Sunday May 16, 2010 John 17:20-26

Greetings, today is a rainy day but good for the plants. Last weekend I sat at the lake and watched it snow so rain isn’t too bad. By the fishing opener this weekend it should be nice. Good luck to all of the fisher people out there. Our text is from John for Sunday. It is a portion of what is called the High Priestly Prayer offered by Jesus in the upper room in the gospel of John. John has Jesus praying in the upper room while the other gospels have Jesus praying in Gethsemane. In the first portion of the prayer, verses 1-5 he prays for himself. In the second portion, verses 6-19 Jesus prays for his disciples then and now. The third portion of the prayer, verses 20-26 are our text for Sunday.

V20 Jesus is praying for his future disciples, those who will witness to him in the future. These are the people who will come to believe in him. This would include us.

V21 Jesus asks his Father that all believers would be in unity with each other and God. This is a prayer that is focused on the unity of all. As Jesus and his Father are in unity so would the believers be in unity with them to show that Jesus was God’s Son.

V22-23 The glory that God gave to Jesus, walking the way of a servant without limit, Jesus now gives to his disciples so that all may be united in that mission. The love between Jesus and his Father will extend to the disciples too.

V24 Jesus and his Father were united in love before the world was created. They are eternal in their relationship. Jesus desires that the disciples see the full manifestation of his identity as the Son of God.

V25-26 The world doesn’t know the Father because it chooses not to, but Jesus knows his Father and he knows his Father send him for a specific purpose; to show us who God is. In other words to reveal God to each of us so we can each live in unity with all others carrying out Gods mission to Jesus by living as Jesus did, as a servant without limit. We are to continue Jesus’ work that the Father gave him.

Harry Wendt posed a good point, “If we as the church are to live in unity, as this prayer states, then why are there so many divisions between us?” The whole focus of the prayer is to live in unity with God and each other. However, we try to live in unity with God but focus on divisions between ourselves. In fact, we then go so far as to claim God agrees with our view point and others are wrong. We see this every day-that denomination has it all wrong or this person isn’t worshiping correctly. We rarely see unity among the different denominations. I had the good fortune to attend a class at Temple Israel led by Rabbi Marsha Zimmerman which told of a trip 12 clergy from downtown congregations had taken together to the Holy land. The 12 clergy members included a Muslim Imam, Rabbi Zimmerman, a Unitarian minister and Christian ministers, including Father O’Connell from the Basilica. It began as an interfaith journey to a place that each held sacred in their own traditions. It was interesting to hear each person’s perspective after the trip. There were issues that arose during the trip depending on each of the member’s background but they strove to discuss them, attempted to find common ground and moved on. Where there could have been huge issues to separate these clergy members, they worked on finding unity. Each told of how the trip with the others made a profound change within themselves. It was wonderful to hear how differences can be overcome or set aside for unity between different people. This is a good example of the unity that Jesus spoke of. If 12 clergy of different traditions can travel together to a land that each holds as sacred and be in unity, then we can each start to live in unity with each other. Living in unity doesn’t mean giving up our own convictions or beliefs but allows us to make room for other ideas and convictions from our brothers and sisters. It may be compassion at its greatest.