Seventh Sunday of Easter

 

Donna Joy

John 17:7-26

I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to get caught up in the excitement and enthusiasm of all the “Alleluias” at the Easter Vigil and again on Easter Day. I think Anglican liturgy includes and inspires this expression effectively and well. And, of course, we know the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, although it is always good to hear it again. When Easter comes we tend to be in the mood for the celebration. It is special, with the church decorated with lilies and other types of fresh flowers and spectacular banners, and various other traditions that may be unique to each individual person and family.But whatever that all may be, “The Lord is risen!” often seems to trip off our tongues so beautifully each year when that times comes around.

But now it is the forty-third day after the Resurrection of Christ.The Easter exuberance has waned. The flowers have faded and withered.Much has happened during those 43 days, so now it somehow seems like a distant memory.Things have happened in each of our personal lives during these 43 days, and here at St. Peter’s we have had a whole weekend celebrating the arts and just this weekend our annual garage sale.Life goes on.

Added to that, the church celebrated the Ascension of Christ last Thursday. The risen Christ isn’t with us anymore – not at least in the way he had been present during those first days following his resurrection. And two white-robed men appeared and had the nerve to say, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). But these words may seem a bit confusing because where else are we going to look if not toward heaven? And if Jesus is coming back that way, shouldn’t we be looking that direction?

So not only are we in the dim after-glow of Easter, the one who made it light up so well has – it seems - left us in the darkness of the world. Easter – after all – is about the light shining into the darkness, because with the resurrection Jesus the Christ, God’s only Son, crossed the barrier of death and returned triumphant not only over what kills the physical body, but also over what snuffs out the eternal spark of the divine image in us. Now – it seems – he has disappeared.So, what good is a risen Savior if he isn’t with us?

Well, yes, he did tell us that if he went and prepared a place for us, he would come again and take us to himself, so that where he is, there we may be also (John 14:3). I guess that is all well and good, but it most certainly leaves us in an in-between time, after resurrection and before his return. And we have been in this time ever since. And not just ‘us’ but generations of people who heard about Jesus and were blessed because they believed in him even though they never met him face to face. So what are we supposed to do, while we wait, while our
bodies – over time - give out in the midst of this seemingly endless waiting for his return?

The closing words of Jesus last prayer with his disciples before he was arrested and crucified helps us to know what to do during this in-between time, this eternal waiting.Jesus prays for the remaining disciples (Judas had already left to make his final betrayal arrangements),

In his prayer he includes those who are close, but he also widens the circle of those for whom he prays.He prays for the multitude of people in countless generations who will come to know of him because the disciples will be spiritually compelled to remember him and teach about him after the pain of crucifixion and the shock of resurrection has come and gone.

Jesus prays for a unity, a oneness already modeled by the Son and the Father, a oneness which will be so compelling that the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father to be with us and to save us and to love us just as God has loved him. Jesus further prays that those whom the Father has given to him will be with him in his place of glory.They will witness his eternal and abiding glory which is the gift of God’s love. In that divine love believers cannot be separated from Christ or from God.

So, it seems that the message here is one of unity: a unity that begins with God in heaven and shared with Jesus, and made visible to the world through those who follow.But the difficulty, of course, is that there is often not a state of unity among those who follow.We see a lack of unity throughout the church at many levels.I actually think on that score we do pretty well at St. Peter’s, but of course we have our own struggles here as well.

So, throughout the church – often – we are not ‘one’ as Jesus calls us to be. But the oneness which Jesus talks about isn’t exclusively human oneness. Human beings will never unify themselves. The power of sin and evil will always thwart every attempt by human beings to become united. There’s a kind of force that is set up by sin and evil that keeps us from establishing and maintaining that unity successfully. It’s all we can do to unite two people in marriage, and – all-too-often - we don’t do that very well. I think the current average is one out of two marriages end in divorce.Fifty percent doesn’t constitute a passing grade.

But the unity for which Jesus prays comes through divine will and action.The harder we try, the harder we fail.

It is God who brings about the kind of oneness that God desires and affirms. It is a oneness that creates some strange and surprising companions in this life’s journey of faith. Peter – after all - had no intention of sharing the gospel with those pork-eating gentiles of Cornelius’ household or any other house, but God told him it was O.K. Saul was the least likely candidate for winning people to Christ, but that’s was part of God’s plan.And, certainly we cannot even begin to imagine who God is planning to unite us with.And – maybe – if we know who it was that God was planning to unite us with we wouldn’t be very keen either.

The three key concepts which Christ leaves us with – belief, unity, and love – are crucial.

As far as the gospel-writer John is concerned, as followers/disciples of Jesus, belief is always focused in relation to Jesus.True belief in Jesus means perceiving and confessing something of the vital – unique – relationship between him and God. Belief also has consequences.

Whoever believes in Jesus Christ as God’s Son will do the work which Jesus himself has done in the name of God. I don’t know about you, but I find that quite daunting and somewhat scary.

Through our belief in Jesus, which we proclaim through baptism, confirmation, and
profession of faith, we have taken on the ministry which Jesus himself has thrown himself into.

It causes us to think:  What did I do yesterday, last week, last month that was Jesus’ ministry?

Then there’s unity. No one ever said unity’s easy. Unity is more than the harmony within a single congregation. Jesus said he had other folds of sheep who listen to his voice.

John makes no pretense of calling for one mega-church to serve the world because unity is multi-dimensional.Unity has to do with divine-human relations and with human-to-human relationships. All unity is the result of God’s power, and somehow we are called to allow the unifying power of Jesus bind us to each other and to the diversity that exists beyond the walls of this place.But that’s probably a whole other sermon – or series of sermons – for another time.

Like Paul’s big three, so this threesome includes love. Perhaps only in tennis and the Fourth Gospel can we really be certain what this word means. David, who is an avid tennis fan, tells me that in tennis, love means zero, no points. For Jesus, according to John, love means to will the well-being of others to the degree that one would give one’s own life for the benefit of others.

That has been his ministry, from day one. “I give you a new commandment:  ...just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. His words of resurrection greeting to the trembling disciples reflect that love with the words:  “Peace be with you.”Such love serves as a testimony to “the world” concerning Jesus.

Indeed, during this in between time as we wait for Jesus’ return, we are called to focus on and actively engage in belief, unity and love.Because with belief, unity, and love – embodied in us through Jesus – the after-glow of Easter can and will be strong, warm, and inviting, that the world may know and believe.The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!