Sermon: Jesus' prayer for us (May 12, 2024)

Easter 7B
May 12, 2024
John 15:9-17

INTRODUCTION

Today is the last Sunday in the Easter season, and always on the Thursday preceding this, we celebrate Ascension Day. Because it falls on a Thursday, we don’t often hear the story in Sunday worship, and we won’t today, but it is an important story – that’s why we confess it each week in the creed (“he ascended into heaven”) – so I’m going to tell you what happened. Jesus’ ascension happened 40 days after the resurrection. For 40 days he reminded them about what he taught and spoke about the kingdom of God. On that 40th day, he tells them to go to Jerusalem, because “not many days from now” they would be baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire, as John the Baptist had mentioned before. (We’ll see that part of the story next week on Pentecost, 10 days after the Ascension.) He says that when the Spirit comes, they will receive power, and will be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” As he says this, Jesus is lifted up and a cloud takes him, and the disciples are left to figure out what to make of all that!

That’s where today’s reading from Acts will pick up. Their first order of business is to find a replacement for Judas, so that they can get to the business of being witnesses with their full force of 12. The Gospel reading will also mention Judas, as “the one destined to be lost so that that the scripture might be fulfilled.” So we kind of get a sense of the division and the good and evil at play in the world, even from the very beginning of Christianity.

But the real point of the Gospel is not division, but unity. This text from John takes us back to Maundy Thursday again, as Jesus prays for his friends. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the disciples fall asleep when Jesus prays on Maundy Thursday, but here they – and so also we – get to overhear his prayer, and his primary prayer for us is a prayer of unity: “that they would be one.” The conflict and division we still live with makes it hard to imagine that… making this prayer all the more important. As you listen to it, truly hear it as Jesus’ prayer for you, and for us, in all of the various conflicted and divided relationships we experience in this world. Let’s listen.

[READ]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Ok, let’s just say it: that Gospel reading is a difficult one to follow. 

On the one hand, it’s a really incredible moment – we get to overhear Jesus praying for the disciples, and us, by extension. It is often quite meaningful when someone says they are praying for you, but here it is not just any someone: it is Jesus! Praying for us. Like, whoa. 

On the other hand, this prayer is a bit of a word soup, a collection of words and concepts that kind of hang together, but also bounce around and repeat and don’t have a natural arc… though to be honest, this is sort of how my own prayers sound, as my mind darts from one request to the next before I find my way back to my original purpose for praying. 

But difficult though it may be to follow, in the end I’m still just floored by the fact that this is happening at all, that Jesus is praying for us and we get to eavesdrop. So I don’t want to just zone out and glaze over; I want to hear it, soak it in, understand, and experience how cool it is that Jesus is praying for me. So let’s break this down a bit: what is Jesus praying for, for us?

First, let’s look at what he does not ask for. “I am not asking you,” he says, “to take them out of the world.” In other words, Jesus does not pray that the struggles of the world will be made easy, or that we would somehow be immune to pain and suffering. Jesus acknowledges that the world is a tough place, saying, “the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world.” We strive to live godly lives, you see, and were indeed called to such a life in our baptism, but the world makes this very hard to do. It presents us with unkindness, injustice, depression, loneliness, infidelity, oppression, dishonesty, illness, loss… We are no strangers to how difficult it is to live in this world. Every day we are faced with situations that make it hard to be the godly creatures we are created to be. Yet Jesus does not pray for God to take us out of this world. Facing these things – with the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit – is a part of being a citizen of the earth, just as it was a part of Jesus’ life, when he lived on earth.

What Jesus does pray for, however, is protection. Not necessarily protection of the body, but protection of the Spirit of God that is in them, the truth that is in them. Protect them from the evil one, he prays, from that evil spirit that would draw them away from God’s love. Protect them so that they may be one, he says, so that they may find that same love, God’s love, in one another.

