The 7th Sunday of Easter
May 8, 2016
10 AM & 12Noon
I wonder if Jesus ever gets the opportunity to read the gospels himself?
What must it be like for him to read John’s version of his last night with his
followers? St. Ignatius could make this a marvelous imaginative prayer
experience for us today. When Jesus is daydreaming, and picks up a gospel
book, what must it be like for him? Hold that image for a minute.
This section of John’s gospel is often referred to as either the “High
Priestly Prayer,” or “The Last Will and testament” of Jesus. John places this
prayer at the Last Supper, just before he goes to his passion. There are three
sections. Jesus prays for himself (something most of us can probably relate
to). He prays that the glory and unity of his Father and himself will be seen
and experienced by others. He asks to have that glory revealed in himself.
Then he prays for his friends gathered there in that Upper Room with
him. He prays that they can experience the same oneness with Abba that
Jesus shares. He wants his friends to touch and smell and see the love that
cements not just Jesus and the Father together, but that cements the universe
and holds the whole universe in love for eternity. A big and expansive prayer
here.
And finally, and perhaps most astounding of all, Jesus launches his
2 widens to include all “those who will
prayer into the future. The prayer circle
believe in me” through the word of my first friends. Do you know who those
people are? They are us! Jesus himself prays for each and every one of us in
this church today. That’s Jesus praying for me–and for you. Spend some
time thinking about that one if you never have before. Astounding!
There is also a very interesting lesson about prayer here for us all. Have
you ever felt frustrated and maybe even a little angry at God when your own
prayers are not answered? Most can relate, I’m sure. One prays so earnestly
for the health of a loved one or friend only to watch the person get
progressively worse. Or one asks for beautiful weather for a special outdoor
event only to get category five hurricane blow in. Plug in your own
experience. Prayer can be frustrating.
The sometimes-depressive playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once
quipped: “Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s
desire; the other is to get it.” Prayer can be lovely and consoling and
powerful. But it can also be experienced as isolating, frustrating, and make
one feel ultimately impotent. And Jesus, “like us in all things” the scriptures
tell us, seems to know both experiences of prayer as well.
Go back to Jesus in your imagination reading John’s gospel with us this
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morning. He prays that the love he bequeaths
to his friends and friends-to-be
may be fulsome, obvious, and inviting. He prays that the love and glory he
shares with God will transform the world, and bring the unity and harmony
that is our birthright to fullness. This is his only heart’s desire, the gospel tells
us–his last will and testament.
And still with Jesus now, look around. Look at the world he bequeathed
to us. The division, the animosity, the fear and bigotry; look at the history of
wars and violence; look at nature being daily destroyed. And look at the
church he left for us. Fresh horrors on an almost daily basis. And divisions as
permanent, it seems, as church history itself. The tragedy of it all.
And yet he prayed for us! How could God have let him down? Him of
all people! You think you and I get frustrated with the outcome of our
prayer? Watch Jesus weep for Jerusalem all over again.
It’s early in the day and I do not want us to start our day on a
depressive note. Really, I don’t. But the scriptures require that we start the
day on a realistic note. Perhaps a paraphrase from an older and wiser
follower of Jesus can help. Sören Kierkegaard once said: “Prayer does not
change God, but it changes the one who prays.” One conclusion is: Prayer,
like love, needs to express itself in deeds not just words or pious dreams.
The unity and love and glory for which Jesus prays today is now
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squarely in our hands. Every time we divide
or separate ourselves from each
other, from our world, within our churches, we frustrate Jesus’ prayer and
God’s dream. But only we can stop it. Not even God has that power, it seems.
Let’s imagine Jesus again. Let’s imagine him laughing with delight
each and every time he sees you or me making his prayer a reality. Let’s
imagine him regularly saying to Abba, his Father: “See! They did get it!
Watch them love one another. Watch them holding each other. Watch them
feed, and clothe, and visit the least popular among them, the outcasts of
society and religions. Watch them learning to accept differences among
themselves. Watch them forgive their own idiocy and arrogance. Watch
them, Father, spreading the message in their behavior to other, even newer,
friends-to-be. Someday, all will be one, as you are in me and I in you.
Someday! Eternity knows no time. Jesus can wait–for us. We just need to
start! Good luck. Peace!