Sermon for Easter 7

The Heart of Easter

John 17:11b-19

Seventh Sunday of Easter B 2009

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel from St. John.

[Jesus said:] “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it appears to be a little out of place for our Lord to be saying these words to the disciples at the particular point in time he was saying them. These words seem even further out of place when we consider that this is still the Easter season, the season of celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Yet today we are directed to these words Jesus prayed with his disciples not after he was raised from the dead; nor even at the time of his ascension into heaven, which the church observed this past Thursday; no, our Lord prayed this prayer on the night when he was betrayed. It was so far along in the events of that evening, in fact, that Judas had already left them. Our Lord had already washed the disciples’ feet, and he had instituted the Lord’s Supper.

With so little time left before he would be handed over by Judas, surely there were more important things for Jesus to be doing than praying with and for his disciples. Yet here we hear with our own ears the words of his prayer. No more miracles for the pleading public; no more casting demons out of the possessed; and no more teachings for the gathered masses. Jesus instead took the time to pray for his disciples, and on this, the last Sunday of the Easter season in our church year; we are directed to this prayer of Jesus to send us forth next Sunday into the Pentecost Season.

It may seem like a strange way to leave Easter by focusing on the events of Maundy Thursday, but it is not so out of place if we consider that we are concerned with more in this season than the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead alone. We heard the testimony of the women, of Thomas, and of Jesus himself to the Emmaus disciples establishing that he bodily rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures. We have even learned from the passages these past weeks from John’s Gospel about the vine and the branches that we receive the fruits of Jesus’ resurrection as we abide in him and he abides in us. Today, however, Jesus’ prayer teaches us what he desired that his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead would give to humanity. Not that he did not already know what was coming – he was the subject of the prophecies and writings of the Old Testament; he knew that his death would mean forgiveness for humanity and that his resurrection from the dead would set the pattern for the eternal life of all who believed in him. Jesus’ prayer was not that his death and resurrection would accomplish what he already knew it would accomplish; his prayer was instead that the people for whom he would die would be kept and protected in the faith he had given them during their lives. It should also be said, though it is not included in the portion of this prayer that makes up our reading this morning, that Jesus was also praying for those who would believe through his disciples. In other words, Jesus has the Christian church in mind as he prays. In this Gospel, Jesus prays these things for us.

Jesus knew the weaknesses of humanity. He knew that the next few days of his disciples’ lives would be very trying. The Scriptures tell us of the denials, desertion, and disbelief of the Twelve in the days following this prayer. Jesus also knew the temptations humanity faces from the devil and the world. He conquered the temptations of the evil one in his own life, but he knew that others did not have his capacity as the Son of God to resist temptation in thought, word, and deed. St. Paul hadn’t written it yet, but it had been true since Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of the devil. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Our Lord knew all of this, and so he prayed for his disciples, and for us. ‘Holy Father,’ he said, ‘keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.’ It is no small thing to consider the unique relationship of the Father and the Son and then to have it applied to Jesus’ followers, but this is what Jesus prays. Like a son bears his father’s name and receives the inheritance, Jesus also gave them his Father’s name – a name that would be fully revealed to them as he instituted baptism – so that they might also receive the inheritance of his Father in heaven.

Jesus went on, ‘While I was with them, I kept them in your name…but now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.’ For Jesus to pray to have his joy fulfilled in his people creates an awful juxtaposition with what is about to come – even before he will go through his arrest, trial, scourging, and crucifixion, he will pray again in anguish to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. The fulfillment of Jesus’ joy in himself is being one with his Father and carrying out the work he was sent to accomplish. The fulfillment of Jesus’ joy in his followers, though, is different. He prayed before that they would be one as he and the Father are one, and now he asks that his joy would be theirs as well.

This is an important aspect of Jesus’ prayer because it teaches us a crucial distinction of which we must always be aware. Jesus’ death forgives the sin of the entire world, but that alone does not mean that the entire world receives everlasting life with the Father and Son in heaven. There is a difference between the accomplishment of salvation by Jesus on the cross, and the delivery of that salvation by the Holy Spirit to humanity through the Means of Grace. A hungry infant is not nourished by the fact that his mother has plenty of food in the cupboard – his parents must prepare the food and feed it to him for him to receive the benefit of the stores in the cupboard. In the same way, humanity does not automatically receive the benefits of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil simply because the events took place – the Holy Spirit must create faith in each person that Jesus did all of these things for us, so that we might live forever in heaven with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even though he willingly went to his death on the cross, Jesus’ joy was not solely in his obedience to the Father and his resurrection from the dead. Jesus’ joy was not merely that he did what he had to do to defeat sin and open the hope of eternal life to humanity – Jesus’ joy is fulfilled in humanity when the Holy Spirit causes us to repent and call upon God for forgiveness. Jesus’ joy is fulfilled in humanity when the Holy Spirit speaks the creative word of faith into the hearts and souls of fallen men, and guards and keeps us in that faith so that there will be a harvest of believers when our Lord returns for judgment. The death and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins does not grant its benefit apart from the faith that he did it for us – just as staring at a pill in the doctor’s hand does not cure us of our illness. Likewise, faith in anything apart from Jesus’ death and resurrection receives nothing from God – it is as beneficial to a truly sick person as receiving a sugar pill. Eternal life requires both Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil and the Spirit given faith that Jesus’ accomplishments are also for us.

Jesus’ prayer is that, in spite of the assaults he knows his followers will face in this world, we would not be left to face the evil one. He does not pray that we be removed from the world; in fact he asks that we be protected while in the world, that we be guarded from the attacks of the devil. Christians are not of the world just as Jesus is not of the world, but that does not mean that we have nothing to do with the world. This is why, I believe, this prayer is actually a profound bridge from the Easter season to Pentecost. Next week at Pentecost you will hear of the Spirit coming upon the Apostles as the Christian church begins its missionary work to the world. The salvation Jesus accomplished on the cross is delivered throughout the world by the power of the Holy Spirit working in unworthy men.

This is the beginning of the church for whom Jesus is praying. He asks, finally, that they be sanctified in truth; the Father’s word is truth. As the Father sent the Son into the world, so has Jesus sent his followers into the world. And for their sake he has dedicated himself to the sacred task that would follow this prayer and the events in the Garden of Gethsemane. He does is that they might be made holy by God in his word. He does it that we may be one, as he and the Father are one.

So, dear friends, this is the heart of Easter – this is why Jesus went to the cross. He did it so that we may be one – one with one another in love and service; one with one another in the hope we have in the Christian faith; but above all else, he did it so that we may be one with himself and the Father in heaven; our earthly lives sanctified in the truth of the forgiveness of sins, consecrated for everlasting life, and delivered in the end to eternal salvation.

To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, amen.

June Newsletter Article

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are important things, and then there are important things. Knowing what time we must show up for our jobs or classes is important. Making sure you have all the ingredients before you begin baking a cake is important. Remembering which child goes to which practice at what time – and when to pick them up – is also important. None of these things, however, is equal to another in importance.

I think we would all agree that while we want to be sure to have everything in place before we begin mixing the shortening and the sugar, we would first want to watch the clock to be certain we can arrive in time to meet our work or school commitments. I think we’d also agree that if forced to make the choice, we would sacrifice time for our career to ensure our children are not left alone for hours, waiting for a ride. Everything is important, but not everything is equally important.

I write this because I have been struck in recent weeks at how carefully and cleverly the world, the devil, and our own fallen flesh work to undermine the gifts our Lord has given us. Christians are generally well prepared for the obvious and blatant attacks – few of us, I hope, would give credence to the so-called scholarship of Dan Brown in his popular novels, just like few of us are convinced that James Cameron will ever find the lost tomb of Jesus. We Christians struggle, however, when we assume that things are fine and that there is no assault taking place on our soul and against the faith we have been given, for that is when our enemies work the hardest – when they can fool us into believing that nothing is happening at all.

Our enemies often accomplish this toxic task by simply adjusting our priorities. The one I see (and experience myself!) most often is the gentle shift from seeing Christianity as ‘the Christian faith’ to seeing it as ‘the Christian moral code’ or ‘the Christian ethical guidebook to life.’ It is not that we are denying the former and asserting the latter – again, the world, the devil, and our flesh do not work against us so visibly – but rather that we acquiesce to the temptation that God cares just as much about what we do as he does about what we believe. Both are certainly important, but in God’s eyes they are most definitely not equal in importance!

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians – a congregation exhibiting a multitude of moral and theological problems – puts our priorities in order when he writes that he delivered to them (and us) first of all that which he also received: that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that he was buried and rose again the third day, all of this according to the Scriptures. In other words, the most important thing to Paul (and to God!) is not a moral exhortation to bring the sinful flesh into submission; the most important thing is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that he rose again as the victor over death! Paul did also wrote about the moral problems in Corinth, and those words are no less true today than they were then, but Jesus’ death and resurrection is, first of all, the most important thing and the essence of Christianity. As we celebrate one year in the new facility this coming month and embark upon a much anticipated summer of warm weather, let us not give any way to the world, the devil, or our sinful flesh in rearranging the important things in our lives as Christians. Christ has risen from the dead and our sins are forgiven!

To him alone be all the glory, forever and ever, Amen.

Pastor Bakker