Jesus is praying for you? What difference does it make in your life that
not only are you being prayed for, but that our Lord Jesus is one who is doing
the praying, and that the Holy spirit prays for you, in sighs too deep for
words? How does it feel to know that no matter what your circumstance, Jesus
knows it well and intercedes for you? How does it impact the work that we do in
the name of Our Lord, to overhear this prayer and know that Jesus prays for
this community?
There are many things for which Jesus prays
on our behalf. Jesus prays for peace. On that night, Jesus prayed that people
might continue to know God through knowing him, even after he would be gone
from their sight.
Jesus prays for the healing of the world. And
in today’s gospel text, Jesus prays specifically that these brothers and
sisters, who believe in God and have become disciples of Jesus, will continue
in relationship with the God and with one another, following the way of Christ.
Finally, Jesus prays for the unity of those
who believe in him. He prays for those who will continue in his ministry, the
ones who will share his name as he himself shares in the name of God. Jesus
prays that we will be one.
At the beginning of worship this morning, we
remembered and gave thanks for Baptism. In a few moments, as we receive new
members into our congregation, we once again recall and affirm that we believe
in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that this faith, a gift given to us, binds
us together and makes us one.
We will confess how, through water and the Word,
through prayer and meal, the Holy Spirit draws us together, the Body of Christ
in the Priesthood of all believers, and those for whom Jesus prays this prayer.
As Jesus brings us together he blesses us
with different gifts, and joins us as one despite our different backgrounds and
varied stories. At the table, Jesus
feeds us as disciples and apostles, joined together through the grace of God, and
trusting more in the power of the Holy Spirit than in human willpower. “Protect
them,” Jesus prays, so that they may be one as we are one.”
Think of all the significant and silly
differences we experience in our life together – debates about war and peace,
human sexuality, economic justice, the color of the carpet in the chancel,
whether we worship God in one service or two. In every age, people have chosen
to remove themselves from community over these and other matters. But Jesus
prays for us – “may they be one as we are one.”
Think of all the not-so-silly struggles and
challenges that the followers of Jesus face. The letter from 1 Peter is a
reminder that there are many struggles that we will encounter. The apostle in
fact calls this the fiery ordeal that confronts us coming from the world within
and around us.
This week once again in very stark
circumstances, Christians in Egypt were targeted for violence and death. We
look around and we fear death of another kind may one day face our community as
we see shrinking numbers in worship and experience a loss of cultural support
and respect for religion.
In the prayer of the day today, we expressed
the same kind of yearning reflected in Jesus’ prayer: “Unite us with Christ and
each other in suffering and in joy, that all the world may be drawn into your
bountiful presence.”
How powerful it is to know that Jesus has
prayed to God on our behalf! There is no one for whom Jesus did not pray on
that last night. Like the prayer of a parent overheard by the child for whom
one intercedes, what this prayer reveals, is Jesus’ deep love for us all.
The great prayer contained in this gospel
text today evokes longing in us to be fully “one” with Jesus, in the mystical
communion of prayer so that his prayer of love for us becomes not a farewell
but rather a homecoming.
Jesus prays that his followers, as diverse as
we are will be one, not that they
will all be the same. Unity is not the same as uniformity.
Our diversity of background and thought
brings beauty to the tapestry of our faith communities. Finally, Jesus
demonstrates, through this overheard message, what it means to cast all our
concerns on God, because God indeed cares for us.
So here is the thing, and I look to the second
reading for this where, the seventh verse reads, “Cast all your anxiety on him,
because he cares for you.” I think that along with the assurance that he
himself cares and is constantly advocating for us, this is part of Jesus’
message to us as well.
When Jesus was troubled, what did you do?
Pray. When Jesus was thankful, what did he do? Pray. When Jesus was weary, or
frightened, or tired, he prayed. And when Jesus was preparing to leave his
disciples to go to the cross, he showed them what it meant to cast all his
concerns, all his anxiety, all his desires on God, knowing how much God cares
for us all.
It’s a good message for the disciples. It is
an essential message to us today. Whatever troubles you, whatever gives you
joy, whatever it is that you need to be united as one with God’s purpose and in
God’s love, trust the faithfulness of God, who loved us into being, to love you
with the power that is God’s alone.
Amen.
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