St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes, Vicar
Seventh Sunday of Easter/Year B: John 17:1-11
May 21, 2023
In 2019, a small group of church planters entered the space in which we worship today. Massive renovations took place in order to change the former gym into a sacred worship space. In 2021, this building was sold to a new owner. The new owner recognized early into our relationship that we are a good tenant that cares for his property. The owner has become a partner in supporting our ministries, and knows that when we depart from this place, at the appointed future time of God’s choosing, we will leave this property in a better condition than we found it, positioning the owner of the property to greatly benefit from our good stewardship. This concept of leaving a place better than one finds it can be applied to many spaces, including workplaces, dwelling places and relationships—those spaces of the heart.
In our gospel passage in the 17th chapter of John this morning, Jesus’ prayer to God for his disciples was leading up to the culmination of Jesus’ mission on earth—to save humankind from sin and death and to restore the broken creation to wholeness with God. God sent Jesus to ultimately leave humankind better than we were before he came, and to equip us to continue his kingdom-building work until the day when Jesus will come again.
According to Jesus, eternal life is knowledge of the only true God (v.3). And, at the end of chapter 16, just before the start of our passage, Jesus’ disciples had definitively affirmed their belief that Jesus knew all things, as well as their knowledge that the only true God had sent him (16:30). It was Jesus’ life with his disciples that developed their knowledge of God, which would equip them up to imitate Jesus in building upon his mission of sharing the gospel message after he was no longer with them.
Jesus’ prayer of intercession was lifted to God on behalf of those whom God gave to him—the good shepherd of God’s people. As the good shepherd, Jesus protected God’s people, in God’s name, and guarded them, losing only the one destined to be lost. Jesus prayed to God, “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do,” (17:4). In other words, Father, I have obediently completed my intended mission; I am now leaving your own, who are in this world, better than I found them.
Facing the reality that his life on earth would soon end, Jesus’ assurance that there would be no lapse in divine coverage for his sheep was this continuance of protecting and guiding the believing community through this intercessory prayer—that even in his forced physical separation from his disciples on his journey to the cross, and even in his bodily absence after his death on the cross—God’s divine protection and guarding against the evil one would already be soundly in place.
God’s people so need His divine protection. In our society, the slaughter of the innocents, in its many forms, including gun violence, police brutality and domestic terrorism, is often captured by the media and on cellphones. While thoughts and prayers are offered, prayers without knowledge of God and with no connection to God through faith in His son, are simply heartfelt wishes full of sentiment, empty of any power against the evil in this world.
We know that Jesus gave all who received Jesus, and who believed in his name, power to become children of God (1:12). As God’s faithful people, who are still in this world, we know that our power against evil comes from knowing our identity as God’s beloved children. Knowledge of God is power, and it is that power which is glaringly absent from society’s secular prayers, that fuels our sacred prayers.
In 1978, Episcopal priest, Urban T. Holmes’ classic book entitled, “The Priest in Community: Exploring the Roots of Ministry,” was published. Holmes described the nature of the priest as “bimodal consciousness,”—living in this earthly world and accessing the eternal realm. He said:
“Much more than a sacrificial official, the priest is a mystagogue [who]…comes out of the darkness of man’s evolutionary past, charged with the responsibility of deepening humanity’s understanding of itself by word and action, by the very nature of the priest’s presence.”[1]
As our great High Priest, Jesus did exactly that through his public ministry and through his uninterrupted divine communication with his Father through prayer. God sent Jesus into a hostile world in order to deepen humanity’s understanding of what it means to be truly human. And, by the very nature of his fully human, fully divine presence, the nature of humanity was necessarily, and forever changed.
Every now and then I see the quote, in some form, with the message: God loves you just the way you are… and loves you too much to let you stay there.[2] By virtue of our baptism into Christ, when we pray our sacred prayers, in this earthly realm, we are taken up into God’s divine activity in the heavenly realm, and our human nature is transformed.
Jesus is counting on us to wield the power of sacred prayer, so that hearts that do not yet know him will come to know him. He is counting on us to wield the power of sacred prayer to protect and guard those who already know him, remembering to pray for ourselves.
Today we commission the Bishop’s Committee Members and other officers, of St. Paul’s, for the ministry of church governance, those who will prayerfully guide the path for the future of this church. We will thank former Bishop’s Committee members for their dedication to serving the church as we developed the infrastructure from the beginning. This community is still building the proverbial airplane while we are, indeed, flying in it. I believe that in 20 years, the congregation of St. Paul’s will look back on all of the ministers and our emerging ministries with gratitude for your foundational work in building up the body of Christ.
It is comforting to know that Jesus, our heavenly intercessor, who prayed for his disciples’ protection and guarding in a hostile world, also prays for us as we grow into the full stature of Christ, showing up as Christ’s body to continue his kingdom-building work in a still very violent world.
Children of God, on this seventh Sunday of Easter, let us commit to remain faithful and to remain prayerful, so that when we depart this life, we, like Jesus, may leave this world, and all of God’s people in it, better than we found them. Amen.
[1] Holmes III, Urban T. The Priest in Community: Exploring the Roots of Ministry (New York: The Seabury Press). 1978, p. 67.
[2] Momentum for Life: God Loves You Too Much To Let You Stay There – Salvaged Faith. Accessed Saturday, May 20, 2023.
