|
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
“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. -John 17:1-11 NRSVUE
Y'all should know that the first 5 verses of John 17 have probably shaped my theology and understanding of reality more than anything else in scripture.
I know. I am also surprised.
Jesus prays that he can do what he needs to so that all people might have the eternal life he has and then he defines eternal life.
Literally, it says, "and this is eternal life" followed by a definition.
Eternal life is not defined as life for ever and ever. It isn't defined in eternity as what happens after death. It is defined in eternity as knowing. Eternity as in wholeness.
Remember, eternity is less of a description of time and more a description of being. To be eternal is to be whole, to be complete. And what makes us complete? Knowing the Holy.
Even as Jesus moves past that, he is still praying that Jesus would stay in that eternal state: glorify me in your presence. Let me know you.
Then a shift in the prayer: Jesus turns to focus more on the people, those who belong to the Holy. And this is one of the places that we can stop and consider how we are praying with our lives.
I'm not talking about the specific words we might use during a certain time of focused prayer. I mean, in that pray without ceasing way of our lives being lived in a posture of prayer, do our relationships follow the example set by Jesus as described here in this passage? Have we revealed the Holy One to those around us? Have we given them what was given to us? Are we loving the ones God has given to us and are we loving them well? Do we seek to see them experience the wholeness of eternal life or do we just try to make them behave however we think they should behave? Those are two very different things!
Does our wholeness help them be whole?
I'll remind us briefly of what seems to be the Disciples catchphrase, taken from our official documents and stuff, "We are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world."
I'll ask one more time…are we loving those that God has given us and are we loving them well? Would they think we are loving them well? Are we moving toward wholeness or brokenness?
Rev. Chesna Barcroft
Minister to Children, Youth, and Families
| 
