READING: John 17:6-19
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

SERMON: Reflections of The High Priestly Prayer – John 17:1-19

Let us pray: O Lord, You have given Your Word to be a Lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Grant us grace to receive Your truth in faith, hope and love – that we may be obedient to Your Will and live always for Your Glory; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today I wish to look at our Gospel reading and offer you four thoughts but firstly I
wish to share with you a story that I recently stumbled across: A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: “I don’t believe that God exists.” “Why do you say that?” asked the customer.

“Well, you just have to go out in the street to see that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, why are there sick people? If God exists why are there abandoned children? If God exists, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.”

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer paid left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, greasy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again. He said to the barber:

“You know what? I don’t believe barbers exist.” “How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist. Following your logic. If barbers existed, there would be no people with long greasy dirty hair and untrimmed beards – like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! What the problem is that people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards don’t come to me. “Exactly” replied the customer. “You’ve hit the nail on the head! God DOES exist! But the reason why there is so much pain and suffering is not that God doesn’t exist. Rather it is because people simply don’t come to Him.”

But is believing in the existence of God enough to make you a Christian? The answer is both “yes” and “no”. Let me explain what I mean.

If we mean by “belief in God” giving intellectual acceptance to the proposition simply that God exists, which is what most people in Western society would understand by believing in God, then the answer is clearly “no”.

James in his letter sums up the weakness of this position when he says in (James 2:19) You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

And in our Gospel reading this morning I think Jesus also is clearly saying that belief in the existence of God isn’t enough.

There were many Jews in Jerusalem who clearly believed in God but rejected Jesus as would be proved just a few days later when they called for his crucifixion.

However, in Jewish thought, “believing in God” didn’t just mean giving intellectual agreement to his ideas. It meant rather more. If you “believed in” a Rabbi or a teacher in Jewish culture, it meant putting his teachings into effect in your life.

And that understanding of “belief” is what St John meant when he wrote in John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born neither of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

So being a follower of Jesus doesn’t just mean believing in the proposition that there is a God. Rather it meant that that belief must affect your life and therefore believing in God is enough if we understand that “believing in God” is lifestyle transforming.

Our Gospel reading today is a part of the famous High Priestly Prayer of Jesus – one of the mountain peaks of revelation in John’s Gospel. William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has described it as “perhaps the most sacred passage on the four Gospels”

The prayer reveals many things. In it, Jesus reveals that his mission here on earth was to give eternal life to all those who are his true disciples – those whom God the Father had given to Him.

Hence like I said at the beginning I have picked up a four thoughts from the passage to share with you. These four thoughts being 1. The importance of prayer, 2. The rationale for Jesus ministry, 3. The simplicity of his mission and 4 Changed lifestyles

1. Prayer. The first idea that came to me was the importance of prayer in Jesus’ life – and as Christians we need to follow his example. Jesus doesn’t speak of some sort of distant deity, but he uses the word Abba, which we might translate as “Dad or Father” when speaking with God. And Jesus encourages us, as his followers, to get to know his heavenly Father more. As Christians, we can easily get sidetracked into “doing things for God” rather than “spending time with God”.

You may recall the story of the two sisters Martha and Mary. Martha was the busy sister doing things FOR Jesus and Mary was the sister who spent time WITH Jesus.
Who was commended by Jesus – Mary.

2. The rationale for Jesus’ ministry. The second idea that came to me as I was preparing was that, in this prayer, Jesus reveals the whole rationale for his ministry here on earth. And that was to give his disciples eternal life. Jesus put it like this “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

And how is that life achieved? Jesus’ answer is simple – by knowing God the Father and Jesus his Son and then know someone personally is what Jesus speaks about when he says in John 17:3 when he says, Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

3. The simplicity of Jesus’ mission. This third idea that came to me was the simplicity (and alongside the absolute depth) of Jesus’ mission. Jesus came simply to reveal his heavenly Father and himself to His disciples and I am not just speaking here of the first Century disciples to whom Jesus was actually speaking.

I am speaking of all of his disciples down the centuries.

That is breathtaking in its simplicity and depth. We can KNOW God personally– that is we can have a relationship with him. In an earlier chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus said this: “Anyone who loves me, will obey my teaching. My Father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) God dwelling in us – what a wonderful thought!

4. Changed lifestyles. And the final idea that I had was simply this being a Christian is all about changed lifestyle. Jesus asks his heavenly Father to “sanctify them in the truth” (John 17:17) The word “sanctify”, like the word “holy” comes from a Hebrew root meaning “separate”. We are called to live a different lifestyle, because we are called to live not only for God but in a close relationship with God. When someone becomes a Christian, when someone is confirmed, we pray that God’s Holy Spirit comes and lives in them. And the Holy Spirit transforms that person from within. As Paul the apostle tells us is: 22… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23… gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

And so with these thoughts of prayer, Jesus’s ministry, Jesus’s ministry and our changed lifestyles they all allow for us to encounter God in a life changing experience. And know of God in our lives through his son Jesus Christ. Amen

PRAYERS
Almighty God, Your Son Jesus promised that if He was lifted up, He would
draw all to Himself. Draw us to Him by faith, so that we may live to serve You and look toward life eternal.

Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer.

Loving and Compassionate God, your Son our Saviour is with you in eternal glory. Give us faith to see that, true to his promise, he is among us still, and will be with us to the end of time.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

God of the humble and homeless, the poor and the persecuted, thank you for exalting Christ Jesus and giving Him a name above all other names. Today we rejoice that He who was the meekest and weakest of all earth’s children is at Your right hand. Now we know that the homeless Son of man is more truly at home than anyone else on earth. We thank you for the glory you have granted him and we remember before you now those who, like he was, are the least among us – the homeless in our world – the refugees and the poor – the victims of war – and the little ones who have been left alone. Grant, O God, that they may know your love in this world – and join Christ in the next.

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer.

God of the defeated and the lonely, the despised and the hungry, the misjudged and the imprisoned, the suffering and the dying, we thank you for coming among us in Christ Jesus to reconcile and make new all of creation. We pray now for those of your children who are in need. We especially hold before you today….

Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer.

Eternal Father, Your Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven that He might rule over all things as Lord. Keep the church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of His peace that we might show the world the light you want them to see. Bless all your people – with vision and faith, obedience, and joy. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer.
And so we pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples…………..
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen

Alleluia Christ is risen……. He is risen indeed

Revd Kevin. Associate Priest at St.Wilfrids and St.Thomas’s