Means and Ends – sermon on May 28, 2017
John 17: 1-11 After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Abba, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life – to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy God, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.”
Sermon: Means and Ends by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Our readings this morning were done out of order, both from where they are in the bible, and also the order in which they occurred. The responsive reading from Acts is Luke’s version of the final goodbye between Jesus and his followers. He has already died and been resurrected. They have spent several weeks with him since then, and now he is leaving for heaven. He will be with them in spirit, but no more will they be able to touch his wounds or experience his healing touch. No more will they eat with him, laugh with him, walk with him. He gives them a brief commissioning, and off he goes, leaving them staring upward, perhaps waiting for someone riding on a cloud coming to defeat those Romans. They are hesitant to move forward until they are nudged by a couple of “white-robed men” aka – angels.
The Gospel passage from John is set before the crucifixion. It is the night before, at the last supper. It is part of what is often referred to as Jesus’ farewell address,and the whole address is more than a quarter of John’s gospel. Jesus has been talking for 4 chapters. The speech started with Jesus washing their feet at supper, and giving them a new commandment – to love one another. He tells them over and over that he will be glorified, that he is one with God, that he is going to prepare a place for them, that they will receive an Advocate, that his plan for them is for joy, complete joy. He tells them they were chosen, chosen to serve as he served. He cautions them that things will look bad, really bad. They will be hated, they will be persecuted, that they will mourn. He tells them their pain, though, will be like that of a woman giving birth – a pain that gives way to joy, a joy that can never be taken away. And right before the passage read by deacon, he asks if they now, finally, believe that he came from God, and they answer, “yes, we believe.” And then Jesus begins to pray. He prays for them in their presence. (power of that?)
Again he talks quite a bit about glory (what do you think he means? High renown or honor / magnificence or beauty / pride or pleasure) He asks to be glorified by God so he can give glory back. He talks about bringing glory to God to earth, and wishing to be brought into the glory of eternity. He talks about what eternity is – so interesting! He says eternity, or eternal life, is knowing God and knowing him. He lifts up in prayer the work he has done – revealing God to his followers. The seeds he planted have taken root, he tells God. These followers have believed and received. He tells God how they have brought glory to him. And then he asks God to protect them so that they are united, just as Jesus will be united with God.
I wonder about this request, about what God’s protection looks like. Jesus has told them they would encounter hatred, persecution, even violence and his own death. So it seems that the armor of God does not protect us from such things. And God’s favor / protection didn’t keep Abraham from doubting, Jacob from conniving, Moses from his insecurities, or David from his sinful lust. God’s protection doesn’t seem to be about keeping our mortal bodies and minds intact or unscarred. So what is Jesus asking of God when he asks that God protect us by the power of the divine name?
Greek scholar D. Mark Davis makes a case that the word translated as “protect” could also mean “attend to.” Both things required attention on God’s part – notice these, your people, who you gave me. Remember that Jesus has not yet died and been resurrected when he is praying this prayer. He knows, no matter what they say about believing that he is from God, that they will struggle when he is killed. He wants God to attend to them, especially in that time. In their horror and grief and guilt, they may forget, forget the promise of joy, the way to eternity. It is especially easy to forget because it is an experience somewhat beyond them, this joy that is birthed through their pain. It is hard to describe, hard to get them to understand – maybe like trying to tell a young person what it is like to fall in love, or become a parent. In a way we protect them for something rather than from something. We want to assure them these things are good in the right time and circumstance, even though there is pain involved, even though they are not ready yet.
I wonder if Jesus’ prayer for us is asking for something like this – protecting us for glory, or preparing us for glory, priming us for glory. When our minds and hearts are set on the ways of the world, we are not being prepared properly for God’s glory. Jesus’ prayer was for us to be united, but the ways of the world separate us. This world distorts our perception and understanding. It makes us think there is not enough, that we have to look out for ourselves, that we must protect our own bodies, our own feelings, our so-called possessions. The way to eternal life, eternal joy is to know God and Jesus, and in knowing them, knowing we are part of them, all of us united. We practice that knowing in recognizing our unity with others.
But our excellent training for surviving and making it in this world works against us. It is often hard to see the problem with our thinking, and the kind of protection we seek digs us in even deeper. Does anyone know what OCD is? It’s a distortion of thinking that requires certain rituals to try to manage obsessive thoughts. I read this description from a woman who suffers from it. I suppose I’ve had OCD since I was around 10, I can’t remember exactly when it started. But I do remember my first issue was with food. Between 5 years old and 11 years old I simply refused to eat and meal times were a nightmare. At around 18 I began to suffer MAJOR panic attacks about my parent’s house being robbed. This involved me staying up until 2am with my phone in my hand ready to dial 911 in case someone broke into the house. My parents still don’t know I did this. My head would buzz with images and scenarios. It was around this time that I also started to begin rituals, at night to ‘stop’ the house from being burgled. I was only allowed to sleep in one position in bed, I could only breathe a certain number of times and in a certain pattern. I used to get the train to work and was TERRIFIED of travelling on it. I had a fixation that I was going to be robbed and murdered, that I would be stabbed. I would sing songs repeatedly in my head, and I had to finish a specific verse or chorus line so that I wouldn’t be stabbed to death. At age 28 my cousin died very suddenly of a brain tumor, and I became paranoid that I had a brain tumor myself, whenever I had a headache I would panic and think I was going to die. I was living one never ending panic attack. I also began to be afraid of certain objects, and my fear was so great I had images of myself wearing gloves so I didn’t have to touch them. At my worst, I imagined tying my hands behind my back so I couldn’t accidently touch them.
If you wanted to help this woman, what would you do? Would you give her gloves, give her a log book so she could keep better track of what verses she sang or the pattern of her breath? No – you don’t push her deeper into the distortions. Nor do you just tell her to snap out of her. She needs some tending, some care, some gentle correction and new ways to understand and to cope. Fortunately she did some on-line research, found a doctor, got on medication that helped and things are much, much better – not perfect, but much better. And she wrote so that others might find hope in her story.
I think that Jesus’ prayer is that God would give us tending and care, gentle correction and new ways to understand this life and life eternal, new ways to cope with it. We have the example of Jesus and we have the Advocate – the Holy Spirit that was given to us. We have a cloud of witnesses we can find in scripture and faith teachings through the ages. But I think of at lest equal importance are our own experiences of the divine. You know what I mean, right? Those moments when you sense the connecting thread running through everyone and everything? Those moments of wonder and wordless joy? God tends to us. God gives us those glimpses. I think we ought to cherish those experiences and even prime ourselves as best we can for more. Where do you experience joy, peace, contentment, harmony? Go there to build up the armor of God.
The way to eternal life is in knowing God and Christ, knowing we are one with them. Heaven is not a place you end up if you are “good enough.” The means are the end. Heaven is revealed as we expand our knowledge of and relationship to God, right here, right now and in every moment. May it be so.
