(Sermon text: John 17:20-26)
Given at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, Illinois; Saturday, May 19th, 2007
(With hands folded together) “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple. Open the doors, and see all the people.”
Remember doing that when you were a kid? (Maybe you still do that!...perhaps with children or grandchildren.)
If we think about this children’s rhyme for a minute, we might ask ourselves, “what is the church?”
Is the church:
- A building?
- An institution (like The Episcopal Church)?
This rhyme might lead us to think that the “church” is the building, or perhaps the Institution, something distinct from the people inside….”here’s the church….open the doors, and see all the people.”
But there are other definitions that are possible, as well….definitions that focus on the people inside the building (and in the world):
- The whole body of followers of Jesus Christ, down through the ages
- The local body of believers who have come to follow Christ
Actually, that is the definition of the early Church of itself….it called itself the "ecclesia", [1] literally meaning “the ‘called out’ ones”. The early Church saw itself as a group of believers who had been “called out” of the world to gather around the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Though John’s Gospel account does not use the term “ecclesia”, it is clear from his language and description of the followers of Jesus Christ that he understands the Church from this vantage point: the Church is, first and foremost, people who have been “called out” of the world, and into an intimate relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, the Son….whatever other concerns the Church might take up (doing works of mercy for the poor, seeking justice for all persons, etc) all have their relevance in relationship to this central reality: the person and work of Jesus Christ, through whom we know God the Father.
And as we turn now to our Gospel reading for today, taken from the very last part of Jesus’ “high priestly prayer”,[2] we can apply another definition to the word “Church”….the Church is the group of believers for whom Jesus prays.
Since the beginning of chapter 17, Jesus has been in prayer. It is the time of the Last Supper, and since chapter 13 of John, Jesus has been instructing his disciples in the key principles that will guide their lives once He has left them to return to the Father.
But now, we (along with the original disciples and all the believers down through the ages) are privileged to “listen in” on Jesus’ prayer. Beginning with Himself, he prays that God the Father will glorify the Son (verses 1 – 5). Then, beginning with verse 6, He begins to pray for His immediate disciples, those who had known and followed Him over the course of His earthly ministry. Jesus prays that they will be protected “in the name of the Father” once He has returned to the Father.
Finally, Jesus begins to pray “on behalf of those who will believe in me through their (the original disciples) word”….that would include you and me, the Church of today.
Jesus uses three terms that are found throughout John’s Gospel account, which might help us to understand what He is asking the Father to do for us. They are: “glory” (and “glorify”), “world”, and “love”. Let’s look at each one, as John uses them:
- Glory: In John’s usage, “glory” has specific connotations, including:
1) Jesus’ projection of the glory of God the Father (as in John 1: 14: “we have seen His (Jesus’) glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”);
2) Jesus’ making known God the Father’s character and love for the world brings glory to the Father; and
3) Jesus’ death on the cross is Jesus’ “hour”[3], which demonstrates the character of Jesus’ (and the Father’s) love. - World: For John, the “world” isn’t the physical earth we live in, but all of the whole forces (spiritual and human) that are allied against God.
- Love: The Greek language has four words to describe love, but in today’s passage, the one that John consistently uses is “agape”, the self-giving, pure love that is seen most clearly in Jesus passion and death.
What lessons might we draw from Jesus’ prayer for us, using these three key words? I think the following are appropriate:
- The basis of unity is the model of the Son’s unity with the Father: In John 10: 30, we hear Jesus say, “I and the Father are one.”. And again, in John 14: 9, Jesus tells Philip, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John’s consistent message is that Jesus “was God”.[4] Jesus, sent by the Father, to do the Father’s will, was consistently one with the Father, carrying out the Father’s will, and speaking the words the Father gave Him. Jesus gave “glory” to the Father by His faithfulness.
- We are gathered up into the life of God through faith in the Son: Jesus said in John 15: 15 – 16a, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from the Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last….” We are no longer on the outside, looking in at the life of God….No, God has chosen us to be taken up into the life of God, as today’s text says, “the glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” We have been called out of the world into relationship with God.
- Unity with the Son and with the Father is the basis for making the Father known in the world: Jesus’ relationship with the Father had an intimacy and directness that we find impossible to match… The mutual love of the Son and the Father was pure...But we are fallen human beings, prone to disobedience and sin, tempted to doubt, and likely to “miss the mark” of God’s will and high standards. None of us can claim that we are “one with the Father”, either in our will or our deeds. We are in need of Christ’s purifying presence in our hearts and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be able to see Jesus Christ clearly, and to be able to amend our ways, that we may begin to resemble Him in our words and our works, to be able to love as Christ loved the Father and us.
Our Gospel text today calls us to a reassessment of our hearts and our lives:
- We have been called out of the world, into a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ, His Son. How well do our lives mirror God’s holiness, in word and deed?
- God’s glory was shown in the faithfulness of the Son. How faithful are we to the Father, through the Son, giving glory to God in our faithfulness?
- How well do we know the Father and the Son, as they are revealed to us in Holy Scripture? (Constant study and reassessment are necessary to Christian growth!)
- Does our concept of “love” transcend the world’s definition, and begin to resemble the self-giving love of Jesus Christ?
May the Holy Spirit, Advocate and Guide, lead us into all truth, and remind us of the words of Jesus.[5]
AMEN.
[1] The term “ecclesia” comes from the Greeks, who used it to describe those who had been called into service as a local governing body, like a town council. Matthew’s Gospel account is the only one to use the actual word “ecclesia”.
[2] This informal title has been applied to John chapter 17 in its entirety since about the 16th century.
[3] Another key term for John, used to describe Jesus’ passion and death.
[4] John 1: 1
[5] John 14: 26