That’s the next interesting thing to notice about Jesus’ prayer for us: his reason for praying for our protection. “So that they may be one,” he says. How often our struggles tear us apart! We’ve all experienced it – maybe one huge catastrophe broke apart your family, or maybe it was too many little things that all built up and finally caused you to blow up at your best friend, shattering a life-long friendship. Or you received the diagnosis that you dreaded, and instead of turning toward God and toward your friends and family, you turned away from everyone, turned in on yourself, and tried to face your trials alone. It’s true, pain does have the potential to divide us. But it also has the potential to bring us together – and that is Jesus’ prayer for us. “Protect them so that they may be one,” he prays. Protect that Spirit that binds them together, so that they will know to whom they can turn in times of suffering and hatred. So that the church would not be torn apart in times of trial and fear, but instead be built up and strengthened.

In the best-selling memoir, Here If You Need Me, Kate Braestrup reflects on her ministry as the chaplain to the search-and-rescue workers of the State of Maine Warden Service. Her ministry is almost always to people suffering some tragedy – the parents of children who have wandered into the woods and disappeared, people whose loved one has fallen through the ice, those left behind after someone has gone into the woods to take their own life. In one chapter, she reflects on prayer. Her first act following her ordination was to pray for the game wardens and other police officers present. Chaplain Kate’s first inclination was to pray for their protection, though upon further reflection realized that if personal safety were a top priority of a police officer, than perhaps he or she should have chosen a different profession. Instead, she prays this lovely prayer: “May you be granted capable and amusing comrades, observant witnesses, and gentle homecomings. May you be granted respite from what you must know of human evil, and refuge from what you must know of human pain. May God defend the goodness of your hearts. May God defend the sweetness of your souls.”

It's similar to what Jesus prayed for his disciples that night, and what he still prays for us today. He prays for the protection of our hearts, of our souls. Chaplain Kate said she didn’t pray for protection for the police officers – but I think that’s exactly what she did. She prayed for the sort of protection that Jesus asks for us. We will see suffering, Jesus says in his prayer. We will experience suffering ourselves. We will see and experience pain. But in this, he goes on, protect their hearts. Keep them steadfast. Help them continue to live in God’s truth. “Holy Father,” he prays, “protect them… so that they may be one, as we are one.”

It’s not just about us, as individuals, you see. It’s about all of us. Protect them so that they may be one – one church, one people of God, one unified body of love. Protect them from division. Make them one. Protect them from destruction of each other and themselves. Make them one. Protect them from the evils that will make their way into their lives and try to draw them away from God. Make them one.

Jesus prayed this for his disciples on the night before his death, on what we now call Maundy Thursday. But that prayer continues. In the very next verse after our reading today ends, Jesus says that he prays this not only for those present that night, but for all who would come to believe through their words – that’s all of us! Jesus prays this prayer of protection and unity for all of us, and for all who are yet to come. And so, siblings in Christ, may this also be our prayer for each other: that we will find protection from all that separates us from God, that we will dwell in God’s word and God’s truth, and that we will all be one in Christ.

Let us pray… Holy Father, protect these, your children, so that they may be one. Guard them so that not one of them is lost. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one, from all that would pull them away from you. Come now, O Prince of Peace, make us one body. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

View full service HERE.

Sermon: The Astounding Spirit (May 5, 2024)

Easter 6B
May 5, 2024
Acts 10:44-48

INTRODUCTION

We’ve got two main stars in today’s readings. One is the Holy Spirit, and the other is love. Before we get into it, here is some context:  

First, Acts. Today we will hear the tail end of the Peter and Cornelius story. 

I’m going to talk more about this story in my sermon, but for now you should know this: Cornelius is a Roman centurion, who loves God. But he is a Gentile, not circumcised, which until now had been required for converts to Christianity, to first enter into God’s covenant through circumcision. But then Peter has a vision, and realizes that God is doing something new, indeed that, “God shows no partiality” between groups of people. In what we hear today, Peter has just finished preaching, when the Holy Spirit comes upon those gathered – even those who are uncircumcised! – and Peter realizes that even Gentiles are welcomed into God’s kingdom, and everyone there is baptized. 

