The 7th Sunday of Easter | 1 June 2025 | John 17:20-26 | Beth A. Schlegel |

John 17:20-26 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

^{[Jesus prayed to the Father saying,] 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”}

THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF THE GOSPEL

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Have you ever thrown a stone into a pond and watched the ripples form?

One stone. One point of entry into the water, but the energy of that one movement generates continued movement outward – wave after wave, ripple after ripple. The single unified energy spreads from the center outward.

This is what happens with Jesus.

Jesus, God’s living Word, is the stone the Father throws into the pond of humanity.

He taught the apostles to know and live God’s way of salvation and sent them in ripples to spread the news so that others might come along on the Way.

Just to be clear, the Way is not a program or a strategy or even a lifestyle. It is a person – the person of Jesus of Nazareth, anointed by God the Father as the one who would endure the consequences of sin and evil, destroy death and the devil, and rise from the dead to eternal life.

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Anyone can be born, live, die, and turn to dust.

Only those who share the way of Jesus are raised from the dead to live forever with him.

Only those who are one with Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection live now as those who will not die forever.

And Jesus wants everyone to share his eternal life and live in the way he shows us.

Jesus wants as many people as possible to be caught up in the ripples he causes whenever he is preached.

In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus praying for the apostles in their mission, but also for the ripples: for those who will believe in him because of the apostles’ preaching and teaching. He is praying for us.

And he has a specific request: That they may be one.

What does this mean?

Jesus often spoke of being one with God the Father – of saying in human words what he heard from the Father in divine language; of doing in human actions what the Father’s heart desired; of demonstrating for humanity the sovereign power of God to rule over all creation by signs and wonders; of being for humanity the relatable presence of the almighty God.

The Son and the Father are one; Jesus does not go off on his own and do or say something different from God the Father. Everything Jesus does and says on earth is what is intended from the heart of the Father in heaven.

This is the unity that the apostles are to have with Jesus and, in turn, those who come to believe in Jesus through their word have with the apostles and Jesus.

Let me say it another way: All those who share in the way of salvation of Jesus show in their lives the same intentions of God’s heart – namely, grace, mercy, and love for all people.

So why is this unity important?

As Jesus prays to the Father: so that the world may believe that you have sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

The story we heard from Acts 16 today is an example of how the ripples of Jesus through the apostles bring more people into the ripples of the way of salvation and unify the church.

…

Anyone who thinks the Bible is boring hasn’t read the Acts of the Apostles.

What a cast of characters we have today!

• An exploited fortune-teller with a spirit of divination;
• Her greedy pimps, who became the accusers.
• The apostles Paul and Silas,
• The magistrates
• The jailer
• Other prisoners

Now, it’s funny to me that Paul didn’t welcome the marketing that this woman with her spirit of divination was doing for the apostles.

She was, after all, speaking the truth: They were slaves of the Most High God who were proclaiming to all who would listen the way of salvation.

Evidently, Paul and Silas put up with it for days before getting annoyed. Maybe her outbursts were like a carnival barker and the apostles couldn’t get a word in edgewise; or maybe Paul just got fed up with the sound of her voice.

Or more likely, he did not appreciate the fact that it was a demon calling attention to them.

In any case, he did an exorcism in the name of Jesus and the spirit of divination left her – and with it, the profits of her pimps.

But that’s not what the angry exploiters brought the apostles to court for.

No, it was for disturbing the peace and other trumped up charges.

So, Paul and Silas were flogged and imprisoned.

But that did not silence the living Word of God; its ripples radiated outward nonetheless.

…

The stone was thrown in the pond with the apostles’ teaching and the casting out of the demonic spirit in the name of Jesus.

Everything Paul and Silas said and did was one with Jesus and the Father – preaching Jesus as the Christ, teaching his word and issuing his invitation to baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Casting out demons and healing the sick was also consistent with the Father’s will as demonstrated by Jesus.

The world was watching, but not yet convinced.

Some people are never convinced by Jesus, however many signs of life and mercy he does right before their eyes.

But Jesus’ prayer “That they may be one so that the world may come to believe that he was sent by God as their savior” was still resonating, still rippling across the pond of humanity.

In prison, beaten, bruised, and shackled, Paul and Silas sing hymns and pray. Because that’s what Jesus did – even the night he was betrayed, even on the cross. In prison, they are living as one with Jesus and the Father.

And while they were praying and singing – with the world listening in, those other prisoners and the jailer – there was an earthquake that freed them all from their shackles.

Prison break! … no, no – this isn’t Escape from Alcatraz or any Hollywood plotline.

This is God’s plotline – this is Jesus, the rippling of his salvation, coming through the apostles to a certain target from the world.

The jailer, about to take his own life in the assumption that all the prisoners had run off, is stunned when Paul and Silas speak the good news that everyone is still there. No one has been lost. And in this astonishing moment, the jailer recognizes the loving presence of the living God more powerful than any other.

On the brink of perishing, he turns, repentant: What must I do to be saved?

Believe in the Lord Jesus – and they spoke the word of Jesus that he might believe. And he and his household believed and were baptized.

He … and his household … and others they told…who told others….and the ripples of Jesus risen from the dead with power to bring life from death continue to this very day.

The church of Jesus Christ does not exist for its own sake, or even for the sake of its members. It exists to draw the unbelieving world into saving relationship with Jesus by its life in unity with God, a life of sacrificial love.

It is the Church’s communion in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Eucharist that refreshes us in that unity so that we go into the world, to use Martin Luther’s image, as “little Christs” to impact the world with God’s love.

Since we are filled with the life of our risen Lord, and gifted with the Holy Spirit, let us be mindful of the Father answering Jesus’ prayer in us as we live each day.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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©The Rev. Beth A. Schlegel

pastorschlegel@live.com

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, York PA, USA

Christ Lutheran Church, Manchester PA, USA