ONE - John 17:20-26 - Seventh Sunday of Easter

 

John 17:20-26 NIV

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

ONE

Notice that these are all words of Jesus. It amazes me and comforts me that Jesus prays for his disciples and you and me as well. This must have been a prayer that was said out loud in the presence of His disciples. This was a prayer for the church as well. A prayer for all time.

First, let’s take a look at John 17:5, these are also the words of Jesus, earlier in this prayer…

⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

The Father loves Jesus BEFORE the creation of the world. This is the timeless, eternal aspect of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God’s love always existed.

All this teaching and praying with His disciples started with Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. Why? Well, this was an action of love. This prayer was the result of much teaching and loving action of Jesus’ part for the disciples and by extension for us and the church as well. Prior to this portion of Scripture, Jesus washes the feet, for-told His betrayal, gave a new commandment to love one another as He has loved us, for-told Peter’s denial, taught the disciples how He was the way to the Father, promised the Holy Spirit, taught how He is the vine and the Father is the vine-grower and how we are the branches that feed from the vine… Jesus teaching went on from there, prior to this prayer with His disciples.

Yes, this is a prayer and call to Love as ONE. And all of this BEFORE Jesus’ death on the cross.

The flesh of Jesus reveals God’s nature… look back at John 1:14

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

At this point, Jesus has been with His disciples, teaching them, healing, and praying all along for all those God has given to Him. So, these disciples are real-life witnesses to all the words and teachings and actions of God’s love through Jesus.

Here and even today, Jesus prays FOR us, yes, today and throughout time.

What does Jesus require of the church, and us? As is made obvious in this prayer, Jesus prays that we may live near and WITH God. That we come close together. God through Jesus has drawn us in. Think of a line, with God in the center, we are gathered on either side of the center of that line and God is drawing us closer and closer to the center to be ONE with Him. Or think of a circle with God at the center of the circle, we are gathered on the outside of the circle and God is drawing us toward the center to be ONE with Him. When we are ONE with Him, we are then ONE with each other.

Unity or ONE, only applies to those who believe in Jesus. Through Jesus we receive Faith as a gift… this Faith draws us in Unity that leads us back to Faith. ONE is an eternal circle of the gift of Faith through Jesus, drawing us closer and closer to God.

Don’t get all fussed up with another kind of unity as we think in worldly terms. Unity is NOT an organizational unity. RATHER, the Unity, or ONE that Jesus teaches in this prayer IS a GIFT of God’s love. Love from God and love for one another.

When we see complete ONE, as we see with Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit, it makes it clear to the world the presence of God. Jesus’ own words make this clearer…

²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

God loves us. God loves us even before we knew we needed God. God loves us even before He created us. Such a strange thought, but such a deep love. This is love!

John makes this even clearer than any words that I could gather…

1 John 4:10-16 NIV

¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

This Faith moves to Hope of the vision of the ONE catholic and apostolic church. A church unified before the beginning and united with Jesus’ revelation of faith and love FROM the Father and THROUGH the Holy Spirit --- THREE in ONE.

Yes, Jesus continues His revelation through the Holy Spirit, even today.

Listen to these last words from Jesus’ prayer…

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

As God draws us towards Himself, day after day, may the love He has for us become love we have for each other… all as we become ONE… today… tomorrow… and forever. --- Amen

I leave you with this YouTube music video that spoke to me this past week…

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-W5HEVPJT8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-W5HEVPJT8

Take Heart! - John 16:23-33 - Sixth Sunday of Easter

 

John 16:23-33 NIV

²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

²⁵ “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. ³⁰ Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

³¹ “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. ³² “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Take Heart!

Jesus starts off with something curious, He mentions, “that day.” This passage of Scripture takes place before Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion. The “that day,” in this case, refers to Easter, or His resurrection. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples will still be confused, but the work is done. Jesus will have conquered and defeated the power of sin and death. After “that day,” God will open up and believers will approach the Father through what Jesus has completed.

And then in verse 25, Jesus speaks of a “time is coming.” Well, once again, Jesus projects into the future a bit for the disciples. This “time is coming,” is the day of Pentecost. Just in a couple of verses, Jesus projects to His disciples what is to happen in the near future. Jesus projects the acts of God in their lives, even before they realize what gifts God has in store for them. These gifts from God are life changing gifts to the disciples and to all mankind.

Verse 25 also stresses how Jesus had been speaking figuratively. A “time is coming” when this won’t be needed. But as Jesus’ disciples were then and as we are today, this figurative speaking of Jesus adds much value to our understanding. So, what do I mean?

