The 7th Sunday of Easter
May 16, 2010
8 AM
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
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? I can imagine Jesus reading this gospel and thinking (as many of
us do): “Say, what? This seems a bit dense and repetitive. But the gist is
right anyway.”
St. Ignatius, who loved imaginative prayer, 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 to the prayer (it occupies a entire chapter). Jesus prays for himself
first (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.
Next 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, very cosmic really.
And finally, and perhaps most astounding of all, in today’s section,
Jesus launches his prayer into the future. The prayer circle widens to include
all “those who will 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. For example, 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 picnic,
only to get a spectacularly beautiful summer day, and then to find out two
children drown in a boating accident at the picnic. Plug in your own
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experience. Prayer can be frustrating. Be careful what you pray for!
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
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. Sin still
abounds!
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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 morning and I do not want 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. Soren 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
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 now 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 churches. Watch them learning to accept differences among
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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. Let’s make Jesus’ day! Let’s make his
prayer, his last will and testament, a reality. We just need to start!
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