Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 17thChapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 6 – 19:
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Today’s Gospel once again places us in the upper room on the evening before Jesus died for us on the cross. Judas has left the gathering and is on his way to the authorities to meet up with the band of soldiers that he will lead to Gethsemane in order to betray Jesus. Jesus has pretty much finished the teaching He intended to give His disciples in that place. He is almost ready to go to Gethsemane where He will be arrested.
Jesus, knowing that His disciples were about to experience three of the scariest and loneliest days of their lives, has one last thing to do before they leave for Gethsemane. He prayed to the Father on their behalf and He allowed the disciples to listen in. We call this prayer Jesus’ high priestly prayer and the Gospel for this day is part of that prayer.
This prayer teaches us much about Jesus’ attitude towards us. This is the evening before His death on the cross and He knew it. We could certainly understand if He were totally focused on His upcoming suffering and death. But He’s not - His concern is for His followers. Later on, in Gethsemane, He will pray for Himself, but there in the upper room, just before they leave for Gethsemane, He prayed for those who will feel so alone and so frightened during the coming days – the days of His gauntlet of sorrow, suffering, and death – the days of His wait in the tomb. He prayed for those who will hide behind locked doors until they see Him face-to-face after His resurrection.
This prayer is for us as well. Although Jesus has never left us, He has taken His visible presence away from us. He has ascended into heaven and although He is with us, we cannot see Him. He has not yet come to take us into our eternal home. So we find ourselves in a time of waiting for Jesus to reveal Himself. We are in the time of “Now, but not yet!” He is with us now, but we can not yetsee Him with our physical eyes. He has given heaven to us now,but we can not yet experience it as we will in eternity. All of Christ’s gifts already belong to us now, butwe can not yetexperience them to the fullest. So we live in the time of now, but not yet. Jesus’ prayer is for all those who wait in the world of now, but not yet.
While we live in this earthly tension of the of the Christian life, we also live in the tension of being in the world, but not of the world. We are like resident aliens – people who reside in one country, but are citizens of another.
One of the problems we have is that, even though we are aliens in this world, we expect to get along with it. We expect to prosper in a world that is not our home. The ‘New Thought’ movement, claiming to be Christian, has gained a massive following across the world. The ‘prosperity theology’ they preach claims that when you become part of God’s family, your wealth, health, prosperity and standing in this world will be elevated beyond your wildest dreams. Your relationship with your spouse will blossom and your children will rise up and call you blessed. This deception tells us that God wants nothing but material and social prosperity for us. This deception tells us that worldly success indicates a superior standing with God.
Jesus has a different teaching. In His prayer, He prayed, “The world has hated them because they are not of the world.” That does not sound at all like the prosperity we hear so much about from this world. Because we are resident aliens in this world, the world is out to get us. The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature, constantly confront and attack us.
Sometimes the attack is direct. Martyrs died in Roman arenas and Nazi gas chambers. In modern times, governments and terror groups use aircraft, rocket technology and suicide bombers to destroy Christian communities in their own countries.
Other times, the temptation is more subtle. The evil forces in this world use enticements and pleasures to draw us away from God. There is the deception that makes a sin seem so harmless, so good, so desirable at the time. While we consider the temptation, everything looks good and pleasant. This has been a weapon of evil from the very beginning in Eden: [Genesis 3:6]“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate”. Temptation always seems like a good idea at the time. It would not be tempting if it didn’t.
The very nature of this world of sinful. Whether we are citizens of this world or citizens of heaven, we will sin while we live in this world. Even we who are bound for heaven must mourn with Paul [Romans 7:19]“I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” We are saints in God’s eyes for Jesus’ sake, but we continue to sin. We are in the world, but not of the world.
The people of this world operate on a spectrum of beliefs when they deal with sin. At one end of this spectrum are those who have deceived themselves into believing that they do not sin. This typically involves a dilution of God’s justice. They either tone down God’s law to the point they can keep it or they get rid of God’s law altogether.
The Pharisees are examples of this. In spite of the fact that they studied the Scriptures constantly, they interpreted the law in a way that made it doable. They saw the law as something they could actually keep. They made keeping the law into an external activity designed to impress everyone so that they would become objects of praise for their good works. In fact, they were in denial about their true status in the eyes of God.
At the other end of the spectrum are people like Judas. Judas is an example of despair. Judas did not deny his sin at all. He understood that he deserved punishment. In his case, the evil forces of the world convinced Judas that his sin was more powerful than God’s forgiveness. Instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness, he hung himself. There is great controversy in the speculations why Judas did what he did, but in his human reasoning he allowed the evil one to justify his actions. His regret was so great that he believed he was beyond forgiveness and took his own life. The very same tragedies are occurring in alarming proportions in our communities this very day.
The people of this world stand all along this spectrum. Some are quite proud of their own righteousness. Others don’t really care. Still others destroy themselves in despair. Eventually, they will all stand before God and realise their failings, some claim that it will be too late, maybe it will, but I choose to have faith in the extent of God’s love and mercy.
When the Holy Spirit works faith in us so that we place our trust in Jesus Christ, a new way opens before us. Our citizenship is no longer in this world. Instead, it is in heaven. We live in this world as aliens. When the forces of evil overwhelm us and we sin, we have an ambassador with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The Holy Spirit has given us the sight to see our sins and mourn our inability to keep God’s law. He has made known the reality of the punishment that our sins deserve. However, instead of driving us into despair, our sin drives us to Jesus Christ. The depth of our sin shows us the height of His love – the love that sacrificed itself on a cross in order to free us from the guilt of our sin – the love that revoked our citizenship in this world and made us citizens of heaven. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we do not deny our sins, but readily confess them before God. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we find ourselves offering God the highest praise as we beg, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Jesus prays for us. In His high priestly prayer He prayed that the Holy Father will keep us in His name. In this way, we will have, by grace, the unity that the Father and the Son have by nature. As we look at the words that Jesus used: Holy, Father, and Name, we see that Jesus’ prayer is a variation on the beginning of the prayer He taught us: “Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.” As we listen to Jesus’ prayer, we learn that the closer we are to the Father, the closer we are to each other. When the Father keeps us in His name, then we are at one in Him.
How did Jesus keep us in the Father’s name? His prayer tells us that as well. He prayed to the Father, “I have given them your word.” He kept them in the Father’s name by teaching them the Father’s Word.
He still works that way today. God’s name is kept holy when the word of God is taught in its truth and purity,and we, as the children of God, let our Heavenly Father speak to us through it’s heavenly declarations. It is God’s Word in Divine Service, in Bible Study, and in family and private devotions that keeps us in the Holy Father’s name. The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to revoke our citizenship in this world and establish and maintain our citizenship in heaven.
Jesus, our great High Priest loves us so much. When any normal person would be concerned for his own upcoming suffering and death, Jesus was praying for us. He was praying that we would remain in the Holy Father’s name by the power of His Word. He was about to go to the cross in order to make it so that we would be in this world, but not of itand He prayed to His Father to keep us that way. Amen
The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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