EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on May 19, 2020. This was the 10th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.
With so much to dwell on in our lives right now, and such weightiness all around us, I thought with tonight's gospel that I would lift up not so much the gospel itself, but the scene. And I would like to have you walk through this journey with me on this night, and this Sunday. And think about this wonderful gospel that has been provided to us by our Christ, our savior.
Maybe let me set the scene a little bit for you, the scene entering this gospel: We know that because of the text that comes before this chapter 17 that this is the night before our Lord Jesus will be crucified. And he is sitting around a table with his disciples and we know from the story previous to tonight that he has told all the disciples -- whether that be me, or you or the 12 that were sitting there on that day ... he could have been speaking to any of us because any of us might have been his disciples in that time -- and he's told us that he is leaving us. He is leaving us, and an advocate will come on his behalf to walk the rest of this journey with us.
But if that is not surreal enough, think about the fact that in this night, that as a disciple, you've sat round this table, with your Lord Jesus Christ, and you've broken bread with him. And he's taken us through what will soon be our very cherished eucharist. And he's taught us this new way to commune with him, and he's promised that as long as we commune with him, in this way that he will be present in our lives forever.
He sat around this table and informed his group of disciples that despite the fact that one would betray him, he loves all of us the same. He knows in advance that he will be betrayed, and even though the disciples sitting around that table at that moment can't even comprehend what he is talking about, Jesus exudes his love for those disciples sitting around that table.
Maybe you are further more taken with the fact that at some point in the evening that your savior, the one who is called to rescue you, and to save you from your own sins, has gotten down on his knees. Your servant king has been there; he removed the robe around his waist, and he washed your feet. And dried them. In an act that at the time was reserved for the humblest of the humbled. It probably would have been done by the household's servants. And yet, there is Jesus, despite the protestation by the disciples, bended on bended knee. And washing the feet of his disciples.
If that isn't enough to spur goose bumps on your arms tonight, we come to this passage, in Chapter 17. And as the evening has wound on, and things are winding down, and Jesus is finishing his discourse with the disciples. And essentially wrapping up his goodbyes. ... You, that privileged few who are sitting around that table with him, get to witness our lord, our savior, our Christ ... lift up his head to his heavenly father and pray.
And in this day of weightiness, and unknowingness, and all of the anxieties, I lift up this image to you, Faith Family, what I think is a glorious image. In the fact that we have our savior, our Christ, in that moment, in that night before he is to be crucified, and tortured in unspeakable ways, there is our Christ in supplication to his father, our God. And saying, "Let me do my job and glorify you, Father."
Which, if that isn't a moment, in itself, sitting there as a disciple, and watching your savior pray to his father, what comes next is simply astounding. In verse 6, Jesus not only ends his prayer to his father, about himself, thanking him for all that he has been given and for this opportunity to glorify his Father, his God, and to abide as one with his Father. But in that moment, this evening before his crucifixion, Jesus saves his last prayer for his disciples.
And thus he saves that last prayer for us.
In verse 6, Jesus goes on and he looks again heavenward to his Father, and not only has he said his prayers about himself, he wishes now for his father to bestow his glory and his safety onto the disciples who are sitting around that table.
And think about these glorious words that Jesus says in prayer to his Father, our God: "I'm asking on their behalf. I'm not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those who you gave me because they are yours. All mine are yours. And all yours are mine. And I have been glorified in them."
And there in that very brief sentence Jesus lays out, not only in the prayer above where he says that he abides in God with him, his Father ... in that one very short sentence, Jesus has now invited us into that relationship with both him and God. Not only does God abide in Jesus, but Jesus abides in God. And they both abide in us.
"And now I'm no longer in this 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 the one as we are one."
And in this very simple prayer, Jesus outlines this relationship that will define our Christian faith, as we know that our faith in Christ leads us to the Father. And thus as Jesus prayers in this prayer tonight, it leads us into a oneness with the Holy Trinity.
Now imagine that! ... Imagine sitting there with the other disciples and your lord, himself, inviting you into this relationship with your God.
This week, as I was preparing for this gospel message, I dwelled on this thought many a time. The thought of how beautiful that was, and the thought of the ramifications that that still has for us today. Because despite all of the chaos that might be swirling around us, in all of the heavy news, in all of the anxiety, in all of the unknowns, this very verse brings us back to the core of our faith that through Jesus Christ we have gained God. And the two of them abide in us, as we are one with our God. And that to me, on this evening, is a beautiful image. And that to me restores my hope. And that to me helps me manage as we go forth in these days ahead.
Faith Family, as you listen to this today, I don't know where you are in life. I don't know what is swirling around you. I don't know where you are as far as being anxious or comfortable or healthy or safe or somewhere in between, but the one beautiful image that Jesus leaves for us in his gospel tonight is: Through him we have gained God. And Jesus in his last prayer for us, has prayed that our Father will protect us.
And this Sunday, on a Memorial Day weekend, is the Good News, Faith Family. ... Amen.
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