A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, May 16, 2010
Acts 16:16–34; Psalm 47; Revelation 22:12–14,16–17,20; John 17:20–26
There’s a blank with my name in it in today’s gospel text.
And, oh yes, your name is written there, too.
What do I mean by this statement?
Simply this: Jesus prays, in the words we hear today, not only for “these only”, that is, His original disciples, but for “those who believe in me through their (the disciples’) word.” That would be you and me, believers in the 21st century, who are direct descendents of all those, down through the centuries, who have received the testimony of the disciples-become-apostles, and have passed it on.
Essentially, this “passing on” is the heart of the mission of the Church, which, as the Catechism at the back of the Prayer Book says, is to “restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” (Book of Common Prayer, 1979, p. 855)
Now, let’s be sure that we understand that there are some threads in today’s gospel passage that carry forward some threads which we remarked about in last Sunday’s gospel reading. (Last Sunday’s text was John 14: 23 – 29.) The things we noticed last week are:
- The unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is a unity which exists because of the bonds of love which tie all three together.
- We are drawn into this equation of love by the sending of the Son by the Father. The sending of the Son is the supreme expression of love with the Godhead has for one another, and for us.
- As a consequence of this equation of love, and our being drawn into it, we are then drawn into the very interior existence of God, through the incarnation of the Son, who, being fully God, also became man. By His incarnation, Jesus Christ connects God and humankind.
Now, we step one step forward in our understanding, building on what we observed from last week’s reading.
But before we do, we ought to be sure that we remind ourselves that today’s text is found in the final part of what has come to be known in the Fourth Gospel as Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse”, which stretches from chapter thirteen all the way to the end of chapter seventeen.
Today’s passage, just the last few verses of chapter seventeen, is part of usually called Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer”. This “High Priestly Prayer” occupies all of the chapter. It is in this prayer that Jesus first prays for Himself (verses 1 – 5), then He begins to pray for His original disciples (verses 6 – 19), and then, in the passage we hear today, He prays for all those who will come to faith through the witness of the original disciples (and their spiritual heirs), which would be, of course, you and me.
Now, we are ready for the next step.
The observation we can make from today’s passage is that God, by His very nature, reaches outside of Himself in love, seeking an object of that divine love, and as part of that divine love, God bestows gifts on those He loves.
Why would we come to that conclusion? I think the answer lies in the frequent use of the word “sent”. Notice that it is heard no less than three times in today’s passage alone.
The use of the word “sent” underscores a constant theme in the Fourth Gospel: God sends, gives the Son, out of love for the world.
Hear the words of John 3: 16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Here, we see an expression of divine love. “God so loved the world,” we read, that he “gave his only Son.”
Earlier in this “High Priestly Prayer”, we hear Jesus pray, “And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
The Lord will make mention of the Father’s sending no less than seven times throughout John’s gospel account.
Well, what conclusions might we make about all of this? I offer the following to prompt your own reflection:
- Since the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is formed by the bonds of love which exist between each person of the Holy Trinity and the others, then we are caught up in this equation of love. Love between us and God will be confirmed by our adherence to the “word” (another frequently read word in the Fourth Gospel) which comes from the Father through the Son.
- Unity between God and us will be confirmed by the unity which exists between all believers. Notice that Jesus prays for the unity of the believers, that is, the Church, which is His body. (See verse 23, which reads, “I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one…”) So, just as the unity of the Godhead is perfect, so is the unity that exists here on earth between believers to be perfect.
- This unity will be the proof of the love which exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and which also exists between these three and us.
- Then, just as God seeks out those whom He seeks to love, moving outside of Himself (if you will), then we, too, are also called to move outside of ourselves, in service to God and to others. This is the Church’s mission. Notice that, in today’s text, Jesus makes mention of the “world”. This is another word which is frequently read in the Fourth Gospel. In the context of John’s account, the “world” means all who are outside the equation of love which exists between God and us, or – put another way – all who are opposed to God’s purposes, love and plan. It is those who are still outside, looking in, that God seeks to fold into the relationship of love which has been given in Jesus Christ.
One final comment is in order: All of this is God’s eternal plan. Notice how Jesus mentions the beginning and the final goal of all of this….He says (verse 24) that all of this stems from God’s plan “before the foundation of the world.” He says this in relation to His desire that all who come to faith would see Him in the glory that He had with the Father “before the foundation of the world.” But then, He also refers to our life in God which is yet-to-be, saying that He wishes that we might “be with him where I am.” (Verse 24).
So, this awesome and loving God, the one who made the world through Jesus Christ, and all that is in it, has also created a book – the book of life - which has a space for your name and mine to be written in it. For we are part of God’s eternal plan. The awesome God whose glory and power is seen in the created order, also cares deeply and eternally for little-old-you-and-me.
Thanks be to God for His awesome power, glory and love, whose comprehensiveness stretches throughout time and space, and into your heart and into mine.
AMEN.