Like Object Lessons for ALL God’s Children are the Parables of Jesus. These Parables of Jesus are visions with memory. Any believer and student of Scripture, can’t help but to think of some of Jesus’ messages, when they see, sheep, coins, shepherds, servants, sparrows, vineyards, mountains, candles or so many things that we commonly see in this world in which we live. How can we NOT see Jesus’ Word in the world around us and remember Him, or some message of Jesus?

Yet now, Jesus bids all of us to look past Him and see how God the Father has always loved us and made His grace of love and salvation open to ALL mankind.

There is a close connection between love and faith in God.

Look at verse 28 now…

²⁸ I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

What a concise revelation of Jesus in eternity is this? In one short verse we see Jesus before and in the creation, we see Jesus coming to this world in flesh, we see Jesus die and defeat sin and death, we see Jesus’ resurrection, and finally we see Jesus’ ascension to the Father. The only thing we don’t see, in this one little verse, is Jesus coming again. It’s a concise and to the point message about Jesus!

This leads us to realize how only God increases understanding. We may plant the Word in the world, others may water the seen we planted, BUT only God will make this seed grow. When God brings Light through Jesus, then there will be Light in the soul of the believer. For God is never far away from His Children’s hearts and minds.

It’s in this that now the disciples believe that Jesus comes from God. But, even still, they couldn’t foresee Jesus’ arrest being necessary for Jesus to return to the Father.

The disciples are like us, we see what is before us but what and how God’s plan develops is a bit of a mystery, even when God has made it plain, our eyes miss the obvious. In this life we see only dimly what God has in store for all of us.

When all have left Jesus, the Father will still be with Him. But, through the disaster of death, comes the promise of peace forever IN Jesus resurrection, ascension and Jesus’ return for ALL believers.

What are we to do with this?

Open our eyes. You may now believe BUT don’t make your belief about yourself and what you have done in believing. Belief is a gift from God. Belief is NOT about your ability or effort, but about what God has done for you.

As Paul warns the believers in 1 Corinthians 10:12

¹² So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

In other words, you may run a good race, yet still fall, yet still fumble the pass of the baton in the relay of life.

God gives us the ability to believe in Him. It’s not something you muster up on your own or through your own efforts, belief, like faith, is a gift from God. Which takes us back to how God gives all that we need to believe and have faith to us each and every day of our lives.

In this passage of Scripture, we see that Jesus is loyal to those NOT loyal to Him.

Peter is soon to deny Jesus. The disciples are soon to scatter away from Jesus. But look what Jesus does. Jesus prays AND things shift. Look how Jesus’ disciples really get up and repent and can’t help but to believe.

Even as Jesus is alone on that cross, the Father is with Him. With the Father with Jesus, Jesus can be calm while suffering, unshaken and determined to do the Father’s will, in becoming our sin and putting sin to death.

Likewise, even for you and me, when times are tough, God IS with us, His Children, giving courage to live with Him. And this brings on the gift of faith, that results in the ability to “take heart!” For God through Jesus has overcome the world.

In Jesus’ words…

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

As the Temple of God is Jesus, and as the Father is with us, may God’s face shine upon each one of us, that we may be bold to proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness and love and grace. May God open hearts to receive the gift He freely gives… today… tomorrow… and forever. – Amen

I leave you with this YouTube Video that reminded me of this message…

Open the Eyes of My Heart by Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idQ1n3cdgfo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idQ1n3cdgfo

A Little While - See You Soon! - John 16:12-22 - Fifth Sunday of Easter

 

John 16:12-22 NIV

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

 

A Little While – See You Soon!

I’ll begin with reflecting on the thought of “Ages.”  Each age or generation takes in what came to it from the generation before. It’s a gift from the past. And then the present generation makes new discoveries to give to the next generation. This is an unending cycle. Think of it as gifts from the past to the future that keep giving. Eternity to eternity in some way, breaking in on mankind. It’s a giving of what astonished the past to what astonishes the present that sets up an astonishment of gifts into the future, all with something more and something new.

Next, let’s consider “understanding.” What gets in the way of understanding something? How about, what gets in the way of understanding God, to be more specific?

There are three main things that get in mankind’s way of understanding God.

·       Sin – Rejecting God – If we reject God, we certainly cease our understanding – the conversation is over. Sin also gets in the way. Sin focuses us on our own needs and we begin to serve self in all ways. Through our sin, we have turned away from God to self.

·       Righteousness – This is self-righteousness. We don’t need God because we are righteous without God. This is when mankind sought to proudly put Christ to death on a cross. Mankind felt that Jesus was not God and they didn’t need salvation. Or perhaps, even if they knew Jesus was God they didn’t want God in the way of their own righteousness. In this way mankind declared itself just and powerful all on their own.

·       Judgment – Here mankind condemned or judged Jesus as or as not, God. The judgment was within whatever was decided, each on their own, or as a group. Judgment belonged to the individual or group, not with God.

With all this thinking as a background, let’s consider the dilemma of the disciples in this passage from John. What does this “A Little While” mean? Today we can see two possible meanings. Perhaps “A Little While” refers to Jesus’ death and then His resurrection. This passage takes place around the time of Jesus Last Supper with His disciples.

But today and in the future for these disciples, perhaps Jesus is also speaking of after His ascension and then when He returns at the end of the age.

If we go back into the beginning, we know that Jesus was with God in the Creation. Perhaps, just maybe, we could think of a little while is when Jesus is born into flesh and blood at Bethlehem.

So, this “A Little While.” Brings meaning into our lives today. God has astonished us from age to age, or generation to generation. We bring along God’s astonishment throughout time and He gives us new astonishments daily. We are astonished by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As is said, God’s wonders never cease. And also, God’s wanders never cease. God wanders throughout all time and makes us wonder throughout our life, at all He gives to us each and every day of our life, and each and every day for all God’s Children.

Yet still, along with the disciples, we pause…

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

We seek the answer inwardly. We put our heads together with other disciples and come out with an answer and an action plan. The Church on earth has been doing this for ages. YET --- RATHER

Instead of listening to ourselves and coming up with our own answers and plans; why don’t we do something else.

We need to turn to God and LISTEN. We need to sit at the feed of Jesus and SEE and DO as Jesus leads and guides us through the Word and the Spirit of God.

This is not about me, you or us. This “A Little While” is an action of God.

Jesus goes on to open our eyes, to our present pain, sorrow, suffering, death and such, that we have present in the here and now of this place where we exist, to another time and place. A wonderful time and place that is “A Little While” from now.

Jesus’ promise is goodness and joy and peace, in “A Little While.”

This “A Little While” is not something we seek. This is not our pursuit of happiness we all tend to think we have a right to. When we seek happiness, it tends to disappear on us. We never seem to catch happiness on our own.

Jesus guides us to do something else. Instead of seeking personal or group happiness, let’s live for God. Let’s live for Christ. Let’s live for one another. For, “A Little While.”

And when we do this, life takes on a better flavor. Life becomes happiness. Not by what we have done, but rather, through what Jesus has done for us. In this, happiness happens. But this happiness is much more. This happiness is JOY.

What we seek, as believers, is Christ. And what happens, is astonishing. Christ comes to us! God comes to us and works in us and through us and gives us JOY. This JOY is so much better and beyond any happiness we could ever seek. This JOY is thrown into our lives FREE. A Gift!

In “A Little While.”

We put on Christ --- well, that’s Heaven!

We live for God --- well, that’s Heaven!

Where do you come in, on this? Well… You don’t!

 

As Luther reflected upon a symbol he created called the Luther Rose…

 

In my words…

I look to the cross and see death and pain, yet salvation. This cross is the black of death.

The cross is centered in my heart of faith. The heart is the red of Jesus’ life-giving blood.

The cross and the heart are enveloped by a rose of JOY caused by faith. The rose is a white rose of all the angels and blessed saints of God.

As I look to the heavens; the cross, the heart, and the rose, are surrounded by a blue sky, which is the beginning of the heavenly JOY to come. A blue sky of the hope of heavenly JOY to come.

Everything, the cross, the heart, the rose and the sky are encompassed by the gold ring of endless JOY through the gift of grace. This endless rind is the gold of Jesus, my most precious gift.

Thanks be to God!

 

That’s the JOY of “A Little While.” All the gift of Jesus throughout time.

Sure, we all have our own “A Little While,” but, we can rejoice on this Word of Jesus…

²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

Age to age, generation to generation, through and beyond our sinfulness and in “A Little While” --- today, tomorrow and forever --- JOY!

I invite you to pause and enjoy the inspiration that I received this week as I reflected on this passage of Scripture from John, with this YouTube Music Video. --- Enjoy and may God bless you.

See You In A Little While – Steven Curtis Chapman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECRfLQVvyfs