Christ, the Church’s Truth and Mission | John 17:20–26
May 29, 2022 | 10:45 a.m.
Seventh Sunday of Easter
READINGS
Acts 1:12–26
Psalm 133:1-3
Revelation 22:1–20
John 17:20–26
+Points to ponder
- How is it that we are ‘perfected’ by uniting with Christ in His death?
- How does Jesus’ declaration, “I am the resurrection and the life” (cf. John 11:25a) speak to your faith in Him?
- Jesus’ high priestly prayer was for you and me – for His people, the Church. Does this encourage you in any way? How can our congregation live out the blessing of that prayer?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
He is risen! (He is risen, indeed, Halleluiah!)
Let us pray: Almighty God: grant that we, who believe that Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, ascended to the heavens, may already dwell in spirit with him there; for He lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
“In the beginning, the Word was with the Father.” That, essentially, is the way John begins his Gospel. It’s a deeply profound statement which will be incarnated through the pages of his book – finally in his telling of the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Today we are very near the completion of that revelation, as Jesus, the night before His crucifixion, prays what we’ve come to call His High Priestly Prayer – for Himself, His apostles, and us. Yes, Jesus’ prayer is for us – for you and me; He wants us to see what it means for us that He, the Word who became flesh, is with the Father. For
WE ARE TO BE PERFECTED BY UNITING WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH AND SO REVEAL TO THE WORLD THE UNITY WHICH CHRIST HAS WITH THE FATHER.
Because of the unity of the Father and the Son, the Word becoming flesh makes the Father known to the world. John puts it this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.”
And more, the Father loves the Son and sends him into the world as the love of the Father for the life of the world.
Again, John tells us, “For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel… [and Jesus says that] For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”
And the Father consecrated the Word and sent Him into the world. But the question arises, ‘How did the Word-sent-from-the-Father reveal Himself to be that Sent One?’
The Incarnate Word spoke the word of the Father in speaking about Himself. The Father gives life. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He also reminds the apostles, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Jesus, the Living, Incarnate Word worked the will of the Father, making known the Father’s will. The Word forgave sins and made the paralytic to walk. The Word gave sight to the blind man. Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So, he went and washed and came back seeing.” The blind man came back seeing as a disciple, as Jesus, the Word ‘sent’ him.
“Robert Ingersoll, the famous atheist of some decades ago, traveled widely across the country, lecturing to large groups of people. It is said that at one time he sought to show how Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead was just a trick to bolster Jesus’ waning fortunes. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, and he would pretend to have died, Ingersoll said, be dressed in grave clothes by his friends, and secretly ‘buried.’ Then as Jesus would pass by the sepulcher some days later, He would give the clue by calling Lazarus’s name. Lazarus would come out of the tomb, and everybody would think that Christ had performed a miracle and that He was really God. To clinch his point, Ingersoll asked the audience, ‘Can anyone tell me now why Jesus said: ‘Lazarus, come forth’?’
An old Christian in the back got up and said, ‘Yes, I will tell you why my Lord said, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ Because if He had not said ‘Lazarus,’ He would have had the whole graveyard of Bethany coming out to Him!’”
And so, Beloved, the Living Word – Jesus – called forth Lazarus from the dead to show that the life-giving Father had sent Him.
The love of the Father for the life of the world did not end there – the love of the Father is shown in the Word Incarnate as the Crucified One.
God loved the world in this way that He gave his Son over into death. God sent His Son into the world so that the world might be saved through the Crucified Son. And, the Crucified Son, sent from the Father, is the truth who makes the Father known.
So, in Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, He petitions the Father to “sanctify” His apostles “in the truth,” who is the Word Crucified.
Because of the unity of the Son with the apostles, the apostles’ word makes the Father known to the world.
As the Father sent his Word, so the Word has sent His apostles into the world. The Word received the Spirit, so He gives His Spirit to them. In those whom Jesus sends, Jesus is Himself “glorified,” that is, heard, seen, known. Jesus prays that the Father will “keep” them from the evil one - to keep them so that they might preach the Word in truth. So that they might stand steadfast in the midst of the world’s hatred. So that they might suffer faithfully for His name. Through their faithful witness to the Crucified in whose name they are sent, the apostles reveal to the world that Christ was sent by the Father.
The Father is known in the Son, who is Himself made known, in the apostolic witness. In their faithful witness in word and deed, the apostles are one with Christ, who is one with the Father.
Now Jesus petitions the Father for all who will believe through the word of the apostolic ministry, praying, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” Because the apostles’ word has united us to Christ, we, in turn, make Christ and the Father known to the world.
Through faith, all who believe, receive as their own the truth of the Crucified, sent from the Father. Through water and Spirit, the faithful have the Father of the Son as their own Father. Through water and Spirit, the faithful are one with the Crucified and share in His sending.
The faithful then witness to what they have heard through the apostolic preaching. The faithful then love their Christian brethren as Christ has loved them. The faithful then suffer for the name into which they have been baptized.
“King Henry VIII of England claimed to be a Christian, but in many cases, he made laws that went against God’s law. He also demanded that his religious and political advisers agree with him. Those who chose to obey God rather than the king were often killed.
John Fisher, a close friend of the king, chose God’s law above Henry’s. He was sentenced to die. On the day of his execution, he asked to be brought his best clothes. ‘This is my ‘wedding day,’ he explained, ‘and I ought to dress as if for a holiday.’
Carrying [the Written Word,] his New Testament, Fisher was led to the execution platform. There he prayed, ‘Lord, grant that I may find some word of comfort so that I may glorify You in my last hour.’ The first words he saw as He opened the Scriptures were these: ‘Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’ ‘That will do,’ he said. ‘Here’s learning enough to last me to my life’s end.’ Within minutes, he was dead.”
And so, the faithful then are “perfected” in the “perfection” of Jesus’ sacrifice. Made one with Christ in His death, the faithful then are one with the Father. Through the life of faith and love, the faithful then make known to the world that Jesus was sent from the Father.
Through partaking of the life-giving flesh of the Word, the faithful then remain “where the Word” is and “see” the glory of the Crucified as that of the divine Son of the Father.
The unity of the Church lies in her unity with Christ the Crucified. As members of the Crucified, every one of the faithful is then a witness of the truth for others. The worship of the Church, as the people of the Crucified, concludes with the sending of the faithful into the world. Even as we hear the dismissal – “Go in peace and serve your King!” to which we reply, “Thanks be to God.”
So then as Jesus reveals the Father and prays for us, the unity of the Church is intercessory. We pray for the world, and our prayers and our witness reveal to others that the Living Word was sent into the world for the very life of the world. Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”