7th Sunday of Easter
John 17:1-11
Unity
1* ¶ When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee,
2* since thou hast given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him.
3* And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
4* I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which thou gavest me to do;
5* and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.
6* ¶ "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word.
7 Now they know that everything that thou hast given me is from thee;
8* for I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9* I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine;
10* all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11* ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.RSV
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Our gospel lesson this morning is part of the high priestly prayer that Jesus prayed the night before he died. He prayed this part of the prayer for the disciples especially verse 9 through 11. In these verses Jesus is praying for the unity of the disciples to one another and the unity of the father.
This text fit well into the scheme of the church year, as we just celebrated the ascension of Jesus on May 1. We will be celebrate Pentecost next week the birthday of the church. So it is fitting that we have this text this Sunday where Jesus is praying for the church, the disciples and are unity together.
Listen to verse two verses again:
"9* I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine;
10* all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11* ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."
In verse 9 Jesus says they are thine, which means the disciples are the Father’s. In verse 10 he says the disciples are his and because they are his they are also the Father’s disciples. And in verse 11, he prays that the disciples are one with each other, just as Jesus and the Father are one.
The theme that runs through theses verse is unity of Spirit and unity of body. Jesus is praying for the unity of the disciples to each other and unity to his teaching as well as unity to Him and the Father.
In other words Jesus is praying for the unity of the church which will come out of the lives of these disciples. There is a definite obligation for us as followers of Christ to uphold, to pull-together, to encourage, to comfort, to be there for another member of the community with comfort, cheer and love as we bind ourselves together in this community of Christ, known as the church.
Each part of the church is important, each member is important as the church unites together for one common purpose, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Maybe this idea of unity, togetherness, caring, upholding will be made clearer by the following story entitled: "Who Flew the Kite??
"Who Flew the Kite?"......"I did," said the sticks, "I did," said the paper. "I did," said the boy. "No, I did," said the wind. "
But they all flew the kite together. If the sticks had broken, the tail caught in a tree, the paper torn or the wind had lulled, the kite would have come down. Each had a part to play. The application is inescapable, each have a work to do. If the work of the Lord is to be a success, then all parts must be played by every member of the fellowship, every member of the community. We have to work as a community in visiting, giving, preaching and countless other jobs to make the church and its work successful. We must all work together and each do what he or she can to help.
So you see Jesus way back in that garden prayer, prayed for the unity of the church in his day and age as he prayed for the unity of the disciples to each other and to him and the Father.
In this unity, this togetherness we find meaning and purpose to lives.
For example:
"A man wanted to find direction and meaning to life. He was told to go and visit a hermit high in the mountains. After climbing to the home of the hermit, he was given a flask and told to go fill it in the stream and through that action his life would have a sense of direction and purpose. The man rushed to the stream, but for some reason the water would not flow into the flask. His pride kept him from going back to the hermit to seek more advise and to admit his failure.
So, he traveled around the world searching for a stream of water that would flow into his flask. He endured hardship, pain and suffering.
Finally, he had enough. He returned to the hermit. He confessed to the hermit his sin of not wanting to admit that he needed help. As he was confessing this to the hermit, a tear rolled from his eyes and fell into the flask, in a second, the flask was filled with water and the man understood what was the direction and meaning for his life. "
He saw that once he was willing to surrender his life to another, to forget selfish pride, life took on meaning.
And it is with each of us as we surrender our lives to one another and to Christ we will find meaning and purpose.
In that purpose of life, there is an togetherness as we live our Christian lives. We are together as the church, we are together with Christ and we are together with the Holly Spirit. In this togetherness, we draw strength of our Christian journey.
We are like the trees in the following:
"Some of the most fascinating trees I have ever seen are the magnificent California and West Coast redwoods. They reach their leafy arms heavenward, commonly growing 200 to 275 feet tall. The tallest one in Humboldt County, California, towers 368.6 feet in height. These trees stand like sentinels of time and have done so for hundreds of years. Some were living at the time Christ walked on earth.
They’ve been through winds, earthquakes, fires and storms—still they stand. Nothing seems to deter them.
What is so amazing is that these trees, among the tallest in the world, have a comparably shallow root system and yet they rarely ever fall. How do they keep standing even in the wildest of storms? It’s because the redwood’s root systems reach out for great distances and are intertwined with one another. They literally hold each up other up.
If you and I are going to reach our full potential, we too need the support of each other, not to be overdependent but inter-dependent.
None of us can stand alone.
As Solomon also said, "If two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."(1) (2)
Our roots need to be strong as we journey through this life. Our roots need to be strong in Christ, and they need to be strong in each other. We need to reach out to each other to secure our faith. As we grow stronger together, we grow stronger in our individual faith life. As our faith grows stronger, we can reach out to other and help their faith to mature. Not only as individuals, but as the church as a whole needs to reach out to other churchs so that our faith will mature and grow strong like those redwoods.
The modern Christian martyr, Dietrick Bonhoeffer, says in his book, "Life Together" these words about the importance of Christian fellowship and "rubbing elbows" with one another as we share ourselves in the community of faith. On page 23 he says: " God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother/sister, in the mouth of a man/ woman. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother, his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure."
Bonhoeffer talks about my faith helping your faith to grow and that can only happen if we share our faith stories with each other. I need to hear your faith story, I need to hear your faith during the good times as well as the bad. As I hear your faith story, my faith story grows and then I will share it with you or another. We need to share that story of salvation with each other in the community of faith. The church can be only as strong as each individual member of it. If I am strong in my faith the church as a whole is stronger. If my faith is weak, then the church as a whole has a weaker faith. So it is important to be like those redwood trees spreading our root out to each other so that our faith will grow stronger and stronger.
It is amazing how the church has grown and survived all these years with so many different people being call to different tasks in the church. Some how all of us working together have made the Christian church grow and prosper over many year.
"When explorers entered Peru, they found huge, impressive buildings that may have been standing for 2,000 years. These ancient Inca structures were built of hand-hewn rocks of different sizes and shapes. Some were 3-sided, some 4-sided, and some 7-sided. Without the use of mortar, they were fitted together so perfectly that they stood for many
centuries, even through earthquakes.
God builds His church in much the same way. The Bible pictures the church of Jesus Christ as a building, and each believer is a block in that building. Peter said that we, "as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5). And Paul said that we are "being joined together" (Ephesians 2:21) and "are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (v.22).
People with a variety of backgrounds, abilities, interests, and needs make up Christ’s church, so uniting in a common purpose is not an easy process. Yet when we let the Lord do His work among us, shaping us and assigning our place in the structure, we become part of a strong, solid edifice.
Yes, we are all different. But God is building an enduring church. The magnificent Inca buildings will eventually crumble, but the church is built to last." (3)
9* I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine;
10* all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11* ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.RSV
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale April 28, 2008
You may freely use this but please give credit. Not for commercial use.
(1) Ecclesiastes 4:11-12 (NIV).
(2) Daily Encounter e-mail
(3) from Our Daily Bread
