Jesus prays for us (John 17)

In this chapter of John’s gospel Jesus, knowing he will soon be leaving his followers, prays for them.   Part of the prayer of Jesus shows that he speaks about you and me.   Jesus has prayed for those he has with him and then proceeds to include all those who, in later times, come to believe in him.   At this time he is completing the final part of his very short ministry on earth.   He has gathered a nucleus of people on whom he is to relay to maintain the momentum he has started.   They are the ones who will take the good news to the wider world.

As times goes on they will find themselves drawing vast numbers of believers into the fold and what will become the new church will grow and spread throughout the world.   It began with twelve men from Galilee.   Eventually millions will believe in Jesus, the Messiah.   There will come difficulties with many different strains of Christianity.   There will be Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Coptics, Protestants and many more.   Within these groupings will be formed many sects and denominations, all followers of Jesus.   Many of these Christians will at least know of, if not, recite the Nicene Creed.   In those words we find this expression: one holy catholic and apostolic church.

Like many others, at first I could not understand the inclusion of the word, catholic.   It is common to speak of members of the Roman Catholic Church simply as catholics.   We have a number in our family since our son married a Roman Catholic wife.   David, some years back, decided to become one himself.   Ever since I can remember, we have accepted this word to refer to members of the Roman Catholic Church.   So when we first hear the expression, “one holy, catholic and apostolic church we find confusion.   But what is meant is simply ONE church, universal.

Today’s gospel passage is the place where we can find understanding.   This is simply because Jesus speaks of his prayer as including every single believer, both present and future.   There is no mention of different groupings because Jesus has a single vision that sees all of us together.   Any future boundaries have been drawn up by others.  

In reading this passage we must realise that there is, in the mind of Jesus and of God, no difference just because we belong to this denomination or that.   In the eyes of God all are equal.   But, at the time Jesus was praying, something great was being created.   It was the church universal.   The various forms this great body would eventually take were not on the agenda.   Indeed, it is true that they never were and that humankind has erred in letting it all happen.    Be that as it may, we are all here and worshipping and this is the important thing.

Whilst it is sometimes difficult to honestly include in our hearts all the different groupings of Christians as part of a single family we do have to accept that Jesus is inclusive.   We need to see the whole of Christianity as a single entity, united in our returned love for Jesus.   When we consider the prayer contained in today’s gospel reading we need to see in it the comment by Jesus which desires our unity to be based on the unity between Jesus and his heavenly father.   He says: “May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so also may they be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”

So, not only do we have a sense of the importance of unity, but there is also the very real need for this to lead to the whole world realising that it is included in universal salvation.   It is vital that the world comes to know that Jesus, Son of God, is for them and all who are yet to be born.   This universality of the purpose of the coming of Jesus is extremely important.   In context, we need to remember that the prayer under consideration is offered up very close to the time when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane.   In context, therefore, we see that it is part of many matters that have to be established before Jesus is taken from his ministry by his enemies.   In one sense, three years is quite a long period in which to begin the work of delivering God’s love for the world to the world.   Yet it is also a very short period in which every important truth is established in the hearts and minds of those who followed Jesus at that time.   As a planning exercise it was vital to get the key parts in place so that the gospel would go forward in the hands of people like us.

When the gospel is preached in today’s world, as in any other time, it is vital that the result is that the penny drops.   Unless this happens the work of spreading the gospel is incomplete.   Another thing is that we need to see for ourselves that, when Jesus speaks of himself in the Father and the Father in him, we are not think of ourselves on the outside looking in in some privileged way.   The amazing truth is that we also have our place in that expression of unity.   We are included in the single unity:   Father, Son and us.   Jesus never intended to leave us on the outside of this relationship.   This is how he is inclusive.

The work of gospel spreading has been going on now for over 2,000 years – Quite a thought really.   Generation after generation has taken the baton and run its own section of the race.   Here we are today, worshipping God with that baton in our hand.   But there is a sobering thought to consider too.   The Church of Jesus Christ is never more than one generation away from extinction.  If we were to fail to pass on that baton we hold then the church, and its work, would be no more.   When I was worshipping in my teens I was in a congregation counted in three figures.   I really felt to be secure in a great group of the faithful.   Almost sixty years on the picture is very different.   The original secure feeling when part of large congregations is no longer the experience.   The first church where I preached was a few miles outside Burnley in the countryside above Todmorden.   Getting here and back entailed three bus journeys.   I can clearly remember seeing the crowds waiting outside the Roman Catholic Church in Burnley as the bus took me past.   They were waiting for the next service which would follow the Mass that was going on as they patientlywaited outside.   That is no longer the case.   We live in a different era.  

I say all this in order to emphasise that the proximity of extinction for the church is a reality.   Passing the baton is absolutely vital.   This generation must pass the baton to the next and we are much smaller than we used to be.   It looks frightening, doesn’t it?   But we have to keep steady and remain firm in our belief that the work of Jesus will continue.   He prays, not just for those with him then, but for us today.   We may be less, numerically, but we still have the strength to hold that baton and then offer it to our next runners.   So we need to be awake and ready to pass on the baton, which is the word, to others.   In Mark’s gospel, in relation to end occurrences, Jesus is quoted as saying “It is like a man away from home: he has left his house and put the servants in charge, each with his own work to do, and he has ordered the door-keeper to stay awake.   Keep awake, then, for you do not know when the master of the house will come.”   It’s all about being prepared at all times in the mission we have been given.

The baton we carry is the mission itself.   Being active as a church is vital so that we pass this activity on as the relay baton.   We look back at past times and see quite a different world in terms of church.   From that historic view we can learn what was best of all the work we were involved in.   As for the present we need to have a vision before us.   In Proverbs we read “Where there is no vision the people perish.”   Here is a reminder in a different form to keep watch.   If we don’t watch it is certain we shall have no vision.   But that vision is not necessarily our view of the future of the church.   If what we do know is of value then we shall pass the baton to others who will have a foundation on which to build other work which is their responsibility to continue.   We have no control over what happens when our successors are in charge, so we need not concern ourselves.

Returning to the prayer of Jesus we need to remember that it really was us that he was praying for.   It means that we are important as part of the mission and that what we do must carry the same high level of importance.   Remember that Jesus was not just passing through when he came to Palestine.   He was establishing a church which had to continue right on into the future.   Too many Christians sit back in expectation.   They expect things to get better in this great cause without their own input.   Sometimes they don’t realise how crucial they are to the success of God’s mission.   We are told “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”   But this does not mean that the last are to be an inactive group waiting for advancement.   I have heard people say, “God will not allow his church to die.”   If they mean something external will revive it they are wrong.   The Church is commissioned to do this job and no one else.

As vital parts of the whole we have to think what we can do to advance what was once described to me as “the greatest cause of all.”   We may feel very weak because our numbers make it seem so, but God can place in each of us the required energy to make that difference we pray for.   If five loaves and two fishes can feed a multitude we should know that small numbers are not a barrier.   Amazing things can happen.

Like Jesus, we must pray fervently for a vision and the strength to bring it to reality.   If we don’t believe this can happen why are we here today?   There was a boy who behaved very badly in Sunday School and he tried the teacher's patience sorely. The teacher knew he had potential, saying "one day that boy will know" and it turned out to be true.   Long after that time my work as a preacher has continued.   God has stuck with me and, even when I thought my work was losing and inspiration fading, new strength and vision came and kick started the work once more.  

Grasp that baton and remember that Jesus was praying just for you.

The Real Thing

Anyone who has taken young children on a car journey will see the similarity between that and what I remember from a TV comedy called Bloomers, starring the late Richard Beckinsale.   In one episode the odd job van loaded with workers was travelling to a garden site.   As the journey continued an Irish worker on board called out, “Are we here now?”   It was of course the sort of question that you can only ever answer, “Yes.”   But the question asked by young children is “Are we there yet?”   Our 3 year old granddaughter is apt to ask at some point on the journey from Greater Manchester to Anglesey, “Are we nearly at Grandma’s?”

Journeys can be fascinating.   As a child, I used to love train journeys from Nelson, Lancashire to Fleetwood to board the Isle of Man ferry for our week’s holiday.   The first time was special because I had no knowledge of either the way or the destination.   Future journeys would possess landmarks to recognise as we rode or sailed.   The landmarks acted like signposts, telling me how far we had already gone and providing an estimate of the remaining journey time.   On these subsequent journeys I would look forward to suddenly seeing the distinctive grey sand of the beach at Port St Mary where I would play endless games of cricket during our stay.

For me this was the real thing, the highlight of the year.   I fully believed this was the most wonderful place in the world.   Even today It has a special place in my memory.   I was always happy when I was in Port St Mary.   Waking each morning and hearing the whistle of the narrow gauge steam train making its way to Port Erin was pure heaven!

With children of our own, we used to make countless journeys to Anglesey for holidays and then days out, once the A55 was constructed .   Our children always knew that there would be the highlight of dangling their crab lines from the pier at Cemaes Bay.   We used to talk often of the Kamikaze Crabs of Cemaes Bay.   Catching them was so easy.  

