Scandia Lutheran
Church, Averill, MN
Easter 7/May 8,
2016
Installation of
Daniel Stauffer, Diaconal Minister
John 17:20-26
20 "I ask not
only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me
through their word, 21 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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that
they may be one, as we are one, 23 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. 24 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. 25
"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these
know that you have sent me. 26 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."
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
This gospel lesson from John 17 is, for you and me,
something of a flashback. Movies and TV shows make use of this device—the
flashback—to allow the viewer to
step back in time, return to an earlier moment, and live in that moment once
more, with the awareness of how the story ends.
So this morning, as we continue basking in the light of
Easter--we flash back to the night before Jesus died. We listen in on what Jesus was saying to his
first followers—but we listen now with Easter ears that have heard how Jesus
would not be held by death, how Jesus would arise from the tomb, how 40 days
after that astonishing event Jesus would ascend to God’s realm, where Jesus now
occupies the seat of authority over all things, still interceding for us, still
cheering us on, still pulling for us as we complete our earthly journeys.
So as we flashback in this gospel reading from John 17,
we notice the kind of language Jesus is employing here, on the night when he was
betrayed.
Earlier in this long discourse with his disciples (a
discourse that extends from John chapter 13 through John chapter 17), Jesus had
offered his disciples information about what was about to
happen to him and to them.
But when we come to Chapter 17 Jesus moves from
information to intercession, and that’s what we hear in our text for this
morning.
We hear Jesus praying. Rather than telling us what we better be
doing, Jesus prays for what will be happening as he takes leave from his
disciples. This long prayer of Jesus begins in the first
verse of John chapter 17 and ends with this morning’s reading.
In the first part of this prayer in John 17 Jesus
prays for himself—not the kind of agonizing prayer he offered later in the
Garden of Gethsemane--but rather, with eyes wide open and head held high, Jesus
prays: “Father, the hour has come;
glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you…” (John 17:1)
In astonishingly paradoxical language Jesus faces the
cross not as a dark, dreary instrument of shame but as the means whereby he,
Jesus, will glorify his Father whose love for sinners knows no bounds.
Next Jesus prays for his disciples, in the verses immediately
preceding this morning’s gospel lesson:
“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that
they may be one, as we are one….I am not asking you to take them out of the
world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one….Sanctify them in the
truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:11, 15, 17)
Knowing that he will soon be leaving them, Jesus prays for his closest followers as a
mother might pray for her children. Is that not how many of us remember our mothers on this Mother's Day? Mothers are persons who never stop fussing and fretting over us, for as long as we live--watching out for us, praying for us that all might be well in our lives.
Then, in the third part of Jesus’ great prayer—which is
our gospel lesson for this morning—Jesus’ prayer “telescopes” through space and
time to gather up you and me and everyone in the world who does not yet know
Jesus and his love: “I
ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe
in me through their word, that they may all be one.” (John 17:20-21)
In these concluding petitions of Jesus’ great prayer, it’s
as if time itself is telescoped ahead, to encompass all the centuries that have
passed since Jesus uttered these words….reaching forward right up to today,
drawing us in—we who believe because of the witness of Jesus’ followers down
through the ages.
This is how Jesus prays this telescopic prayer—he prays in
a manner so unlike our own approach to prayer.
Truth be told, many of my prayers never get much beyond little
old me and my concerns of the moment.
And perhaps you find yourself doing that too.
But when Jesus prays, the prayer just keeps growing,
expanding, reaching, telescoping beyond himself…..as if in ever-expanding
concentric circles, like a stone dropped into a quiet pond.
Jesus prays for all he’s worth….for himself and the
saving work he will soon perform on the Cross….he prays for the first circle of
witnesses to that astonishing miracle of mercy….but then Jesus keeps praying outward
beyond the first disciples to include all the succeeding circles of testifiers,
gathering up the likes of you and me who continue to point to Christ in an
indifferent, hostile world.
This is how Jesus prays….he prays a prayer big enough,
wide enough, deep enough to gather into its telescopic perspective everyone who
has ever lived and who will ever live….praying that all of them, all of us,
would be enfolded in the rich, rich love of the Holy Trinity—the Father, the
Son and the Spirit.
All of that is happening here in this morning’s Gospel
lesson.
And it’s not just happening here at Scandia Lutheran, but
this telescopic prayer of our Lord Jesus is reaching out right now into all communities
of Christ around the globe.
That sort of puts everything into perspective this
morning, doesn’t it?
Here we are in this lovely country church building….just
a handful of us….but bound together in the love of God with folks in every
other place of worship that is "open for business" this Sunday morning….the fullness
of God’s love—the love the Father has for the Son, in the power of the Spirit—the
fullness of God’s love is always expanding through space and extending through
time…..spreading out, seeking out everyone.
This is why we’re here today.
It is why you have called Dan Stauffer to be your
preacher, your minister of God’s mercy, your prayer leader in this household of faith.
It is the “Johnny one note” theme of every hymn, every
scripture reading, every sermon, every prayer, every celebration of baptism and
the Lord’s Supper, every act of gathering together and being scattered again
into God’s world.
Jesus’ telescopic prayer blows wide open our imaginations—so
that with Easter eyes we might see just how deep and wide and far-reaching our
life and our love in Christ truly is.
Jesus’ prayer opens our imagination, even as it propels
us back into the world, to seek out and draw into Christ’s loving embrace
everyone, absolutely everyone, destined to be united in the only thing that
lasts: the unfathomable love of the
Father for the Son in the power of the Spirit, always, always for the sake of the whole world.
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
