June 1, 2003 - Second Sunday after Ascension Day - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Acts 1: 15-17; 21-26
PSALM: 1
SECOND READING: 1 John 5: 9-13
GOSPEL: John 17: 6-19

A few years ago, while I was still in Northern Michigan, the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ, came on. I don't know if you remember that movie or not. The movie came out, and there was a lot of protest from well-meaning Christians that this movie was blasphemous and should not be shown, and so on. Well, I had read the book already, and so I wanted to see the movie and see what Hollywood had done with it. So, I went, and I was standing outside of the movie theater, where there was a group of well-meaning Christians boycotting the movie, of course. One of them came up to me and said, "Are you going in there?". And I said, "Yes, I am going in there". And he said, "Well, I will pray for you." I thought, "Well, O.K.! Do what you have to do!"

I will pray for you. Those are good words. I have heard them many times. People have said, "I will pray for you", especially in those times when I found it hard to pray for myself - those times of stress and those times of feeling abandoned by God - when I just somehow could not pray, and somebody said, "Well, I will pray for you." And, especially after times of having talked with them and conversed with them, and after letting them know where I was and what was going on in my life, and they would say, "I will pray for you", and I would say, "Thank you". And so many times in my own ministry, I have heard people come up to me and say, "Father, will you pray for me? I can't seem to pray right now." And those are in times of sorrow and grief, in sickness and disappointment, and in times of anger. I will pray for you - very important words. I believe in the power of prayer, even from that well-meaning Christian who was going to pray for me while I was watching the movie. I don't know what they were going to pray for me, but I am sure it was all good!

In our lessons this morning, we hear Jesus praying for His disciples - a very profound prayer. When I looked at the lesson for this morning and read it, and re-read it, and re-read it, I said, "What is Jesus really saying here?" He is gathered together with His disciples. They have just had dinner together - the Last Supper - and Jesus has told them that this was going to come to an end. "I am going to die. It is going to happen." And then, after they had eaten, He starts praying. First of all, He prays for Himself, and then He prays for those disciples who were there.

Notice what Jesus prays. First of all, He acknowledges the disciples. He acknowledges them to God, and He says, "These are special gifts - these people are special gifts that You have given Me." He doesn't say to God, "Well God, these people - well, they are just duds. They haven't understood a word I have said. They haven't done anything right." No, He said, "God, these are special gifts that You have given to Me, and they have been obedient. They have been faithful, and they have accepted the truth of who I am and who You are." Jesus recognizes in them their potential - not what they were, but what they could be.

In our own prayers, do we do that? When we pray for someone else, do we recognize their potential, or do we say something else? Do we recognize the potential of each person whom we pray for and that God loves them truly? They may have gone through a lot in their lives, but God still loves them; and they are good people.

And then, Jesus prays - I love this one! - Jesus prays for their protection that they may be one. That puzzled me at first. Why would Jesus pray for their protection that they may be one? And then, I read some commentaries, and someone said, "Well, it is because they were their own worst enemies." Oh! Yeah! That makes sense. They are human. There could have been bickering between them, and they even argued about who was going to be the greatest after Jesus went to Heaven, and so on - just like any other group of people. And Jesus prays for their protection that they may be one - that they recognize those kinds of things that go on in any kind of community or congregation, or, especially, committees, and He prays for their protection.

And Jesus also prays that they may be joyful - filled with joy. Isn't that interesting? Here, at this time - this time when Jesus is going to be leaving them, and they have no idea what may happen - Jesus prays that they may be joyful. He could have prayed that they would be strong, that they would be politically-correct, that they would be strong militarily, that they would conquer everything, but, no, He prays for their joy, that they would be happy, that they would live their lives in joy - the joy that Jesus knew in being connected with God, the Father. And so, He prays for their joy.

And then, after He prays for their joy, He prays that they will be protected from evil. Jesus is going to send them out into the world, and Jesus knows that they are going to meet resistance here and there and everywhere; and Jesus prays for protection against evil for them. He wants them to be a positive influence. He wants them to spread the Word of God, the Love of God, as they have learned it through Him, as He knows it from God, the Father; and He wants them to be protected from any outside interference or forces that might destroy them.

And then, He prays that they might be sanctified. Now that word, sanctified, means to be set apart - not over and above everyone else or above everything else, but to be special, to be holy, if you will - to live the life that they have learned to live while they were with Jesus, and while they were going about seeing what Jesus had been doing. He asks the Father to sanctify them, as He, Himself, has been sanctified, set apart. But notice that He is sending them out into the world to be a part of the world - not above it, not below it, not outside of it - but to participate in the world and to participate in everything that is going around them. In those days, there was a lot going on around them. There were Greek philosophers, and there were Roman soldiers. There were all kinds of things going on around them, and Jesus says, "You are going on into the world, and I am praying to God that you are protected, and that you are set apart and made holy. Live your lives in that manner. Look for ways of building relationships." That is what Jesus is saying to them. "Look for ways to build, not to tear down, not to destroy, but to build, to love one another. Be in the world, that you may know God's love through others, and others, who have never heard these words, may know of God's love, also. Be holy. Be a follower of Christ - not holier than thou - but dedicated to serving through Christ by serving others and showing God's love".

This prayer was for the disciples, but it is also Jesus' prayer for us, as the Church. Jesus recognizes our potential and what we can be - not what we have been, but what we can be in the love of Christ. And Jesus recognizes in us that we may have divisions among us, and that that is a possibility. And Jesus prays for our protection constantly - praying that we may be one, as He and the Father are one. And Jesus tells us to go out into the world, not forgetting who we are, but being sanctified, being holy, being a follower of Christ, being a Christian.

Jesus' prayer was for the disciples. Let our prayer be a living prayer for others.

AMEN