John 17:20-26

John 17 :20 „I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also 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 them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 „Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.“

The Affirmation of Baptism

Today’s sermon is not for you, my dear congregation, or for you, my dear reader on the world wide web. It is for thirteen young men and women who sit before me on this 23 rd day of May, 2004, faces flush with the excitement of this moment. You are invited to listen and read along, but it is for them that I preach today.

Today before God’s holy people, both family and congregation, you will do the most audacious of things: you will profess your faith in the Triune God. You have prepared for this. You’ve had many helpers along the way: pastors and interns, Sunday School teachers and helpers, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, mentors; all shepherding you toward this moment in your life, this audacity, this affirmation of the covenant God made with you in Baptism.

All of you will commit your lives to the love and service of the Lord Jesus Christ this day. On behalf of this expectant cloud of witnesses I will lay hands on you and pray for you the gift of the Holy Spirit. Your lives will not be the same any longer. Today, as Walt Wangerin has so eloquently said, you begin to be children no longer. You stand on the threshold between what you are and what you will become, and the destination of the journey is uncertain. Are you ready? If the truth be known, which one of us is? Nothing can prepare us for the “struggle to become” known as growing up. And the prospect is exciting, and not a little bit frightening, all at once.

The Prayer of Jesus

Jesus knew that his disciples were in a similar situation. According to the timetables of John’s Gospel, the disciples had studied under Rabbi Jesus for nigh on three years. At table with them the night before he died, the night before he takes his leave of them as Rabbi, Jesus commissioned them with the washing of feet and then a long oration. How much they heard, I am not certain. They did not have a great track record of paying attention to their teacher. (I wonder, does this remind you of anyone you know?)

In today’s Gospel lesson from John 17, we have come to the end of Jesus’ speech, where his words now become less speech for the students and more prayer on their behalf. Jesus knows they needed prayer. The task ahead of them was too daunting a thing to be left to chance. It was no more nor less than to spread the good news of God’s Kingdom coming among us. It was news that was likely to get them in trouble with both their people, God’s chosen of old, and the Roman Emperor to whom they were forced to pay taxes and homage. It was a direct challenge to the known world’s values, and they were not ready. Not by a long shot. But Jesus prays for them none-the-less.

And we, who are given the same task, we too are given the same prayer. There is no statute of limitations on this prayer, either of time or of place. You thirteen will join in this mission today, indeed you have already joined it in your Baptism. But those promises made on your behalf by parents and godparents so long ago, you now take up in earnest for yourselves. Today this mission, this task to spread the Gospel becomes your task with a capital “T”. Jesus knows you are not ready. But Jesus prays for you, none-the less.

That we may be one

And just exactly what is it that Jesus prays? He prays that we, his followers may be united in him, with him, and through him, with the Father. He prays that we might be witnesses to the love of God in the World. He prays that we might reflect God’s glory, God’s light in everything that we do. He prays that God’s love might be in us, and that he might be in us.

Boy, oh boy, do we need that prayer, now maybe more than ever. Our world is so fractured, even Christians are fractured, by differences of opinion and violence. The unity that Jesus prayed for still eludes us. There seems to be so much darkness where Jesus prayed for God’s light to be. We wonder where God’s love is in the world, and fail to see how or where God’s love is shown through us.

But Jesus prayer is confident, insistent, even somewhat repetitive. In Greek the words for “one” and “in” are very similar. They show up frequently in the Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel. So much so, that if you were to read this passage in Greek it would almost come at you like a woodpecker drilling into a tree. For Jesus intend this prayer to be drilled into us, as surely as anything that he has said. He intends for us to be united, just as he and the “Father” are united.

This prayer has its concrete foundation in Jesus’ loving gift of himself. In Jesus, humanity is no longer united simply in the darkness of our sin. Instead we are now united in the resurrection, the joy of new life that makes us part of Christ’s body in the world. Jesus does not pray in vain, anymore than he dies in vain. He knows that his death and resurrection will bind all humanity to him. It is just that we do not know it yet. So Jesus prays, for the disciple’s sake and ours.

The prayer fulfilled

The good news is that the fulfillment of this prayer is not up to us. Left to ourselves we cannot hope to achieve the unity that Jesus prays for. Instead, the Holy Spirit continues to bless us with unity, sometimes in ways that we do not see or recognize. For as with most of God’s gifts, they do not come in the neat, transparent packages that allow us to see clearly. They come with surprise and pizzazz almost outside of our comprehension.

We look for unity in thinking alike and acting alike, or perhaps dressing alike. We know that we are O.K. if everyone else is like us. So we are distressed and discouraged when we find that we live in a diverse world.

Interestingly, the kind of unity we look for, the kind we crave may not be from God at all. In her book, “A Wrinkle in Time,” Madeleine L’Engle has imagined a planet where everything is alike. On this world, IT, a metaphor for evil, sees conformity as the alternative to the vibrance of God’s creative and redeeming word. Every Child bounces a ball in a rhythm set by IT. Every person thinks and acts according to IT’s purposes and direction. But these people are not really alive. They merely exist. God does not ask us to give up our selfhood for the sake of unity.

Instead God’s unity is found in trusting Jesus. Faith in Jesus requires that we relate to one another as servants, and give ourselves to one another, as Jesus gave himself for us. Being united with Jesus allows each one of us, and each one of you, to explore how to be the best individual God has created us to be. This is a harder way toward unity, because it demands of us the very tolerance, forgiveness and love that God gave to us in Jesus. But ultimately it leads both to our being “real” with ourselves, with God, and with each other. We don’t have to pretend to be something we are not. We are free to be what God created us to be, his children.

This is what God declared you to be in your baptism. In that glorious fountain you are washed in God’s own cleansing flood. God has been caring for you, his children, as you have been nurtured in his word and shared in his supper. This is what it means to live among God’s faithful people, to strive for justice and peace, and to serve all people, following Jesus’ example. It means nothing more nor less than living out your Baptism. As you affirm your covenant with God this day, pledge anew to explore the unity in diversity that God has given you. Be yourself, but be united in your desire to serve others as Jesus Christ has served you.

In “A Wrinkle in Time” IT is finally defeated by the one thing that it doesn’t have: love. The agape love of God, the love that seeks to give the self away, is the one tie that unites us in Christ Jesus. This is the love you have studied and practiced. This is the love that has driven us to teach you by example what it means to be a serving community. This is the love that has been the hallmark of authentic Christians since they began as “The Way” in the book of Acts.

Today, you pledge to grow in that love for a lifetime. It will take practice and there will be failings, false starts, and missteps. But we have given you the tools and the foundation for a lifetime’s journey. It is a journey that may take you many places, perhaps places far away. No matter. If you have this love of Christ before you, behind you, beside you, all around you, then you will be united with us in Christ for a lifetime. Where and how you journey is up to you as you follow the Spirit’s lead. The adventure begins today.

Rev. Dr. Luke Bouman
Peace Lutheran Church
Austin , Texas
luke_bouman@sbcglobal.net