May 24, 2020 – John 17:1-11
John 17:1-11
Protected for Unity
7th Sunday of Easter – May 24, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
We are once again in that amazing part of John’s Gospel on the night before Jesus’ death.
Jesus has told his disciples he is going away.
He has had a last meal with them.
He has washed their feet.
He has spoken to them of the most important things he wants them to remember,
particularly his new commandment:
love one another in the same way that I have loved you.
And now he prays for them in a lengthy prayer that sums up all his concerns.
Throughout this part of John’s Gospel we have seen glimpses of how Jesus and
the Father are one.
They exist in intimate relationship.
The Father gives gifts to Jesus that Jesus passes on to the disciples,
who in turn are to give them away.
The whole point of the Father sending Jesus into the world was to love the world,
the world that God so loves, the world that God created in great love –
the world that has since become estranged from God.
God’s purpose in sending Jesus was not to condemn or judge to the world,
but to love it, to save it.
Since Jesus and the Father are one,
the Father’s love for the world can be made known through him.
And it was: in healing, in feeding, in forgiving, in restoration to community,
in raising to new life.
And now he is going away.
As we saw last week, Jesus will not leave the disciples orphaned.
He will send them an Advocate – the Holy Spirit – who will be with them forever and
who will reveal Jesus’ risen presence among them.
But the world still needs to be loved.
God’s loving the world is not finished with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.
The world is a big place.
But in the prayer we get a glimpse of Jesus’ plan.
Father, he says, now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.
They are in the world.
Jesus and his love will be with them.
Jesus and his love will be in them – the Holy Spirit will ensure that.
Jesus’ followers will carry on loving the world and every person in it.
Jesus goes on to acknowledge in the prayer, at its very end,
that for his followers to fulfill their mission – their being sent into the world just as
he was sent into the world – they will need to be protected.
The disciples know this.
They are afraid, they are anxious, they have no idea what will happen when Jesus goes away.
How will they carry on without him?
How will the beautiful movement they had set such high hopes on
not just wither away without him?
They know they need protection.
And Jesus knows they need protection.
And so, in this chapter-long prayer, Jesus prays for their protection.
But it is very very instructive to take note of what specifically
Jesus prays they be protected from.
It is easy to miss it in our English translations.
And if you miss it you will miss what the Christian enterprise is all about.
Here is what he says:
Holy Father, protect them in your name, so that they may be one as we are one.
Did you catch that? Jesus prays that they be protected from disunity.
Essential to God’s mission to love bless and heal this world and every person in it is
a loving community – a community bound together in love.
A community that reflects the same level of intimacy as that between Jesus and the Father.
A community of love is the delivery mechanism of God’s love for the world.
Protect them from disunity, says Jesus.
They need each other.
They need one another’s love.
They need one another’s strength.
They need one another’s encouragement.
You are calling them to a big task – keep them together!
Of all the things we might ask to be protected from in life,
perhaps disunity is not our top priority.
Perhaps it is not even in our top ten. Or top fifty. Or top one hundred.
I don’t know.
All I do know is is that for Jesus it is the most important thing he asks for his
followers to be protected from.
So it must be important.
I will confess that, as a pastor of a congregation, one of my greatest fears is disunity.
People falling away for one reason or another, some of which I understand and others I don’t.
I fear discord and apathy.
I fear things that keep us apart and keep us from the fellowship we were intended for.
I fear these things because they inhibit our ability to be the community God intends us to be.
They inhibit our participation in God’s mission.
We need everyone and their gifts.
Everyone has a role to play in our work – everyone has gifts that God need to love,
feed, heal and set free the people at the intersection of Sargent and Victor.
With Jesus, I fear disunity most of all.
Which brings us to our current situation – it’s kind of like my worst fear coming true, right?
We are being physically kept apart!
And yet our unity is apparently of supreme importance to Jesus.
How do we best maintain our unity in this crazy time?
How do we best love one another in this unprecedented time?
How do we love one another when we are physically separated?
I do not know.
I know that this separation is an expression of Christian love for neighbour –
I am sure that is true; it is how we are keeping our neighbours safe.
But . . . how do we love one another?
It is not easy.
Nevertheless, we must use the things we have to hand.
Continued phone calls and emails – keep on checking in with people!
Keep on phoning! Keep on emailing! Keep on texting!
They are encouraging and they keep us together.
Keep on being generous with your financial giving – it ensures our ongoing work with
refugees, immigrants, and the vulnerable of our neighbourhood;
after all, corporate worship may be taking a break, but poverty and
struggle never take a break.
Keep on keeping in touch, and above all, take a cue from Jesus and keep on praying.
The good news is that Jesus is praying for us and that we are close to Jesus’ heart.
He looks at us with love and gratitude as those in whom he lives.
And he prays for us.
Protect them in your name, Holy Father, so that they may be one as we are one.
We are sent by him into the world to love –
he will say, As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
And in order to accomplish the task we are given, he asks that we be protected from disunity.
May it be so.
Let us pray. Risen Jesus, we need one another. For the things you call us to, we need one another’s strength, one another’s gifts, one another’s encouragement – and we need one another’s love. Pray for us. May we be one as you and the Father are one. Amen
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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