Easter 7C
June 1, 2025
John 17:20-26
INTRODUCTION:
We’ve made it to the end of the Easter season, though of course we will continue to celebrate the resurrection every day until Jesus comes again – that is, in fact, a day referred to at the stunning conclusion of the Bible that we will hear today from Revelation. “Amen! Come Lord Jesus!” It’s the same plea we make at the communion table, as we look toward the glorious day of Christ’s return.
Also, on this 7th and last Sunday of Easter, we will find ourselves back in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples on the night of Jesus’ betrayal. Remarkably, we will have a chance to eavesdrop as Jesus prays for his disciples - and also for us (a.k.a. “those who will believe in [Jesus] because of [the disciples’] word”). Can you believe that we would be a topic of conversation among the Trinity?! So cool! So, settle into that, and hear Jesus’ prayer for you.
But first, we will hear from the Acts of the Apostles. Where we left off last week, Paul and Silas had just been led, to their surprise, to Philippi, to plant a church there. Things have been going well so far… but today, they will run into some trouble. So, let’s listen to see what happens next!
[READ]
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleliua!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I’ve been asked to write some prayers for a project of Augsburg Fortress, our Lutheran publishing house. It’s a new resource for parents and caretakers, where parents can subscribe to receive one short prayer and prompt each day – prayers written by someone with kids the same age as theirs, that speak to the messiness and joy of parenting with authenticity and good humor, written by someone who really gets it.
I was excited but also pretty intimidated to start this. But once I got started, I had a lot of fun! I sat on our St. Paul’s porch and started imagining these parents whom I’ll never meet, and what their lives are like in October (my assigned month) with kids in elementary school. As I conceived of prayers for them and for their kids, an affection for them grew in my heart. I didn’t wonder about the political affiliation of those who would read my prayers, or what mistakes they might have made in their lives, or their parenting style. I only thought of our shared journey, and what word of hope or grace I could bring to us both, through these less-than-100-word prayers. Though I have no idea who will read those prayers, my experience praying for these parents made me feel very close to them.
In his final moments before heading off to his death, Jesus prays this touching prayer, for people he never met: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one.” That they may all be one. Doesn’t that prayer just ache right now? Because we could hardly be further from being one these days, as a world, as a country, even as a Church. It’s like we have been primed to look at one another with skepticism and doubt, wondering if any given person is “one of them or one of us.” It’s human nature, isn’t it, that when we feel fear and anxiety, our instinct is to decide upon a shared enemy – often it is the person or group who is newest, or who is most different – because that allows us to find an easy solution. If we just get rid of them (that word, “them,” is the antithesis of “being one”) – if we just get rid of them, everything will be better.
Apparently, this has always been the way of humans. And that is why Jesus prays for us: that we may be one.
What would that take, do you think, for us to be one? In any given place where division exists, whether families or friend groups or churches or countries, what would it take to be one?
I know what it does not take. It does not take everyone being the same, or even agreeing. God created a world full of beautiful diversity, and if we were all of one mind about everything, things might be easier, but we would miss out on such beauty and depth of perspective – and what a shame that would be!
So, what does it take? A few things, of course. One baseline requirement, is to see other humans as humans, not as enemies or monsters or scum. As long as we fail to see one another as fellow humans, who experience joy and sorrow and pain just like we do, we will never be one. Beyond that, oneness requires listening with compassion – again, not to agree on everything, but to understand and seek to empathize with where someone might be coming from. And I’d say it requires a level of humility, and the realization that we might be wrong sometimes.
Any of those things would be well worth a sermon. But given Jesus’ prayer, and my experience this week writing prayers for parents I’ll never meet, I’d like to focus on another direction we can take toward realizing Jesus’ hope for oneness, and that is to pray for one another. Pray for unity more generally, sure, but specifically, to pray for whomever your “them” is. Whoever in your mind poses a threat to oneness. Whoever disrupts your peace. And, whoever you need to be a part of your desire, and God’s desire, for oneness.
Maybe it is other parents, known or unknown! Maybe it is teachers and administrators, police, or those in the military. Maybe, or certainly, it is politicians and world leaders, who have immense power to affect the effort toward oneness. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are instructed to pray for “kings and those in high places,” precisely because they have such power and influence and need our prayers no matter who they are! Maybe to work toward oneness, you need to pray for that jerk who left a scratch on your car in the parking lot, or the kid who bullies other kids, or your nosy co-worker, or your ex. Maybe it’s your spouse or kids.
Some of those are easier to pray for than others. And I suspect the ones that are more difficult are probably the ones we especially ought to be praying for in order to get closer to Jesus’ hope “that we may all be one.” So how do you pray for those who are more difficult?
I’ll be honest, I don’t know the right answer, but here is what I have tried. Sometimes, when I don’t have any nice words to offer, all I can do is hold an image of them in my head, surrounded in light, trusting that God’s light extends also to them, and they are held there. Sometimes, my only prayer is, “God, move in their heart.” Or, “Help us to love one another with the love of Christ.” Or sometimes (and I probably should do this more often, though I frequently resist), I turn it back on myself and pray, “Help me to understand their pain, because right now, all I feel is anger, fear, or hatred toward them. Soften my heart, so I know how to love.”
And that, really, is the outcome of prayer. It teaches us how to love – not to agree, or to like, but to love. It creates connective tissue between our hearts and those of all the “thems” in our lives, those we consider outside of our own circle of oneness. And the more connective tissue that forms, the more threads that come together to create a tapestry, the closer we are to living into Jesus’ prayer, that we might all be one.
It is such hard work. And sometimes, it is infuriating work, because why would we even want to love someone who executes or celebrates injustice, or who actively works against the safety and well-being of us or people we care about? We would rather condemn than pray for or certainly to love such people! They ought to be punished, not prayed for, and any prayers should only be for them to change their ways!
And yet Jesus’ prayer remains: “that they would all be one.” And so we continue to hold fast to the hope that if Jesus prayed it for us, then it is worth pursuing. Let us add our prayers to Jesus’ prayer – for it is the best hope we’ve got!
For my closing prayer today, we are going to do it. I invite you to think of one person or group of people to hold in mind, known or unknown, someone who you view as outside of or a threat to the oneness for which Jesus prays, at least from your perspective. I’ll give you a moment to think, and then we will hold these people in prayer together…
Let us pray… Jesus, you prayed that we would all be one. But there are so many people and forces and situations that make that oneness seem impossible. Hear us now while we picture and name silently those who seem a particular threat to the oneness you desire, holding them in your light… Lord, we don’t know all that pains them, all their personal hurts, but you do, and you know what they need, so that they might live more perfectly in your way. Grant it now… Gracious God, soften and move in their heart, so that they might see how best to love their neighbor. And soften and move in ours, so that we, too, can better learn to love… Finally, O God, we join your own prayer that we might be one. Help us to seek understanding, to see the humanity in one another, to approach one another with compassion, curiosity and humility, so that we might find ourselves all on your team, striving together for a better world for all. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment