Easter Seven

The Seventh Sunday of Easter | May 24, 2020 | A Sermon on 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 and John 17:1-11 | by The Rev. Dr. Ryan D. Mills |

¹²Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.
^5:6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. ¹⁰And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11, NRSV).

¹After Jesus had spoken these words [to his disciples], he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
⁶“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17: 1-11, NRSV).

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

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

Well about two months ago, on March 16, just a few days into the impact of the pandemic here in Connecticut, I made a fateful decision one night–just one more reason why you shouldn’t make big decisions late at night! That night, before going to bed, I decided to get on Facebook Live, and pray the service of Compline, or Night Prayer, from our worship book. And, in a way, so began our online ministry that has become the main way we gather together as a congregation these days–this week we will mark 100 services and studies that have been broadcast over Facebook Live. As imperfect as this medium is, I think many of us have found that prayer—whether via Facebook or not—is really our most important tool in this pandemic. We pray for those we feel otherwise so unable to help, we grieve the raging sickness and heartbreaking losses through prayer, we soothe our increasingly-frayed nerves and agitated bodies and spirits through prayer, we stay rooted in our faith and connected both to God and to one another in prayer, and in the ancient service of compline we can end the day in prayer, literally “complete” the day–the root of the word “compline”–by putting it back into God’s who gave it to us in the first place. Those of you who have tuned in for compline prayer or otherwise know the service will recognize our second lesson today from 1 Peter, which from ancient times is one of the lessons to be read each night at compline: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith.”

I’ve meditated many nights on this passage, which has been a particular balm these days. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” Peter instructs us. You’re not God, you’re not in charge, the timing and unfolding of everything in a worldwide crisis is not up to you! So we ask for help, we put everything humbly into his mighty hands, we shelter not just at home, but in his strong hands. And humbled, under Christ, we see and trust that God will raise us up! It may take “due time”: three days, or three months, or even a lifetime, but he will indeed exalt you. And “cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you,” Peter continues. Throw your worries on him, and let him take it! “You’re gonna have to do this Lord, because I can’t do it.” And you will do this, Lord, because you care for me, loving me more in Christ than you even loved yourself.  And finally, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around…resist him, steadfast in your faith.”  We are under attack, Peter warns, there is a danger you cannot see—these days we get it!—for we are eyed by a stealthy, hungry beast that would love to destroy us and our faith and destroy the lives of our neighbors. The only way to resist is not by our power or strength, which just get us further stuck and exposed. But rather, “resist him, firm in your faith.” We resist by the Faith that we’ve been given.

All of this makes for a beautiful encouraging passage of Scripture, and a great prayer to complete the day with, by entrusting ourselves completely into God’s hands.

In our gospel lesson today we are given the opportunity to eavesdrop on another prayer, another prayer of completion, as we hear part of Jesus’ so-called “high-priestly” prayer that he prays to his Father on the night before he surrenders to betrayal to death. As the Cross looms before Jesus, as the center of his saving work appears before him, he prays to his Father, recognizing that now his work on earth is finished, that now his mission is accomplished. “Father, the hour has come,” Jesus prays. The time is now here! “Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” Now “glory” in the Bible means the way the power of God is brought into our human experience. Jesus spent his whole earthly ministry glorifying God, showing forth God’s glory by healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, feeding the hungry, blessing children, forgiving sinners, even raising the dead! Jesus’ whole life and ministry of complete faithfulness to the Father show us what God’s glory looks like! It’s the glory of human beings, restored to how God made us in the first place! It’s the glory of you and me and the whole world reclaimed from sin and death to belong to God again forever! As the Church Father St. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” So part of God’s glory is the power Christ has to give eternal life to everyone who believes. For God to love us so much that we can live with him forever—now that is God’s glory! And Jesus is clear that “this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life is to know God! So if you know God’s mercy and grace now, through faith in his Son Jesus, you don’t have to wait for the end, you don’t have to wait until heaven, you already have eternal life! God’s glory is already at work in you, his power has been unleashed to rescue and save and redeem you his beloved child, his glory shines upon you!

“So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” Christ came down from heaven, we confess every week. He left behind the heavenly glory of being seated at the right hand of the Father, and was instead born in a barn among the animals, to an unwed teenage mother, and lived among the poor, the sick, the suffering, and the despairing. But now on the Cross, now on Easter morning, now in his Ascension back to the right hand of the Father in glory he returns to that glory, returns to where he came from, but this time with me and you and the whole world firmly in his nail-scarred hands; this time returning as victor, who laid down his life for you and me and the whole world; this time with the grave empty and death behind him; this time he returns to glory having completed his task to rescue, redeem, save, and bring the whole world back to himself–the whole world, including and especially you!

The scope of Jesus’ work here, the way he shows forth God’s glory, is so vast, so broad, so deep, so all-encompassing, that all the usual distinctions between us seem to break down in light of what he has done! We know that more than ever these days, don’t we? That what affects one, affects all, and that we are all more connected that we could have imagined. And that when it comes down to it, we’re not ultimately defined by what we look like or come from, but by the fact that we share a common humanity, and have all been loved in Christ with an everlasting love. So Jesus prays a blessing for us all today—for all those he has rescued, for all those he has saved, for all those whom he has given eternal life—a blessing of protection and a blessing of our ultimate unity in him: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

Those of you who have ever shared in a Compline service here, know that for a long time I used a Byzantine icon of the crucifixion. On it Christ hangs not despairingly on the Cross, but seemingly in charge of it all, and over his head is a “titutlus,” a sign, not reading the usual “INRI” for “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” but instead reading: “The King of Glory.” I have always thought it a bit odd, to depict a man naked, alone, dying, with a description of, “The King of Glory.” But there on the Cross, Jesus showed forth God’s glory, didn’t he? God’s glory to die our death, God’s glory to rescue us from sin and shame, God’s glory to raise us up to life with him on the 3^rd day, God’s glory to grant eternal life to all whom he has chosen! This is why Jesus says from the Cross, prays from his Cross—“It is finished.” Because his saving work is finished! His mission is accomplished! Has has completed everything. And now he has death behind him, and 40 days after Easter has returned to the glory of his Father, having won your salvation. By laying down his life he has revealed to you the glory of God’s love, and has purchased for you eternal life. So it’s over, it’s complete: you belong to him, for he has made you his own. By his glory, death is destroyed, and now you will live with him, forever.

And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills

New Haven, Connecticut

Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org