Praying for the Family – John 17:1-23

Whenever we need to be reminded of what is at the core of our faith we only have to turn to the Gospel of John.  This is a gospel that recounts the life and ministry of Jesus as the other gospels do but John adds a dimension that is too often absent from the others – and that is the element that is the motivation for God to come in the person of Jesus and is the overarching reason for God’s desire to bring peace, hope, mercy and an end to the gulf that had kept humanity separated from knowing its creator more intimately. Of course, what I am speaking of is love – not a limited and often selfish emotion but a truly forgiving, accepting and sacrificial love. John never hesitates to draw the reader’s attention to the love of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. No matter whether it is through a moment of teaching or healing, John ensures that the reader understands what is motivating Jesus. It is this emphasis on the love of God that is so strongly spoken of that has led John’s gospel to become known as the relational gospel.  Relationships are key to John.  Miracles of healing are not isolated instances of showmanship on Jesus’ part, but they are grounded in a time of conversation, of seeing the person, discovering what the person truly needs and then offering what that from a heart of love.  John does such a marvellous summation of what he understands to be the reason for God coming to the world in the person of Jesus Christ and the key word is love – not judgment nor condemnation nor words or actions that would cause fear or distrust.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. (The Complete Jewish Bible, tr. by David H. Stern)

It is God’s great love for this world and its people that moved him over and over again to come to the people of Israel and – through Jesus and the Holy Spirit – to all the peoples of the world.  It is love that caused him to come in Jesus – to give of himself in a way that he hoped would touch the hearts of all people. He chose to come as a child, as a son, as a first-born son and offer himself to show us that his great desire was ever for a relationship of love and life between him and us.

It is clear to John – and this is something that he wants us to understand -  that nothing has ever happened in history since the creation of the world that has ever stopped the love of God for this world; it has never been God’s intention or desire to turn his back and be rid of this world that he created.   Through Jesus God reveals that he only wants to receive us home and give to us an eternal light and life that was ours in the beginning and that are to be ours forever.

But this record of the great love of God is not a sappy love story, it is a record that does not deny or hide the reality that God can become angry, frustrated, moved to tears and even to the point of despair as the record shows through the account as Jesus reflects that heart of God through his own struggles, trials and hurts that he endured.    Yet through it all, the images that John shares with us define for us in real terms what this love looks like. He is for us a shepherd, a tree in which we can grow, a way for us to follow in this life, a truth that we can trust, and a life that can bring us peace in the midst of any hardship.  He wants nothing more than to feed us with a bread that will not only fill our stomachs but also fill any deep longing within our being; he wants nothing more than to give us water that will not only quench our thirst for today but will quench any unsettled thoughts in our minds and hearts and cause all thirst to disappear.

As John reminds us in the opening words of his Gospel:

To as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, not because of bloodline, physical impulse, or human intention, but because of God. (John 1:12-13; The Complete Jewish Bible, tr. by David H. Stern)

Those first disciples who gathered around Jesus were drawn to him not out of fear, rather they were drawn to him by his words, by his demeanour, by his eyes, his touch, by the love they experienced.  He was approachable, he was compassionate, he was genuine in his desire to reach people and free them to experience the forgiveness, mercy and love of God.  As time went by, they were drawn more and more to him and truly understood that he cared deeply for them and for so many others. He revealed to them the true nature and intention of God and that caused them to love him.

Today’s passage of Scripture from John’s Gospel is part of the long prayer offered by Jesus before his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.  It is a summation of the ministry of Jesus, and it is filled with reflections upon the time that Jesus has spent with the disciples.  He reflects on the teaching that he has imparted to them and his great concern for them as they will have to move into the future without his physical presence. Jesus speaks of these people with great love and concern; but he also is conscious of those who will come after these first disciples.  He says:

I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in me because of their word, that they may all be one. (John 17:20) (The Complete Jewish Bible, tr. by David H. Stern, p. 1353)

Jesus is praying not just for random individuals who have been chosen to observe his mission. He is praying for people he considers to be family. He is praying for those who have become children of God through their trust and acceptance of the One who has come in the name of God not to judge and condemn them but to love and lead them. His concern is for their well-being even at the moment when his impending crucifixion should be uppermost in his mind.

This prayer is a reminder to us to trust God and trust in his words. It is a reminder that we are part of the family of God and that we are to pray for one another as Jesus prayed and prays for us.  We are to remember that each of us by our faith in God has been adopted by God as children; we are brothers and sisters to one another and as such we are to ever seek to love one another as best we can; we are to pray for one another and ever seek to show compassion and mercy rather than judgment.  We are to ever seek to live at peace with one another by striving to understand each other’s journey through this life and so be able to be supportive to one another as we make our way through this world.

Our willingness to open ourselves to new people and new ideas, to welcome new talents and live with one another in love will go far to realising that great hope of Jesus in his prayer. And as we do so, we will learn that being part of the family of God is not just about you or me, your wants or my wants or your needs or my needs, but that it is about all those things and more.  For it is about our relationship one to another and the relationship we all have to our God.

As God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son that we might trust him, let us so love one another showing that we indeed trust him and trust one another!

AMEN