John 17:1-11
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ.
The account we read in John is called the high priestly prayer. This prayer is only recorded in John. According to the Gospel of John this occurs just prior to Jesus' arrest. Theologians find clear evidence that John has rearranged earlier material in his book. Many have wondered if the high priestly prayer was part of the discourses that Jesus had with his disciples after the resurrection. Because of the evidence of rearrangement, readings from John are often part of the Easter season.
Regardless of the actual time line of events, John's emphasis is on the love story of Jesus. While the other three gospels, the synoptic gospels, are written like historical works. John wants us know about the passion Jesus and God have for His people.
Of note in this passage the words glorify and glory are used six times. it may be helpful to understand the word as it was used. The Hebrew word for "glory" is actually the word for heavy or fat which came to mean significant. But we will come back to that in a little later.
This prayer has many facets and reveals or reiterates lessons from both the Old and New Testaments.
The disciples had a special relationship with Jesus. They could interact with Him in ways that we associate with the physical world. Just prior to our reading from Acts, Jesus departs from the disciples ascending from Mount Olivet. In his prayer, Jesus prayed for the disciples and for us and God heard that prayer. Jesus ascended but He didn't leave us alone, we are always with Jesus as he has promised us. Through the Holy Spirit Christ has assured us that we are one with Him and with the Father. Even if we don't physically see Him be assured He is not far away.
It's easy for us to sometimes feel abandoned and alone, because we don't see Him we forget about His power to work in us and guide us. This is especially true when things are going uphill. Those times when things are going well we forget to be thankful for every blessing. That's usually when we make some bad choices and make a mess of things.
When things are looking up we begin to become confident and self-centered. Look what I accomplished. That's when we start to make those bad choices. That's okay because God is bigger than any problem we can create. He understands our weaknesses and forgives us. God has a way of making our mistakes into blessings. It might be a bumpy ride before we realize how God uses a misstep as a blessing, but be assured it will happen. If there is one supreme example of God making mistakes into blessings it's the Apostle Paul.
We are often the source of our deepest problems. Judas betrayed Jesus, and I'm sure we can think of people who betrayed us or that we betrayed others. In the end Jesus died for Judas too, indeed for the sins of the whole world. There is not one sin, nor even all sins, which are greater than the blood of Jesus Christ. The hurts we have endured, the suffering which has come to us will not be worth comparing to the glory which is revealed in us on the day of Jesus.
Let's not forget that we have an adversary who stalks us like a lion looking for his next meal. He waits for us to open ourselves up to attack. He may see us as helpless and weak, but that is because he is blind to the reality of what we are in Christ. We are filled with the Holy Spirit of God. He might destroy our body, but he can't take us away from Christ, our salvation is securely in God's hands. The devil has been defeated and roars in pain and frustration.
Yet the devil persists, he is as familiar with the strategy of divide and conquer as any military planner. He tries to use division not only to afflict us in our human relationships, but he wholeheartedly to attack our relationship with God. Tragically the devil does find divisions in our relationship with God. He tries to cut us off from the life sustaining grace of our Lord. By ourselves there is nothing we can do to thwart his efforts.
Our comfort is in God uniting us with Him. Jesus' prayer has been answered; we are not orphaned or alone. Jesus watches over everything in our life, not as judge, but to exercise his beautiful authority, so he may give us life. He does that today as He works in our baptism, in the celebration of communion, in the words of absolution, in the words I share with you, and in this fellowship of love. Just as Jesus asked the Father, you are one with God.
Lets circle back to the words glory and glorified used so many time in the reading. When Jesus is glorified on the cross, he becomes "heavy" or "significant" for the world. When Jesus is glorified in us, he also is "heavy" or "significant" to the world. We are His.
Jesus prayed for the disciples and future believers. He knew we would need His Spirit to strengthen us, give us courage, and to give us wisdom to walk the path He put before us to be significant in the world. For the Kingdom to grow we need to walk the path and be a light in a dark world. As we embark on the journey to rebuild the devil will throw road blocks in our path. They may come from inside or outside of these walls. Regardless we are going to have the hope and power of Jesus to remove those roadblocks. If it is His plan for this congregation to rebuild nothing is going to stop it from occurring.
Jesus gave us the words the Father gave Him. We can depend on those words. More importantly we can depend on the Spirit to give us the right words to say when the time comes to witness, to be significant to the world for Him. All we need to do is ask.
In the name our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
