Seventh Sunday of Easter

Richard Davenport May 16, 2021 - Seventh Sunday of Easter John 17:11-19 As you probably know, we've been looking for a house of our own since we've gotten here, really even before that. The housing market is just bad everywhere. People don't want strangers in their house because of COVID, but people also want to move out of town because they can work from home, and all sorts of other factors have made finding a new home difficult just about everywhere in the country. Add to that the skyrocketing price of lumber, and builders can't keep up with the demand because the prices are so high. It's been a pretty frustrating endeavor so far and there are a lot of other people in the same boat we are. There isn't anything to be done about it either. There simply aren't many houses to look at, and those that are still there are there because they need a lot of work. We aren't fans of moving, so the thought of getting a place that is mostly ok and then looking for another house that better suits us in a year or two isn't very appealing. Thankfully, we have an offer on a house right now and are going through the process. It's always possible something will derail the process. But, at least for now, we have a place to live. It isn't the best, but it does the job. John's Gospel for the last couple of weeks has backed up a bit. The passage for today catches him right before he goes to Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday. He offers a lengthy prayer to his Father for leading his disciples over to the garden to await Judas. We only have the middle portion of the prayer, as the whole prayer takes most of the chapter. Jesus prays for a variety of different things in his prayer, but most of them focus on the need for his disciples to be cared for, not just in the next few days, but throughout the rest of their lives, and through the lives of all of the future disciples in his church. Jesus is preparing them for the days to come. The next couple of days will be difficult for them. The prophetic pronouncement, "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter," was looking ahead to this point. Soon, very soon, the disciples will see their Lord and Master arrested and put to death. They had seen many wondrous things over the last 3 years. They probably had in their heads that this life they lived would last forever, or at least the rest of their lives. Jesus would keep walking from place to place. He'd keep teaching, keep healing, keep doing miracles. Maybe someday he would do something bigger and more momentous, like throwing out the Romans, but life was ok for right now. Sure, he surprised them from time to time and they had to rethink some ideas they had held for a long time, but still, life was comfortable. It was reasonably predictable. They didn't have to worry too much about what tomorrow would bring. How nice it is to just coast. How easy it is to fall into the habit of letting things slide, even when I don't really like them. There's that inertia, that heaviness that just weighs you down and keeps you from moving. It keeps you from caring. The disciples might have been content with the way things were going, but Jesus knew they would not continue like that. Judas would be coming very soon, then Herod, then Pilate, then the cross and tomb. As much as they want to coast through life, it won't be possible. As much as they might want comfort, soon life will become very uncomfortable. They will come face to face with some of the worst this life has to offer. Soon, comfort will be the last thing on their minds. Soon they'll be glad to just make it through the day. The disciples are confronted with a very uncomfortable truth, one Jesus had just prayed about. The world hates him and everyone who follows him. The world doesn't want him here. It doesn't want anything even associated with him. The world fights openly and covertly against everything he does. The world already claimed one disciple who will soon be trying to get rid of Jesus and the problems he causes. The world won't stop there. The world and all those who put their trust in what the world offers will look at Jesus as an invader, as one who wants to overthrow everything they hold important. They'll see him as someone who makes them uncomfortable, as he talks about light and darkness, life and death, God and sinners. Those in the world want to be comfortable too, but Jesus riles them up enough to stir them to action. They fight back. They want to scour the name of Jesus Christ from every book, every picture, everywhere it turns up. That means they want to purge every Christian too, for we are the people who have received Christ's own name in our baptism. We feel settled because we just don't want to fight it. We just want to hang out here and we try and be as unobtrusive as we can so we can enjoy our little bits of comfort without the world actively ousting us. But, as the disciples found out. It just doesn't work that way. You may not see what the world is preparing for you, but any moment could be disaster. Any moment could be everything that brought you comfort being torn away. The naïve disciples dozing in the garden of Gethsemane, thinking nothing could possibly go wrong are then hiding out of fear for their lives. Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing is safe. The moments of comfort we find here never last. In the end, death always find you. It doesn't matter how it happens, death is always decidedly uncomfortable, both for you and for those who are left behind. A swift and sudden death might not hurt you much, but it prevents those who are left to pick up the pieces from being able to say goodbye. It prevents them from having that time to make peace with what is to come. But, for those who do have the longer period of preparation, there is also the longer period of suffering, of gloom, and the decline into death. The world reminds you that you do not belong and it will throw you out eventually. Though we seek comfort and security in this life, God knows such things are fleeting at best. There is no place truly safe here, for sin and death still hold sway. Each day may have moments of comfort, but they won't last, they cannot last. Change is inevitable, and change in this world often means discomfort or worse. So Jesus prays. Jesus, in his humanity, prays on their behalf, that all of the upcoming events of the next few days would not be enough to lead them away. He prays that even though the world hates them, that they are able to stand firm throughout the ordeal and beyond. The disciples should know better. Jesus hasn't made it any big secret that he will be arrested and put to death. He has plainly told them so more than once. But the lure of comfort, of stability, of just getting along with minimal effort captures them and they don't believe it. They are taken by surprise with the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. They don't trust God to care for them. Even though Jesus prayed right there with them, they didn't think the Heavenly Father heard his own Son. Jesus tried to give them a measure of peace in this uncomfortable world, but their lack of trust denied them even that. This is why Jesus appears to them after his resurrection as says, "Peace be with you." It was a reminder that, through it all, they never had anything to fear. He had been with them all along, even through his death and rest in the tomb. For my family, we are still looking for a house because where we are doesn't really suit our needs. We are constantly confronted with reminders that the place we are renting doesn't meet our needs in the long run. It is not something that will affect our salvation, but it is not our home. We aren't settled there for it is not a house truly fit for us. So Jesus warns us not to seek long term security or comfort there. They can't be found here. This world had been made for us, was intended for us, but we threw it into disorder by rejecting God's plan for it. Now it must be made new. It is coming. It will get here, but it has not arrived yet. In his prayer, Jesus prays for his disciples, all of them, present and future, that the trials they face in this world may not drive them away. He prays that his Father keep them safe from the assaults of the world and his prayer is heard. Even though the world fights back against Jesus, it does not succeed. It cannot conquer Jesus and it cannot overcome his disciples. Though the disciples are afraid, they survive the ordeal. Now they continue to wait for Jesus to return and open up their new home, but they wait with confidence and the assurance it will come to pass. Jesus prays for you too. Not that you will have comfort here, but that you will not succumb to the assaults and temptations of the evil one. Like Jesus's disciples of old, we gather here together to see what happens. Jesus appears to us and offers us the words he gave them as well, "Peace be with you." He reminds us that, even though our lives may be in turmoil and we don't know what tomorrow will bring, he is with us, caring for us preparing us for our new home. So do not look for security here in the world, but rather in what lasts beyond this world, Christ himself who tells the disciples just before this prayer, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." Be confident in Christ. Trust in him to protect and care for you. When those times come, as they undoubtedly will, when you are huddling in the dark, he will come to you and remind you he has been with you all along. He will forgive you for your fear and doubt and tell you again what he told his disciples even as he ascended into heaven, "and behold I am with you always, to the end of the age."