Today’s Gospel reading directly follows what we heard last week. So, to set the scene: we are back at Maundy Thursday, with Jesus and the disciples as he bids his friends farewell. He has washed their feet and given them “a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,” which he will reiterate in today’s reading. Immediately before this bit we’ll hear, Jesus has called himself the true vine, imploring these friends to abide in him as he abides in them. Today we will go deeper into that image – last week Jesus said that we will bear fruit when we abide in him, and today he will talk about what that fruit is. (Spoiler alert: the fruit is love!)

There is a lot of love, joy, Spirit, surprise and more love in these readings. Soak it in! Let’s listen.

[READ]

Grace to you and peace from our Risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Cornelius was a good man. Everyone thought so. He was the captain of the Italian Guard in Caesarea. He loved God, was always helping people in need, and he prayed regularly. He even taught his whole
household about God! All this, and he wasn’t even Jewish – he was a Gentile. 

One afternoon, Cornelius is praying, and he has a vision. An angel comes to him. Cornelius, hardly believing his eyes, asks what he can do for this angelic visitor. The angel says, “You’re a good dude, Cornelius, and God has noticed. So, here’s what God wants you to do: send some of your guys to the city of Joppa and find the man everyone calls Peter. He’s staying in a house by the sea.” Cornelius, unsure what to make of all this, does as the angel asks, and waits to see what will happen next.

The next day, down by the sea, Peter is also praying. It is lunchtime, and Peter was feeling a bit hungry. Suddenly, he has a vision, a weird one, in which a large sheet is being lowered to earth, and inside the sheet are a bunch of animals – all manner of bird and reptile you can imagine – and every last one of them is on the list of “unclean” animals that Jews like Peter are not supposed to eat. Yet then he hears a voice: “Peter, it’s lunchtime. Take your pick and eat up!” Peter, being a devout Jew who always follows dietary laws, says, “No way! Those animals are unclean! I’d never!” To which the voice responds, “Don’t call unclean what God has called clean.” 

Peter's Vision, by Frank Wesley

Peter is baffled. All his life he has learned and followed the laws of the covenant: he was circumcised at 8 days old, he prays at all the right times, he eats the right foods. These are the special laws that have set apart Jews as God’s chosen people. They are a part of his very identity. It was to people who follow these laws that Jesus had come, and for whom he had died and risen, and while Peter is now in the business of spreading the word of Jesus to people beyond the Jewish circle, it is still understood that these laws mean something, that it is through circumcision that people enter God’s covenant. 

So what on earth could this vision mean, that told him that these animals he had thought were unclean are in fact clean and edible? 

While he ponders this, the vision happens again, and then again. God is really trying to communicate something important to Peter, and Peter is struggling to wrap his head around it. 

Just then, some Romans from Caesarea arrive. “Hey, uh, we’re here on behalf of Captain Cornelius. An angel told him we should come here and hear what you’ve got to say.” Peter, with this strange vision still fresh in his mind, invites in these Gentiles, even though that is generally against the rules. And the next morning, they all head back to Caesarea, along with some of Peter’s Jewish friends. Cornelius is expecting him, and warmly welcomes them all inside. This is quite unusual – normally Jews don’t enter into houses of people of another race, and yet given the vision with the animals in the sheet, this somehow felt right. As Cornelius begins to tell all those gathered his side of the story – about the vision he'd had – everything clicks into place, and Peter begins to preach: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality!” he exclaims. If God is saying that all those animals are no longer considered profane or unclean, then this must also apply to people. If someone wants to be in relationship with God, to love God and follow the commandments, then there is nothing keeping them from that relationship.

