Easter 7 Year B

Easter 7 Year B John 17:6-19 May 24, 2009 The Rev. Benton Quest

Well, we have reached the end of the Easter season. Get a good look at the white paraments because next week they will be red, then once more white for Holy Trinity Sunday, and then they will be green for a whole long time as we enter the Sundays after Pentecost.

As far as the story of Easter goes, we are in a weird time: Christ has ascended into Heaven but we have not had the Holy Spirit show up on the scene yet. So we are in a lull. The apostles were also in a lull; not really sure what was going to happen next.

So it is interesting that this gospel reading from John was chosen for today. In this reading we overhear Jesus praying to God on behalf of the disciples and on our behalf also. In this reading, we overhear Jesus’ hopes, dreams, and desires for not just the disciples of Biblical times, but for his disciples of all times, us included. In this reading we also overhear Jesus’ prayer for the gifts of God to be bestowed upon us. It is a great thing to have someone pray for you, but when that someone is Jesus himself, how could we ever doubt that these prayers will be answered?

First off, before we hear anything else from Jesus’ prayer, we should hear his pride. Jesus is proud of his disciples. He states that right out, “I have been glorified in them.” That seems odd: One will betray him, one will deny him, and all will abandon him. And even though Jesus knows all this will happen, Jesus still says he has been glorified in the disciples. How can he be glorified in a group of people who don’t seem to get anything right? They seem to bungle everything. They never seem to understand. And yet, Jesus is proud of them, more than that, Jesus is grateful for them.

When I think of pride like this, I think about the movie, The Music Man. If you have not seen the movie, a man comes into a town claiming he will create a boys band. Well, the man can’t play a note of music and usually leaves after selling all the instruments but before ever giving any a chance to play. But this time he gets snagged by true love and decides to stay. When the band finally does play, they sound awful! The kids can’t hit any of the notes. But the parents loved it! They were so proud that their children were playing in a band. To the parents, it was not how good the band sounded; what was important was that the kids were trying.

I think it is the same with Jesus: He knew that the disciples were not going to get it right, but the fact that they were even trying to get it right was pleasing. Thomas Merton, a Catholic monk, stated it wonderfully when he said, “. . .the fact that I think I am following God’s will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please God does in fact please God.”

In his prayer, Jesus is proud of his disciples. Jesus is also proud of us. We really cannot be any more bumbling than the disciples were: If Jesus was proud of their efforts and said that he was glorified in them, then we can also be assured that he is also glorified in you efforts to be faithful.

There is a Jewish song, sung around Passover, called Dayenu. The gist of the song is that along each step of the Exodus, the Israelites should have been grateful for what God had given them, but, in fact, God had given them more. Having brought the Israelites to Mt. Sinai would have been enough, but the God gave them the Torah. Having the Torah would have been enough but then God gave them the Land of Israel.

At this point in Jesus’ prayer, we could say, “Dayenu.” Having Jesus proud of us and of our efforts would be enough, but Jesus gives more. Being able to glorify Jesus would have been enough, but there is still more to come.

Jesus prays for God to protect us through God’s name. And he also prays for God to join us together as Jesus and God are bound. I think we forget this. Jesus is asking this of God for our sake. Now, do you really think God is going to say, “No” to Jesus? Or do you think God is going to say, “yes, but only for a little while”? Of course not. But we act as if God were not there to protect us and unify us. We let our fears get in the way of actions. We allow our comfort or discomfort to dictate our actions in our neighborhood and in our our world. We forget that we can act boldly because God is there to protect us.

And again at this point, we could say, “Dayenu,” that would have been enough, but still, Jesus continues. Jesus states in his prayer that we do not belong to the world, as he did not belong to the world. WHAT? We do not belong to the world as Jesus didn’t belong to the world? From what we know, Jesus never owned a house, a donkey, a boat, or even a tent. From what we know, Jesus had little more than the clothes on his back and the sandals on his feet. We can see that Jesus is patently wrong here. We are of the world. We have cars, houses, furniture, iPods, computers, pets, lawn mowers... These things of life only briefly tempted Jesus and he got over that. We not only are tempted by the things of this world, we often give into that temptation whole-heartedly.

So, was Jesus lying when he said that we did not belong to the world? No, I think it would be better to say that Jesus values the direction we are facing much more than our position on the road. This praise, praise about not belonging to the world, was given originally to the disciples, people who bickered over who would have the position of the most power and people who clung to their dream of an earthly kingdom. These were not people who were models of simple living. And still, Jesus says they do not belong to this world. Through Jesus, the disciples are lifted above the world they could see. Through Jesus we are lifted above the life we see.

We are protected through God’s name and we are lifted above the concerns of the world; and we bring glory to Jesus, to that we could say, “Dayenu,” that is enough. But Jesus does not stop. He continues praying. We are not to exist for ourselves but for the good of those in the world. Even though we are surrounded by a world that would not hear the Gospel; even though there are people who would have us limit our love to those who fit nicely into certain categories; even though we may want to shrink back into a corner and keep away from anything that appears to be defiled, Jesus sends us out into the world.

We may say that going fearlessly into the world, extravagantly loving and caring, is just too much. We may think that this commission is just too big for us to do. We may feel we could never live up to such expectations. But to think this way is to forget who is praying for us! This is Jesus, God incarnate praying for us! This is Jesus, the Son of God intervening for us! This is The Word, the one present at the beginning of time, who is proud of us. We could not ask for a better source of encouragement! And if Jesus is the one praying for us, we can rest assured that the task is not too much for us.

So we are between the Ascension and Pentecost. But this is not the time to sit back and wait. Now is the time to trust in Jesus. Now is the time to trust in the promise. Now is the time to spread the news of love and forgiveness we have received through Jesus.

Just to have Jesus proud of us would have been enough. To have God protect us would have been enough. To bring glory to God would have been enough. But we have Jesus praying for us. So we go out into the world knowing that if Jesus is behind us, we cannot possibly fail.