Seventh Sunday of Easter [a] May 24, 2020
John 17:1-11
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
In the Name of Jesus.
Jesus makes us one. One with each other, bound together in unity.
No small task. We can’t do that on our own.
Sin tears apart. Guilt has us hiding things from one another. Shame has us putting up a false front.
Fear—that’s a big one—fear has us acting in desperation, even telling each other how strong our faith is, so we act as if we have no fear.
In our sinful flesh, in our sinful world, we end up looking out for self. That is the essence of our sin. And looking out for self is division with others, not oneness.
Jesus makes us one with each other. It’s his prayer to his Father:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
[John 17:11]
The Name is the way he does it:
“[O Father,] I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me.”
[John 17:6]
Jesus reveals the Name of his Father to us.
God the Son reveals his Father’s Name by coming in the flesh. For no one comes to the Father but by the Son (John 14:6).
God the Son reveals his Father’s Name by speaking to the unclean woman at the well, by eating with tax-collectors and sinners, by drinking wine with those rejected in society, by touching the skin of lepers, by being charged by the teachers of the law with being the friend of sinners, and gladly accepting the title—God the Son reveals his Father’s Name by being with sinners and cleansing them and making them his friends.
God the Son, finally, reveals his Father’s Name by giving himself on the cross, the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of the world.
Do you want to see God the Father? Do you want to know and feel the Father’s work in your life?
Then look at the cross. The dying, bleeding man, striking out at no one, hearing the insults of everyone, look at that man on the cross—that’s Jesus, revealing his Father’s Name to sinners: “Father forgive them for they don’t even know what they do.”
Do you want to know and feel God the Father at work in your life?
Then hear the word Jesus speaks: I forgive you your sin, you are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you (John 15:3).
These words Jesus speaks to cleanse the sinner, to cleanse us, these are words given as gift to the Son by the Father, which the Son now speaks to us as gift. John 17:8:
“Now, [O Father,] they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you.”
Do you want to know and feel God the Father at work in your life?
Then grip tight your Baptism, the water poured, the word spoken into the ear, this is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a promise and mandate Jesus gave to his Apostles, that they would bestow it upon sinners of every nation and every generation, including you and me and our children.
Do you want to know and feel God the Father at work in your life?
Then taste the bread Jesus gives you to eat—it’s bread to which he has bound his word, bread which he has taken up into his use, that in, with, and under this bread, he is giving you the fulness of his Body.
Taste the wine he gives you to drink—in feeling this wine go down your throat you are feeling the work of God the Father in your life. For it is wine Jesus has taken up into his use, wine to which he has bound his word and is giving you his Blood for the forgiveness of all your sin.
Do you want to know and feel God the Father at work in your life?
Then don’t look up at the wonder of the stars, don’t marvel at the power of the oceans, don’t just gaze at the majesty of the mountains or the intricacy of the molecules and atoms—these are indeed works of the Father, but in these works of creation you will never find your sin forgiven, you will never have your conscience cleansed.
For the works of the Father in your life, look at the dead man on the cross, the blood, the pierced side, the bruises and cuts—that’s the work of God the Father for you giving the gift of his Son to save sinners.
Hear the words of this Man Jesus—the words he spoke to cleanse the lepers, to have dinner with the drunkards, to forgive the sinners; the words he spoke when he descended to Hell to proclaim victory over the demons; the words he spoke upon his resurrection to forgive Thomas and the other Apostles, to bestow life; the words he spoke before ascending to institute the gift of Baptism for every sinner; listen to the words which he speaks now in his Church, which he speaks to you: Take and eat, take and drink, this is my Body, my Blood, for the forgiveness of your sins. Hear these words spoken by the Son, and know that these are the words given him by the Father, given by him to you, and by these words you are one with the Father as he is one with the Father, and being one with the Father and with the Son, we are, then, made one with each other.
And that is his prayer, which his Father hears and keeps.
[O Father,] I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
In the Name of Jesus.