It is a shocking realization for all those gathered. This is quite unlike what they had always believed and been taught! And yet as Peter continues to preach, to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth to all those gathered, the point is confirmed: the Holy Spirit comes rushing into the room, and falls upon everyone there, even the uncircumcised Gentiles! And they begin speaking in tongues and praising God! Truly God is claiming them, too, even without having previously entered the covenant! Quickly, Peter jumps in again: “They have received the Holy Spirit! God has clearly opened the gates to these Gentiles. So why would we withhold baptism from them?” And they are all baptized.

There are several shocking aspects of this story from start to finish. But the part I really noticed this week was the response of the Jews gathered: “They were astounded.” Shocked. Surprised. Aghast! The Holy Spirit, poured out even on these Gentiles? It was all so beyond their experience, understanding and expectation. 

I feel for them, I really do. There have certainly been times when the Holy Spirit did something that I was not anticipating, something that went against my grain and understanding of how things ought to be, even something I disagreed with. There have been times when I was feeling pretty confident in my belief about something, and then bam, I encountered something that opened my eyes to a different way of understanding – and I was astounded. Maybe, I even pushed back a little: “Um, wait. This new way of being or understanding is not comfortable for me, and I’m not sure I can trust it.” This has happened in my ever-evolving understanding and views on important social issues ranging from abortion to the death penalty to LGBTQ rights to immigration. It has happened in regard to how I expected someone to act. It has happened in my understanding of mental illness. The thing is, the Holy Spirit is unpredictable, sometimes frustrating, often astounding.

So what do we do? How do we handle this roller coaster with the Holy Spirit? I’m in awe of both Peter and Cornelius here, who trusted the Spirit’s strange, unexpected movements, and willingly put aside centuries of understanding about how life works to open themselves to a new way of doing and understanding. I think I’d be more skeptical than that. But here is something we can learn from them both: they did not behave like mindless sheep. They puzzled. They questioned. They trusted, but not without thinking about it. In short: they got curious.

There is a great scene in the wonderful show, Ted Lasso, in which Ted reflects on a quote he encountered from Walt Whitman: “Be curious, not judgmental.” Ted recalls how many people throughout his life had belittled him, and he observes, “Not a single one of them was curious. They thought they had everything figured out, and they judged everything and everyone… If they were curious, they would have asked questions.” 

I’ve been thinking about that idea, about getting curious, not judgmental, in relation to the ways the Holy Spirit moves through our lives in astounding ways. Sometimes life is boring and predictable, but just as often, things happen that throw us off balance, challenge us, confuse us. What would happen if instead of judging those things or people or situations according to our age-old understanding of how life works, we got curious, asking questions instead of assuming answers. 

“I wonder why my colleague is doing that thing that undermines me? I wonder what’s going on in her life right now? I wonder if she’s feeling overwhelmed and this is a way to feel some control?” 

“I wonder why my spouse is struggling to talk about this important issue? I wonder what it is bringing up in him?”

“I wonder why God led me down this path, only to shut the door at the end of it? Is there a window I’m supposed to look through instead? Is there something I’m meant to learn here? What opportunities are here that I wouldn’t have had otherwise?”

“I wonder why that group is so adamant about changing that law? What is at stake for them? What are they afraid of?”

Being astounded is a good thing, because it means the Holy Spirit is moving in our lives and inviting us to expand our hearts and minds beyond our previous understanding. Any time this happens, we are sure to grow closer to God in the process. We may not change our viewpoint. But the process of getting curious helps draw us closer to the vast and diverse body of Christ, increases our capacity for compassion, and prepares us to be ready for whatever new thing God might be doing in our lives. And when this happens, we can, with the Psalmist, “Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done marvelous things!”

Let us pray… Holy Spirit, you are astounding, surprising, and upsetting of the status quo. Sometimes it is obvious that you’re doing a good thing; sometimes it is difficult to see why you would do or allow such a thing. Open us up to curiosity, to ask questions instead of judge, and to grow closer to you in the process. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Full service can be viewed HERE.