John 17:1-11
Alan Taylor / General Adult
Easter 7A / Unity; On the Unity of the Church / John 17:1–11
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+ In Nomine Jesu +
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Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Martin Luther once said that the most important words in the distribution of the Lord’s Supper are these, “given and shed FOR YOU.” That statement brings to mind another truth of the Scriptures, one that is worth remembering. “Everything Jesus did, He did for you.” He suffered for you. He died for you. He was buried for you. He was resurrected from the dead for you. He ascended into heaven for you. And yes, He will come again, for you. 
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John 17 is before us this morning. It’s what is known as the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. Jesus prayers to His Father. In His Priestly Office, He intercedes on behalf of the Church.  As the Apostle says elsewhere,“there is one mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus.” 
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It is an incredible thing really, to hear or read the words of a prayer offered within the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God offers us that privilege today. Jesus’ High Priestly prayer brings to my mind a similar prayer that He offered shortly before He was arrested and put on trial. “Father, He said, take this cup from Me, yet, not My will, but Thy will be done.” Both prayers probably leave us wondering how Jesus, who is God in human flesh, could pray to the Father? Essentially, how could Jesus pray to Himself. It’s a perplexing thing to contemplate such a mystery, especially since in the readings for the last two Sunday’s of this Easter season, Jesus said “I and the Father are One. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” 
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If you were thinking I was going to explore and try to explain the mystery of prayer within the Holy Trinity in this morning’s sermon, I’ll tell you first thing, I’m not. After all, if prayer within the Godhead could be explained, it wouldn’t be a mystery, would it? And, beyond that, it’s more important for us to know what the prayer is about, than it is for us to be able to understand and explain how it can happen. 
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There are three things about Jesus’ prayer that stood out to me when I studied the text. I’d like to share those three things with you this morning. The first thing to note is that, in His High Priestly prayer, Jesus prays for YOU! There it is again, “everything Jesus did, He did for you.” I hope you realize that isn’t a small thing, that is, that Jesus prays for you, that He intercedes on your behalf. The One of an infinite majesty, God’s adorable, true and only Son, prays for YOU! It is an amazing thing! The second thing about Jesus prayer to note, is that He asks His Father to keep YOU in His name. And third, He asks His Father to make YOU, and the rest of the Church, One, even as He and the Father are One.
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The Gospel of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for the sins of the world is universal, that is, it is for ALL PEOPLE. If’s received and credited to us, of course, by faith, but the Atonement, the payment for sin, was for everyone. That is a truth we must maintain because it is Biblical. But the universal nature of God’s grace can seem rather impersonal. I mean, in John 3, it says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” Those are comforting words, but the world is a big place, isn’t it? Jesus loved and continues to love the world, but what about me and you? 
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Well, it is precisely the universal and broad nature of God’s grace and mercy in Christ that gives you and me the assurance that “everything Jesus did, He did for you and for me.” Luther once said he was eternally grateful that the Scriptures didn’t say, “For God so loved Martin that He gave His only-begotten Son.” After all, he said, how would I ever know I was the Martin for whom God gave His Son? It is the universal nature of God’s grace in Christ that assures you that everything Jesus did, He did for you.
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Here in John 17 He prays for you. He prays that the Father would keep you in His name. It is my observation that many of us fret a great deal from time to time over our faith. Part of it is because we don’t see ourselves as living up to God’s standard. With St. Paul, we concur that, “the good we would do, we don’t do, but the very evil that we hate is what we do.” In that case, we would do well to turn to the Gospel, as did St. Paul, as if the Law didn’t exist. The Gospel, after all, is the free gift of God’s forgiveness and grace in Christ Jesus, given precisely to those who have recognized how far short they have fallen from His glory. And so, even as we concur with Paul regarding our sin, so we concur with him regarding God’s grace in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
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Other times though, I think we fret over our faith because we fear that we won’t be able to keep it going. In other words, we fret that our faith will one day fail us. I guess in this instance we’re thinking about the verse that says, “we are the author and finisher of our faith.” Do you remember that verse? Yeah, I don’t either, because it isn’t in the Scriptures. Rather, “God (we are assured) is the author and finisher of our faith.”   
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Know this, in His High Priestly prayer, Jesus prayed that His Father would keep YOU in His name. In other words, with all of the forces in the world that fight against your faith, Jesus has asked His Father to intercede on your behalf, to be your Mighty Fortress, your shield and defense against the forces of evil and darkness. Jesus has prayed for the Father to keep you in His name. And so, 
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“Take they our life, 
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Goods, fame, child and wife,
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Though these all be gone,
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Our victory haas been won;
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The Kingdom ours remaineth.”
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Finally, Jesus He prays that YOU and the Church would be one. This is tuff one because there is so much division in the Church. Frankly, there is even division within denominations, including our own. It’s as if Jesus said, “where two are three are gathered together in My name, there will be division.”
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It is most certainly the will of God for His Church to be One. I think about this issue going 
on in our church body right now over Concordia University Texas. For those of you who aren’t aware, Concordia University Texas has left the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod by an action of it’s Board of Regents. Both sides of the issue say they are praying that the will of God will be done. Both are interested in Concordia Texas continuing it’s mission in the Austin area. Both are spending time in God’s word and praying. And yet, there is strife and division between the parties involved.
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It’s almost as if the Church and her agencies are made up of human beings and not some sort of form of Artificial Intelligence. It’s almost as if there are egos involved and that we have forgotten the covenants we’ve made with each other as to how to live together as the people of God in this broken and fallen world. Jesus prayed for the Church to be one, not one in our separate congregational will, not even one in our collective will as the Christian Church on earth, but one in His will. 
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Ultimately, the Father has heard and answered His Son’s prayer for the Church. The Church, that is the Una Sancta, the One holy, Christian and apostolic Church on earth, is of one mind and one heart. “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
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The only source of unity that defines us as the Una Sancta, the One holy, Christian and apostolic Church, is the word of God, and it taught in all of it’s purity and truth. It’s messy to apply, because the Church and her agencies are indeed made up of human beings, but apply it we must because there, in God’s infallible word, is Jesus, who did everything that He did, for you.”
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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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+ Soli Deo Gloria +