After Jesus had said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
These are the words opening our gospel passage today ~ but we seem to have arrived in the middle of the action!
What exactly had Jesus said that led him into this beautiful prayer?
What was the this that he had said?
Who was listening ~ and where and when was it happening?
To find the answers we have to take a step back…
Jesus is with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem on the evening of their last supper together. In the preceding days he had preached openly in the temple, drawing the wrath of the Jewish elders, and he was marked for punishment. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty in the room among his friends ~ dread of an unknown future fraught with danger, fear of a life without their Lord and master.
Jesus washes their feet in a final lesson of love.
Judas goes into the night, on his way to betray Jesus to the authorities.
Jesus realises that his hour has finally come ~ the hour when both he and his heavenly father, in a way that our words cannot describe, will be glorified together in his sacrifice on the cross.
The wonder of it is overwhelming ~ the mystery beyond our understanding! Glory encompassing Jesus and his heavenly Father, together in a relationship of boundless love.
He tells His disciples that he will be leaving them behind. They’ve learnt so little, understood even less, of what their Master has been doing and saying amongst them over those precious three years.
How are they going to manage without him?
What follows is a reminder from Jesus of all he has sought to teach them from the beginning to prepare them for the task ahead without him. Jesus begins with the words of comfort they need so badly:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled; Trust in God, trust also in me.” (14:1)
I am going to prepare a place for you. I am the way, the truth and the life! But in the meantime, you have a task before you ~ love one another as I have loved you. And you will not be alone; I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever ~ the Spirit of truth.”
Jesus makes a promise that his Holy Spirit will empower them for his service, to do even great things than he did in his time with them. He speaks of himself as the vine and of them as the branches. He warns them that they will be hated by the world, but they were not to fear, and that their grief will be turned into joy. Jesus concludes with a prophecy and a promise:
“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.” (16:33)
And here we are, back at the beginning of today’s gospel.
After Jesus had said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Abba,” Jesus begins, “the hour has come.”
This is the prelude to what Archbishop William Temple described many years ago as perhaps the most sacred passage in the four gospels ~ Jesus’ prayer for himself, for his disciples and for his church still to come.
With his disciples listening and watching, Jesus prays, his words lovingly remembered and faithfully recorded by John. Everything he says embodies the loving relationship he has with his heavenly father. Even his first word, “Father, Abba,” is the endearment a little child would use ~ “Daddy.”
“Abba, the time has come.”
The shadow of the cross is lying heavily on him as he awaits the pain and horror of the next day. But his deepest concern is for the glory and honour of his father.
Jesus prays, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
It is out of love for the world that the Father has sent his Son; the Son will soon lay down his life, and both will be glorified together.
The sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the cross, which glorifies both Father and Son, also brings eternal life to lost sinners ~ not after their death, but at the very moment they acknowledge and know the Father as the one true God, and Jesus, the Son, as their Saviour.
To receive the eternal life Jesus speaks of is not the end of our journey. It is only the beginning. Jesus concludes this prayer for himself with celebration of a job well done:
“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.”
Yes, there is the huge and terrible task of Calvary still awaiting him the next day, but just for a moment, Jesus looks back over his shoulder at the years of his ministry.
There were many limitations in the life of Jesus. His whole ministry was confined within the bounds of central Palestine. Even when he was teaching, there were crowds who didn’t hear his voice, and others who didn’t heed his message.
There were multitudes of sick people who never felt his healing touch. Yet he had completed everything the Father had given him to do throughout that time, bringing eternal life to those who heard and heeded. and he rejoiced in it, because it brought glory to his Father in heaven.
We, as the followers of Jesus, are living in his kingdom right now, called to live the eternal life he offers each day, doing what he did, completing the work he has given us to do in our time and place ~ each of us. bringing glory to the Father’s name as Jesus did. We are not called to reach the whole world, or to minister to every need we see. It simply can’t be done. We are to follow the example of Jesus, and seek our guidance in frequent quiet prayer.
The gospels record many times when he withdrew into solitude to be alone with his Father:
just before choosing the 12 apostles, Luke 6:12
just before his transfiguration, Luke 9:28
just before teaching his own prayer “Our Father” Luke 11:1
following the feeding of the 5000 Mark 6:46
and, of course, Matthew’s account of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, culminating in his temptation by the devil and the beginning of his public ministry. Matthew 4:4
There is a pattern here that Jesus has given us: Prayer first, listen patiently for the answer, then begin. There is a particular work for each of us to do, whatever our age or circumstances, and in finding that particular task, (whether it is of brief duration, or a lifetime commitment), and in doing it to the best of our ability, lies our fulfilment and our peace. Our joy lies in the completion of the task.
Here on earth, God’s glory, God’s honour is bound up, not only with our eager beginning of a task, but with our faithful completion of it. We can hear this joy in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, as he looks back on his many years of service to the Lord:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day ~ and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:6-8
Jesus continues next, with a prayer for his disciples.
Through this passage we feel again the love between the father and the son, and Jesus’ yearning for his disciples to be drawn into that relationship of love.
“Abba, they were yours and you gave them to me.
They know that everything I have given them comes from you.”
He prays for their protection from the evil one as they continue his work in the world, and that they will remember his command to love one another as a witness to the love that he and his Father have for them.
I would like to finish by reading the conclusion of this beautiful prayer of Jesus, because it’s about us ~ you and me.
***
The Prayer of Jesus:
My prayer is not for (my friends) alone.
My prayer is for those who will believe in me through their message,
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.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:
I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them even as you have loved me.
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.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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.” Amen John 17: 20-25
***
Our Prayer:
Dear Jesus ~
Thank you for your prayer for us.
Give us grace to listen to your prompting in our quiet times of prayer~
to be sensitive to you leading as we, too, live and work for the bringing in of your kingdom~
to be faithful in the completion of the tasks you give us to do~
and to remember always your command to love one another
just as you love us.
Help us to see you more clearly, follow you more nearly~
and love you more dearly
every day of our lives. Amen