John 17:6-19
17:6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;
17:8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
17:9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.
17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
17:11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
17:12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
17:14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
17:16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
17:18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
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We are all familiar with The
Lord’s Prayer. We pray it together here every Sunday, and many of us use it as
a daily prayer in a variety of ways – our prayer at the meal table, or morning
or evening, or when we put our kids to bed – it’s a prayer that we know well,
that can come to mind often.
Chapter 17 in John’s gospel, that
we just heard, offers another (lesser known) Lord’s Prayer. It’s not a prayer
Jesus was teaching us, but it’s a prayer Jesus was praying himself – and he was
praying for us.
When you look through the gospels,
there are not many of Jesus’ prayers provided for us in words. Those that are
documented are mostly one liners like these:
· Thank you
for giving your truth to infants and not to the wise.
· (when
Lazarus is raised) Thank you for hearing me – and I’m saying this for the
benefit of the crowd hearing me…
· Take this
cup from me if possible.; but not my will, but yours
· Father,
glorify your name.
· My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?
But this particular one fills up a
whole chapter.
·
What is this prayer about?
·
What is there for us to learn about it?
·
What does it mean for our lives?
This prayer is about us, and for
us. Jesus is praying for us.
He acknowledges that life is
difficult, and will be especially so for the disciples. He is asking God to be
with us and to walk with us all along the way. He also prays for us to be made
holy – to be sanctified – as we are being sent out into the world.
We are called to be in the world
but not of the world.
What does that mean? And how does
that make us holy?
It’s not an easy thing to
understand. To the best of my understanding, it means that we cannot separate
ourselves from what is going on in the world, whether it’s in the news, or in
our relationships, or in the lives of those we love. When we encounter a need,
we are called to respond in love. Not to judge, not to ignore, but to respond
in love, however we are able.
The way we respond is directly
connected to not being of the world.
· What is a
kingdom of God response? That should be our question.
· What is a
response that is in line with the two most important commandments, according to
Jesus: Love God with everything we have, and love our neighbors as ourselves.
· What is a
response based on unconditional love?
The reality is, those kinds of
responses seem to lead us to the “life is difficult” part: because we are not
shielded from difficult decisions, or from challenges, or from suffering as a
result of our decisions. Being Christian does not take us out of the world. In
fact, Jesus prays “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but I am asking
you to protect them from the evil one.”
How are we protected? Just as
Christ was. Christ was tempted by the evil one, but Christ was given strength
to conquer evil. It was not the kind of strength that would save his life,
ultimately, but it was the strength to go beyond death into new life.
We are not shielded by God, but
God is with us in all our difficulties, all our challenges, all our suffering.
God is with us, to comfort us, to guide us, to lead us on the way, all the way
home.
It is up to choose, to decide,
whether or not we will follow. And following means being faithful. It does not
mean we will be successful, especially in the way the world defines success.
And that brings us back to the
part about life being difficult. The reality is, following the Way of Christ,
following the living Word, is not easy. It runs contrary to our own human
sinful tendencies. It is not popular among societal norms.
So the sort of circle that Christ
is describing, is praying about in this prayer, goes like this:
God, I
know that life will be difficult for these disciples. Just like me, you have
called them to go out into the world, but you have also called them to be set
apart from the world - to be holy. That’s not the easy path, even though it is
the path that leads to Real Life, to True Peace. And so be with them, Father –
guide them, protect them, show them the way, and don’t ever leave them.
A year or so ago I read an article
in the Detroit Free Press about Ruby Dunson. Ruby is an unassuming 80 something
year old woman who has lived on the west side of Detroit, in a 900 square foot
house, for 58 years. She has been a widow for over 50 years now. She worked for
more than 30 years at a cleaners to make a living for her family.
Her family, which consisted of the
ten children she raised in that little home, eight of whom were not her own
children, but were either abandoned at birth or abused as kids.
And she took them in and raised
them as her own.
This all started when Ruby came
home from work one day; she was already widowed by this time, and a neighbor
asked if Ruby could watch her newborn daughter, so that the neighbor could go
to a concert.
Well, that neighbor never came
back.
And so Ruby raised that child.
And one by one, she took in other
children who needed her, and whom she could not turn away.
Her children have grown up to be
·
a nurse,
·
a paralegal,
·
a sheriff’s deputy,
·
a doctor in reading education,
·
a Chrysler plant worker,
·
an aspiring medical school student,
·
a U-Haul driver,
·
a human services employee,
·
and two stay-at-home moms.
Ruby Dunson said she had no choice
but to raise all those kids. She says, “I believe God was testing me. He put
those kids at my door and said, ‘What are you gonna do?’”
Thanks be to God, Ruby did not run
the numbers to see if this made logical sense, if there would be a return on
her investment.
She was willing to be in the
world, but not of the world.
She did not let fear, or financial
struggles, or lack of spare bedrooms or extra bathrooms, or poverty or any of
the multitude of worldly constraints that she clearly could have used to limit
herself, stop her.
She trusted in God, and a miracle
occurred.
She says now, “I just owe so much
to God that my kids turned out so good.” She says she often prayed, “‘Please
Lord, take care of my kids.
And help me.’ And he did.”
Not by making her life easy. But
by being with her, guiding her all along the way, to help her make Gospel
choices – kingdom choices.
We are at the point in the Christian
calendar that recognizes Jesus ascending into heaven – that happened this past
Thursday! and the waiting of the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit –
that happens next Sunday – Pentecost Sunday.
Jesus ascended into heaven and
sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide.
We can trust that through the Holy
Spirit, God is always with us, always guiding us.
The path God has set out for us
will usually involve making choices that don’t line up with what the world
would choose.
But the peace that comes from
following God is not the peace that the world gives.
So –
What will you do differently from
what the world would expect of you, this coming week, that would reflect how
you are following Christ?
How will God use you this week?
Maybe it’s –
· being a
good friend to another
· listening
to another’s struggle
· standing
up for someone vulnerable
· doing an
exceptional job at work
· volunteering
to make a difference
· praying
for those in need
· knitting a
prayer shawl
I invite you to take a minute, and
write it down on your bulletin, and take it home with you. Keep Christ’s prayer
for you in your heart and your mind this week – make it your own prayer. And
respond to how God is using you as you encounter God and experience God in your
everyday moments.
Let’s close with this other Lord’s
Prayer, as it was restated by David Lose in his commentary (http://www.davidlose.net/2015/05/easter-7-b-called-and-sent/)
for this week’s scripture:
Dear God, whose love knows no
ending, we know this life is beautiful and difficult and sometimes both at the
same time. We do not ask that you take us out of this world, but that you
support and protect us while we are in it. We pray that you would set us apart
in the truth we have heard here, that your love is for everyone, and we ask
that you would send us out from this service to bear witness in word and deed
to your grace, goodness and love. May we hear your voice calling us at home and
at work, at school, our social settings, and the places we gather and
volunteer, that we might feel and share your love. We ask this in the name of
Jesus, the one set apart and made holy for us. Amen.
Ruby Dunson and Family: (Source: Detroit Free Press)
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