The Gospel Lesson John 17:20-26
“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. 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. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, 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. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 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.”
Sermon Text
The final message that Jesus gives to his disciples before he is arrested is what we read this morning. Like most parts of John it uses many different words to describe similar concepts building a complex argument that makes it a bit difficult, especially outside of its original language, to understand exactly what Jesus was telling his disciples. The talk of an appointed time finally coming for Christ to be glorified, and for his glory to somehow move from him to his disciples, mixes with the harsh reality that in the chapter before this he shared his final meal with them and in the chapter after this he will be taken and arrested so that he may be crucified within a day.
Farewell addresses throughout scripture tend to have a lot of important information given. We see in the final message that Moses has for the people of Israel in Deuteronomy, a restating of the law making sure that they remember the journey they’ve been on and, more importantly, what they must do when they enter the Holy Land. Likewise, we’re given the farewell addresses of several kings, and prophets, and leaders throughout, always with some eye towards the future, and often with an ominous tone to them a realization that just down the road is a new trouble that the people are going to have to face. Yet on the eve of Christ’s sacrifice, not only for his people but for all people, we see him give a message of hope, and a message more so of enablement. They are about to receive one thing that will make them able to do something impossible till then.
If we look at what our scripture is telling us perhaps we will be able to understand that we are inheritors of much more than just a tradition a set of beliefs and ideas, we might just understand the fact that we are inheritors of a powerful ministry that sets in motion God’s redemption of the world.
Reading through the book of John there are considered to be two “books.” They are not actually two separate books within the gospel but they are two different ways in which Jesus is being portrayed for the people of God. The first recounts Christ as a teacher, capturing the teachings he gave to the disciples. The second recounts the signs and wonders that Christ took part in. In one place we find Christ calling himself the good shepherd, in the other we see him turning water into wine and healing the sick and the dead. In his work on this earth, Christ secured his identity as God in human form, the one who had come to redeem our broken work. Christ the teacher and Christ the worker, brought God’s presence into this world.
Jewish Philosopher of Religion, Abraham Joshua Heschel, describes God’s “glory,” as a visible sign of his presence in the world. Christ, in his submission to die at the hands of Rome and at the will of his enemies, fully embodied the character of God and therefore was fully glorified in having accepted this death. The resurrection, when Christ appeared in perfected glory to his disciples, was the sign that sealed and proved his glorification to them, but the second he set his face toward death he embodied the sacrificial nature of God, that defines God’s presence in the world.
Christ gives his disciples the same glory which Christ has received. God’s presence will soon be defined, not by the physical person of Jesus, but by the Spirit acting through his disciples. The disciples then have a responsibility, to love as Christ love, sacrificially acting on behalf of others so that everyone may see what God is like. We are defined as Christians, you see, only by those scant few beliefs that are tied up with the person of Christ. All other aspects that define a Christian are found in their living out Christ’s call to serve one another as Christ served them. To give, even to the point of death, to see that others can know the goodness of God.
In our life, so obsessed with comfort, are we able to understand what sacrifice means? Maybe for our children, maybe for someone we truly care about or respect, but can we really imagine sacrifice for someone for whom we have no stake in their life? This is a question we have to be willing to ask. Christ explicitly says that any person is capable of helping their friends and loved ones, but it takes a person truly blessed by God to go beyond – to help strangers that will never pay them back in any way.[1] Yet, that is the exact ideal we are called to pursue. We are all asked to give of ourselves, so that other people may find their way to peace and to God.
This invades every aspect of life. C.S. Lewis wisely said that the mark of Christian charity is that a Christian will give until they are living like someone in a lower income bracket.[2] If you live as comfortably as any person making as much as you do, then are you really serving God? Or your own interest? I think this equation ties into more than just money. Are you spending as much time in leisure as other people? Surely some of that time is better served helping other people… When is the last time we truly invested our time in volunteer service? Surely some of the time we spend staring at our phones is better served reading scripture or useful books or else in prayer. If we are spending our time, like any old person would, can we truly say we are living in Christ’s call to share in his sacrificial glory?
I believe that we are called to share in God’s glory, and that that glory is shown in our willingness to give of ourselves for others. I believe this, because Christ showed it to us. Take up the challenge then, and accept into yourself the glory of a life living sacrificially for Christ. Live a life for others, and accept that in doing so you have secured the life eternal for yourself. – Amen.
[1] Matthew 5:46-48
[2] C.S. Lewis, “Social Morality,” from Mere Christianity. In The Essential C.S.Lewis. (New York, New York: Schuster & Schuster, 1999.) 318
[1] Matthew 5:46-48
[2] C.S. Lewis, “Social Morality,” from Mere Christianity. In The Essential C.S.Lewis. (New York, New York: Schuster & Schuster, 1999.) 318
Teach us to Number our Days 