In retirement, Pauline and I love to take our car to Portsmouth and embark on the 24 hour cruise ferry to Spain when we continue our drive south to an old farmhouse in the mountains near Malaga.   Now that we have driven four times we are ready for the landmarks along the two day journey to Andalucía.   Each time we have gone by car we have been able to have the benefit of a SatNav to guide us.   Every so often we hear the voice prompting us to turn this way and that.   It gives confidence as we journey.   There are, occasionally, hiccups such as last year when we first used a built-in SatNav and were told to take a slightly different route to our regular hotel outside Santander.   Once the road I had set up in the SatNav was reached we turned left as instructed and drove for 3 miles to the edge of the built up area without seeing the hotel.   I worried at the time the something had gone terribly wrong.   I turned round and drove past the junction where we had joined the road and eventually we saw the familiar landmarks close to the hotel.   All was well!   We had simply needed to turn right and not left

On our first journey by car, nothing could have prepared us for the experience of the old city of Toledo.   We turned off the motorway and headed through the modern part of Toledo.   SatNav told us which exit we needed at the roundabout and when I calculated which exit I ended up having to reverse back to the roundabout from the city football stadium!   I had missed the exit I needed.   We laughed and eventually found our hotel.   Last year we changed our hotel, opting for the Spanish Parador overlooking Toledo.   I had input the postcode for the Parador but, despite this, we arrived outside the cathedral via some very narrow streets.   Thankfully I knew approximately where we should be and found the right road.   On taking up residence in our room we opened the balcony doors to see the most amazing view of mediaeval Toledo.   Later we would be dining on the terrace below with views of the city at night.   A view such as this was unbelievable!    The drive south had been enjoyable but the arrival that year was spectacular.

As we read the difficult text of the Book of Revelation we are on a journey through uncharted territory.   What we see is quite bizarre but revealing.   Parts of the narrative are understandable whilst others are so rich in symbolism that we struggle to understand.   We know that this was a dangerous book to write down and that a great deal was in code to avoid the consequences of upsetting the Romans and attracting severe punishment.   Although the code is plentiful it was understood by those for whom the book was written.   We might struggle to understand but the code was not for us to decipher.   It was written for the early Christians and contained encouragement and warning as they journeyed through life.

At the end of the book we read this wonderful description of the heavenly Jerusalem and marvel at its beauty.   It is a city built in the shape of a cube which meant it was a place for everyone with no exclusivity.   In this wonderful place dwelt God and his Son.   Theirs was the light by which all could see, so the sun and moon became redundant.   There was no temple in the city because the Jerusalem temple of old had been a symbolic place in which God was to be found in its holy of holies.   The gates of this new city were there but permanently open showing an amazing welcome.   This was reality in all its glory, for God was actually  constantly present with his people.   For me the description of the River of the Water of Life and the trees of life with their leaves for the healing of the people are the most attractive features.

The river is described as sparkling like crystal.   When I was a child growing up in  Nelson in Lancashire we had a beautiful park close by.   Through it ran a stream that looked orange because it had deposited pollution on the rocks over which it flowed.   It was not an attractive stream.   But today the water has been cleaned and it now looks totally different, although reduced spending has made the park itself look less lovely.   On an childhood occasion when I took a coach trip to the Lake District I marvelled at the clarity of the streams that flowed there.   The comparison of a town life with a rural one was very marked.   This still is the case, but now I live in rural Anglesey so the lovely sights are all round.

It is a matter of wonderment that touches me to think about God’s great provision for those he has made in his own image.   Despite the regular occurrences of famines in some places there is abundant food.   It is grown in the fertile soil, warmed by the sun and watered by the falling rain.   The people who lived in the Stone Age and Bronze and Iron Ages knew very well about the key function of the sun and the rain.   They fashioned their axes and some that were found by archaeologists as unused were fashioned as votive offerings and were thrown into waterways to thank the spirits that provided water.   They built places like Stonehenge with the lode stone aligned with the sun on Midsummer Day.   Without knowing the name of God or Jesus they just knew they were being provided for by some greater force than them.

Not only do we see the provision of food and water.   We also experience a life in which we enjoy the greatest love of all channelled through Jesus, Lord and Saviour.   Remember Tommy Trinder’s catchphrase, “You lucky people!”   We are indeed very lucky to have found such a love to sustain us through life.   The love and the grace of God are not matters of little concern.   They are everything to us.   Nothing that we have ever done has increased our entitlement to love and grace.   It all comes to us unconditionally.

I know how difficult the Book of Revelation is to read and understand.   It has always been the great challenge of the books in the Bible.   But it truly lives up to its title.   The early chapters are about a journey of learning and then we have the final section which is the revelation to end all revelations.  What is revealed to us is the full scope of God’s love.   After all we have been through in life, this is where we end our journey and it is truly amazing.   The open gates speak of a great welcome by God that says, “Come in for your arduous journey is done.   Come in and bathe in my glory.   Come in and drink water from the purest river.   Come in and use the leaves of my trees as a salve for your wounds.”

This is a wonderful picture of the God we serve and speaks of a love that is the greatest of all.