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Sunday May 24, 2009 "Sharing the Power of God" John 17:6-19 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 5/28/2009 8:56 AM | I grew up in a house my grandfather built in the 1930’s. The original venting system in the house was accessed into each room by metal grates that swung open to allow heat to enter, or could be pulled shut to close off the flow of heat into a room. In the upstairs of the house, where the bedrooms were, the grates were two sided with an opening on each side of a wall. In other words, two bedrooms side by side shared the same grate. This meant that if the grate was opened into one room, it would have to be closed into the adjoining room. This was fine for most of the year, but in the dead of winter, we learned to very carefully work the grates from both sides so that they could both be partially opened, allowing heat to flow into each room. This also meant that you could pretty clearly hear what was being said from one room to the next.
My brother and I shared a room that shared a grate with my parents bedroom. So, occasionally we could hear them talking, and I’m sure they heard us talking – or arguing – which was often the case. Generally, this was no big deal, and sometimes it was even a plus as you could simply ask a question through the grate with without having to go out in the hall and into their bedroom. It worked well for my parents on Christmas morning as they could easily tell us to get back in bed as we attempted to sneak downstairs ahead of everyone else.
On one occasion, when I was home sick from school, I heard my mother in her bedroom. I was sure there was no one else home, but sure enough, she was in there
talking. As I lay on my bed, I hung my head closer to the grate to try and figure out was going on. That was when I discovered that she was praying.
At first, I recoiled, feeling like and intruder, but as I lay there, I discovered that she was praying for all of us – her family. Her mother, who was hospitalized with end stage cancer, my father, my brother, my sister and me. I don’t remember what she said, but I know that she was asking God to guard us, to guide us, to protect us.
It was an incredible moment. I never told my mother that I had overheard her prayer, but I remember telling myself that I needed to try harder, to be better at being a good son and good person, and saying my own prayer asking for God to give me the strength to do that.
As I look at that incident today, I realize that in overhearing my mother’s prayer, I was being given an incredible gift. In that prayer, my mother demonstrated here reliance on God and exhibited the intimate nature of her relationship with God. She also showed her love for all of us to be unequivocal and total, asking God to watch us, asking for God’s divine presence, and asking for God’s power be made manifest in each of our lives. A power she had felt and a power she wanted to share.
If I didn’t understand it then, I certainly do now: there can be no greater statement of love than to pray for someone. To pray for their safety, to pray for their peace, to pray for their strength, to pray that God might enter into a relationship with them, to pray that they might feel God’s power and honor it, use it, and share it.
My mother showed us every day of her life that she loved us. But never did I feel it more directly than the day I overheard her prayer.
In our scripture lesson this morning, we are privileged to overhear Jesus at prayer. We need to be very clear that what was read this morning was a prayer; an intimate conversation between Jesus and God. It is not instruction to the disciples. It is not grand teaching to the multitudes. It is Jesus talking to his father in heaven, very near to the time of his crucifixion.
John’s gospel is a little different than the other three Gospels. All the gospels feed me and help me, but I have to say that John is probably my favorite. There is an intimate feel to John that appeals to me, and there is also a great emphasis on the reality of a believers life in a world that is at best indifferent to our faith, and at worst, downright hostile to our faith. This prayer is a perfect example of this.
The setting for this prayer is the upper room, a small room on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The occasion is the gathering of the followers of Jesus in order to celebrate the Passover meal. The reality is that this is the last time that they will all break bread together, and that this is both literally and figuratively, the Last Supper of Jesus.
It begins with Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. This was customary in the dusty towns of Palestine and Israel. Travelers would have dirty feet from the road, and in a well to do household, a servant would be assigned the task of washing the visitors feet. But never would the host carry out such a task! It was always a servant, those of a lower station. But here is Jesus, stripped to the waist, lovingly serving his followers.
In this series on the power of God, the first thing we explored was recognizing God’s power. In this scene, we see another way to do just that. In Jesus’ actions prior to the last supper, he shows that his power lies in his willingness to serve. In becoming a servant, the power is to comfort and strengthen those who are served, thus transferring that power to them. The more we serve in God’s name, the more God’s power is amplified.
After the last supper and the sharing of the first communion, Jesus begins a long set of exhortations and parables, all designed to catch the disciples attention and to prepare them for what it to come.
Then, suddenly, Jesus shifts his course, and begins his prayer to God. The priestly prayer, some have called it. A prayer not aimed at the disciples, but overheard by them, nonetheless. A prayer not aimed at us, but overheard by us, just the same.
What does Jesus pray about? Who does he pray for? His disciples, his followers, the community of faith that has built up around him, and will build up around his teachings.
