June 4, 2000
IF JESUS IS
FOR US… (John 17:6-19)
When we read the "Great Prayer"
of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John, and a portion of
which has been read today as our Gospel, we get a feeling
of uneasiness at first, for we are listening in on one of
the most intimate moments recorded about Jesus in the
scriptures.
Indeed for any among us can
there be any more intimate communication than that
between a petitioner and his or her God?
When we stand in prayer before
the awesome presence of God, we are reminded that nothing
can be hidden from the knowledge of God. The psalmist at
Psalm 139 read today captured that sense of total
nakedness before the Almighty.
When we pray, if we are sincere,
there can be no unknown places within us where we can
hide our secret thoughts. God knows, as the ancient
confession states, all the "devices and desires" of our
hearts.
The moment of Jesus' intimate
petitions before God occurs in John's gospel at the end
of Jesus' final instructions to his disciples. He had
broken bread with them and washed their feet. He had
warned them of the trials and denials to come. Then he
reassured them with words about the places he would
prepare for them in his Father's house, the Advocate whom
he would send to stand by them, and the unworldly peace
they would experience, and he commanded them to honor his
work by loving one another. After all of this discourse
Jesus proceeds to pray fervently and intimately with His
Heavenly Father. Somehow the writer of the fourth gospel
becomes privy to this prayer as the other three gospel
writers do not although they reveal some other intimate
prayers of Jesus in the garden of Gethsame.
John gives us a glimpse of the
innermost thoughts of Jesus near the close of his earthly
life. But unlike the prayers in Gethsame which are
focused on Jesus and God, the prayers in John focus
exclusively upon Jesus' disciples. Rather than pray for
the cup of suffering to be lifted from him, Jesus prays
for the protection of those he will leave
behind.
Prayer on behalf of others, the
kind of intercessory prayer shown by Jesus in this text,
has sustained the Christian community throughout its
history. Through the ages and today Christian monks,
mystics, and laity devote endless hours praying for
others.
But nearly every Christian
sometime prays for someone else and is assured that
someone else is praying for him and her. Though we may
keep these promises of prayers with varying degrees of
diligence, we do keep them in hope, sometimes in
desperation, but most often because everyone of us can
have the experience of being buoyed up by the prayers of
others, can have the assurance that even in dark times we
are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses praying for us
before the throne of God. Sometimes we could not keep
going except for the special peace that comes when we
know others are praying for us.
Well, if we can be sustained by
the prayers of the community of faith, imagine how much
more we can be encouraged when we live in the knowledge
that Jesus himself prays for our safekeeping? That is
precisely what Jesus promised his followers.
We need Jesus' prayers for our
safekeeping. We are not at risk as were his first
disciples when he sent them into the world, which would
persecute them. But we are in a world in which multiple
influences and forces would like nothing better than to
tear down our faith, seduce into worldly ways and life
styles, and encourage us to turn out backs through
indifference or outright rejection of the light of Jesus.
Jesus prayed as much for unity
among his followers as anything else and the threat of
disunity still hangs heavy upon Christians and the
Church. We are not one as Jesus hoped though we are
becoming one in his prayers for us.
Our unity is beset with apathy,
idolatry, and a false sense of rightness and
righteousness among Christians of various persuasions,
theological convictions, and institutional
loyalties.
And while we comfortable
Christians in Hong Kong are not likely to undergo any
existential suffering for our faith, not far from our
shores Christians do suffer for their faith in Burma, in
Indochina, in Mainland China, in Pakistan, and in
Indonesia. Only last week several dozen Christians were
murdered when their church was burned down in
Indonesia.
This is Asia Sunday, an annual
focus on the Church in our region, and our special
prayers in a few moments will go in support of Indonesian
Christians.
Just as we take hope when we
experience duress and know others pray for us, our
brothers and sisters in Indonesia take courage to know
that many Christians near them are remembering
them.
And though we are aware of the
challenges of disunity and intolerance which undermine
the Church of Christ, we are more aware as we move toward
next Pentecost Sunday that Jesus keeps praying for his
followers and keep lifting to the throne of Almighty
Wisdom and Grace the needs of his church on earth.
God will not abandon us while we
live in this world, because Jesus believed we were worthy
of his petitions. If God in Jesus Christ is for us, who,
then, can be against us. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Gene
Preston
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