Sermon based on Jesus’ prayer for his disciples John 17: 9-26 (mainly verse 11)
We have very few examples in the bible of what Jesus prayed for, as often Jesus went alone up into the hills to pray and in the early hours of the morning. It always amazes me that even Jesus, the Son of God, needed to take time out to pray. A wonderful example of why and how to find the time, in all the busyness, to pray. However as a result of him praying alone we have few records of Jesus’ prayers but one example is the prayer for his disciples that we have just listened to in the gospel reading from John 17.
In the prayer, Jesus is praying specifically for his disciples and not for the whole world. Jesus is aware that he will soon be leaving this world, his crucifixion is imminent and he is asking God for his loving protection over the disciples. Jesus, the good shepherd, has been nurturing and teaching the disciples himself and is now handing the reigns back over to his Father.
It reminds me of a parent who, before leaving their children with a grandparent, still asks them to protect the children. The grandparent, who no doubt loves the children as much as they do, doesn’t need reminding but out of love the plea is still made, listened to and respectfully acknowledged.
So this is a prayer about protection and is often used to pray about those in our care. However we repeatedly hear in the prayer the plea,’ so that they may be one, as we are one.’ What does this mean? ’So that they may be one, as we are one.’ This prayer is about unity. Jesus wanted the disciples to be united as one, for generation after generation, for you and me now, to be united. Not just getting along well and not falling out over which hymn book to sing from, but fully united. A unity that is so strong that it mirrors the unity between the Father and the Son.
Why are we to be united? We read in verse 21, ‘As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ We are to be united so the world may believe. For the world to see a unity that crosses all boundaries, all races, gender and classes. A unity with our fellow brothers and sisters that will appear so amazing that the world will see in our unity a glimpse of God.
Can we live in unity with fellow Christians? Today there’s about 60 unique individuals sitting here worshiping God. We have many similarities as most of us, if not all of us, are British citizens and live locally but we are as unique as the God given fingerprints on our hands. We are all amazing, yet all unique and with uniqueness come differences of opinions and views. At best we may respect other people’s opinions but we may feel that it would be misleading to say that we are all united.
We are all uniquely and wonderfully different and at times it is hard to see how, given these differences, that we can live up to Jesus’ and God’s request for us to be as united as they are to each other. But there is a difference between unity and uniformity. The Lent course is following St Benedict’s Rule of Life for his monks and he recognised that everyone’s rule would be different. Our walk with God is also different from everyone else’s. The unity comes in the fact that we are all walking.
What happens when we don’t unite? We only need to switch on the news to listen to the media enjoy reporting on a fragmented and declining church, arguing over women’s positions within the church, gay marriage, stem cell research and so on. It is quite right that these issues are debated but they must be debated in a respectful and loving manner.
A lack of unity causes fragmentation within the church and a mixed message to the outside world. We are not to conform to the world but the lost souls that we are to reach out to are in the world and they are confused by what they are hearing in the world media. What is it that Christianity offers them? We need to be united behind one clear message.
We are also ‘to be as one’ because we need each other. In the prayer Jesus acknowledges that the world hated the disciples because they do not belong to the world. He prays, ‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.’ The great commissioning of us going out into the world to ‘make disciples of all nations’ is hard enough. It’s even lonelier if we do it without each other. We need the fellowship and unity of the church family.
So what can unite us? We are united in Christ and we demonstrate that unity with one word. One word only! A word that unites us all because it is our best attempt at defining God. That word is Love. We are united in Christ because God so loved the world that he gave us his son. We love because we first were loved and in our John reading today, the last 5 verses all repeat messages of love:
- v23 that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
- v26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’
Love defies all boundaries, crosses over every race, gender and class. Love for each other is more powerful that any disagreement over the trivial matters of church life. Our love for each other will help us listen to each other and respect each other’s opinions. God’s love for us, that we can draw upon, is our most powerful weapon and this love surpasses all understanding. When a time comes that counting to 10 before you react doesn’t seem to be working just remember the saying, “Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with kindness. Greet grimaces with smile. Forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.”
Love can and will unite us all, not just in the future Kingdom of God, but now. One clear message that we can all agree on so we can demonstrate a united front, where we are and in the circumstances we find ourselves in today. God loves us just as we are, whilst we were still sinners he loved us so much that he died for us. We look at his example and unite in Christ, demonstrating our love for each other. This is the clear united message that the world needs to hear.
We are called to love, we are called to live for Christ’s sake and as we do we will become more like Christ. We will become the change that we want to see here on earth now.
Everything centres around relationships. It is why we were created. Father, Son and Holy Spirit created us, the human, to be in a face-to-face relationship with them, to join their circle of love. We are loved and so we must love for this circle of relationship to work, for God’s will to be done, for the kingdom of God to exist here on earth.
However sometimes we can feel that there are some relationships we would be better without. But where would we be if Christ gave up on some of his relationships, if he didn’t spend time with people different to himself. Christ loved, God loves and so must we, for our sake as well as others.
In an earlier chapter of John, chapter 13, we read ‘This is how all people will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for each other’. This is quite a stark message if read in its mirror reflection, ‘you are not my disciples: if you do not love each other’. Let us focus on what unites us, and not our differences. So when we find ourselves in disagreement with each other we need to look first at ourselves. To look at our own hearts and our own minds and compare them to Christ and God’s Word. Where they disagree, humbly we need to change. We need to recognise that humility is essential for unity. Let us be the change we want to see in our churches.
And finally, what unites us across other Christian denominations? It is the saving work that unites us across other Christian denominations. We worship the same God and Christ and out of love we long for more lost souls to come to Christ. Out of love we take the message into the world, a world that often does not understand us. Let us unite behind one clear message – Out of love God sent his beloved son into the world. Out of love Christ died for our sins. Out of love we unite as one.
Amen
Debbie Story 