This is the amazing fact: on the eve of his death, Jesus prayed to God on behalf of the faith community. In this prayer, Jesus turned the future over to God and commends his followers to God’s care. Remarkably, Jesus calls on God to fulfill the promises that have been made through Jesus. In his prayer, Jesus acknowledges God’s power in and presence in everything that has been done in Jesus’ ministry, and asks that God’s power and presence be available for his followers.
“You have given me.” Jesus prays.
“You have sent me.” Jesus prays.
“You have loved me.” Jesus prays.
“Now,” says Jesus, “give to them. Love them. Keep them. Sanctify them. Let them be one with you and with each other.”
I don’t know about you, but I get goose bumps thinking about what is happening in this prayer.
Jesus is praying for US!
Jesus is exhorting God to STAY WITH US!
Jesus is requesting that God’s power be made available to us and that we be allowed a relationship with God, just as the Jesus’ power came from his relationship with God.
Do you get it? We are the community for whom Jesus prays! There can be no greater love than to earnestly pray for another, and Jesus loves us so much, that he wants us to be in right relationship with God and he wants us to experience the power of that relationship.
When we overhear this prayer, we are given a glimpse of what real intimacy with God looks like and what it can look like for us! Jesus loves us and wants to share his relationship with God with us!
The priestly prayer of Jesus is important because it makes clear why we need to follow Jesus and cultivate that relationship with God: because we are called to move into the world, and the world is a hostile place. And as we move into the world, as the disciples moved into the world, as the church grew, God’s protection, presence and power were of the utmost importance.
Oh, it would be nice to escape from the world. That’s what vacation is all about, right? I am remembering a long weekend on a beach in Miami where the world was so far away as to be non-existent. But vacation is a momentary retreat, the fact is, we still live in the world, and as people of faith, we must face that reality. Maybe the most telling line of this whole prayer is the following: “Father, as you have sent me into the world, so have I sent them into the world.”
Jesus sent the disciples into the world, and he sends us into the world. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus prayed to God to equip us to have the strength and wisdom and grace to be God’s witness to the hostility that sometimes greets us. As one of his last acts, Jesus sought to share God’s power that sustained him, with all his followers and all of those to come.
And the question in front of us now is: do we really want to keep that to ourselves? The fact of that matter is, we can recognize God’s power, we can celebrate God’s power, but if we don’t use God’s power, if we don’t share God’s power, than the recognition and the celebration might as well be for naught.
How then do we share this power? Jesus’ example of intercessory prayer is one. There is power in prayer. How many times have you experienced the mighty power of the prayers of friends and family? How many times have you been strengthened because you knew that someone was praying for you? How many times have you heard someone say, “I felt the prayers of the church?” We raise our prayers together not just out of some exercise of community living, but because the heart of prayer is our sharing of God’s power with those we love and care for.
Another way we share God’s power is by simply inviting friends to become part of the faith community. Think about the number of people who are in this room today because someone took the time to invite them. That is God’s power at work.
Jesus has given us a remarkable example of how we are to live and how we are to share God’s power. We are called into the world for a purpose and that purpose is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We share God’s power and God’s purpose by the way we live our lives, by the example we give to others, by the prayers we pray, by the love we give.
Jesus prayed for the disciples, his followers and us. He prayed because he knew what was to come. He knew the hardships we might face, the world we would inhabit, and so he sought to share God’s power that we might persevere and truly live.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the buffeting winds of a world too often marked by indifference and evil. We all get tired and want to get away. There are times when each of us would simply like to be done with the corruption and violence of the world around us and find a sanctuary, a utopia where the world cannot intrude. But Jesus made it clear that this was not to be the case, and we are to follow Jesus’ example: we are called into the world to share the power of God. We are set apart, God’s own, Christ’s own, empowered by the truth, energized by the divine presence, fulfilled because we are the community for whom Jesus prays.
As the next week goes on, think about the best way you can share God’s power, and note it on this sheet. Through prayer, through service, through witness, through invitation, through your presence, God’s power comes shining through all that we do in God’s holy name.
All those years ago, I listened at the grate in the bedroom wall and heard my mother profess her love for her family in the most intimate and powerful way possible, by asking God to be with us, and for God’s power to be shared with all of the people she loved.
I am here to tell you, her prayers were answered.
And for that, I am thankful.
Let us pray: Lord, we are humbled beyond words. To have such an advocate as the messiah is beyond our comprehension. But we know that his love for us is real, and that because of him, we have a relationship with you. A relationship that sustains and energizes us; a relationship that arises because your power is made manifest in our actions. Continue to stay with us, and most importantly, be with those we love, those we know and do not know, those who may be unaware of your power and presence. May they come to know you as we have come to know you. May your power be shared and multiplied through each person that we touch as they share with the next person they meet, and they share with the next person they meet, and they share with the next person they meet, until that wonderful day when EVERY knee will bend and EVERY head will bow in thanksgiving for your presence, your grace, your power, at work in the world. It is in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.
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