Seventh (Last) Sunday of Easter
May 24, 2009
The Gospel: John 17:6-19
Sermon: Last Sunday of Easter
The Rev. Dr. Vicki L. Smith, Rector
The Gospel: Looking up to heaven, Jesus prayed, "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."
John 17:6-19
Seventh (Last) Sunday of Easter May 24, 2009
It looks like this may be another year of stay-cations. Last year it was because of the high gas prices, this year it’s the economy, but either way, lots of people will be staying put this summer rather than traveling. There’s an appeal, though, to going away—we love our vacations, whether at the beach or in the mountains, at an amusement park or touring historic sites—whatever we choose to do, we do love to get away.
Beyond a vacation, though, there is the appeal of escaping from the world—it’s very tempting and it always has been. Lots of people, from ancient hermits to modern day Amish have made escaping from the world a life style. Whether we desire to avoid conflict, simplify our lives or keep away from people with whom we disagree, we often long to separate ourselves from the world.
But in Jesus’ culminating prayer for us he says to God: I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
I do not ask you to take them out of the world. Even after he acknowledges that the world may hate us, Jesus calls us to stay in the world. That’s not really surprising given that Jesus was all about being in the world. Beginning with his birth, Jesus was God coming into the world and being in the world in a way that had never happened before. By his incarnation, he sanctified, made holy, life in the world. He certainly went apart to pray, but Jesus always came back into the world—he lived among the people. He taught about politics and social conditions. He modeled for us meaningful and just human relationships and called us to be like him. He taught about conflict, money, prejudice and sin. There is virtually no part of human life in the world that Jesus didn’t address. He lived his life smack dab in the middle of this world, and he asks us to do the same.
He asks us to carry his teachings and our beliefs into our politics and the social conditions of our nation. He asks us to address the banking crisis, conflict and economic recession, not out of political or economic theory, but out of our faith. He asks us to address the social ills of our world-- issues of hunger, poverty, drug abuse, prejudice, all of it—he calls us to address these problems out of our faith and our commitment to live in the world rather than hide from it. As much as we might like to bail on the world- to find a little cabin in the woods and never come out of it—that is not our call and it is not what Jesus asks of us. We are to stay put, as he did—to live right in midst of our community, our nation and our world. To do that with integrity is perhaps the greatest challenge his disciples face. From the very beginning, we who follow Jesus have struggled with how to follow him into the world and serve as he did.
We are called to live in such a way that we are disciples of Jesus as well as citizens, workers, voters, consumers, drivers, and family members. We fulfill none of those roles apart from our Christian faith though we must be careful that Jesus, rather than the world, shapes our essential identities, faith and values. We are challenged to discern with each decision, each choice, each action what Jesus would have us do.
In some of his other teachings, Jesus describes us as being salt and yeast—ingredients that change the character of the whole without being overcome by it. That’s what we are to do in the world—impact it, change it, and not be overcome by it. One author describes our role as being holy water. She says, “Holy water is not fresher, purer or cleaner than other water, it has simply been set apart and assigned a role that distinguishes it.”
We are holy water in the pond of life—our presence changes the whole body of water—we are mixed into the world while retaining our Christian character. Specifically, we live out of our Christian beliefs and values, and let our faith set the priorities through our whole lives. For example, we vote out of our convictions, aligning ourselves with candidates who stand for justice, compassion, and care for the needy; candidates who share with us a commitment to “respecting the dignity of every human being.” We work and serve in the world, not because it is Christian, but because we are. We treat our co-workers as fellow children of God, we work to feed the hungry, care for the ill and visit the prisoner, not because they are Christians, but because we are.
And we do it all, as Jesus prayed, with God’s protection from the evil one. Jesus was not naïve; he knew better than we do the power of sin and evil in life; and he prayed and promised that we would not be overcome by it. In his resurrection he has shown us that God’s power is stronger than sin, than evil, than even death. God in the Holy Spirit, whose coming we celebrate next week, God’s Holy Spirit both empowers us to live in the world and protects us as we do so.
We are, in a sense, the people of the stay-cation—not getting away from things but living out our lives and faith smack in the middle of the world. That is our call and our choice.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen