The Lord’s Prayer 2.0
Dear church,
It’s easy to miss one of Jesus’ most important, most powerful prayers, although it stretches for an entire chapter in the gospel of John. We all know the short, brilliant, beautiful Lord’s Prayer, but here in John 17 Jesus prays for his disciples and for those who would follow his path in years to come; he is praying for us. I would call this the other Lord’s Prayer. In verse 20, which was not part of the reading you heard, but is part of the same conversation with God, Jesus says, “My prayer is not for them alone (the apostles). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all may be one.”
Why is it so easy to easy to forget about this prayer? Because it’s only found in the gospel of John, and in typical John fashion, it has a certain redundancy, which may be a bit off-putting. Jesus repeats similar words, sends similar messages over and over again, like a Greek Orthodox Liturgy or Hebrew poetry. He is praying for the unity of his church over and over again. He is praying for our mission in the world. He is praying for our spiritual strength and health, several times. And what does it mean when a teacher repeats himself, or a parent or a leader of an organization, when the same message is issued repeatedly by the same person? It usually means that the message must be important and that the person worries people may no hear it after all. But no worries, Jesus, we’ve got you covered. We understand the importance of unity, naturally!
The church has only split up and splintered a few thousand times and has managed to fight over a lot of little, petty stuff in the course if its history: hymnals, one word in a long creed, worship styles, dress codes, you name it. But how do we reach unity? I mean, we all have different opinions, tastes and points of view, that’s only human and not a bad thing. It’s called diversity. I think Jesus is praying that we may be one in spirit, not in expression, in spirit, not in the way we practice our faith, in spirit, not in our theology even. When we embrace the life-giving spirit of God and the love and grace inherent in the gospel and proclaimed in the Sacrament of Baptism, it is possible to disagree wholeheartedly on certain subjects and yet respect and accept one another and maintain the unity of faith. I love the passage from Ephesians 4, which we will once again proclaim at the end of this worship service, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it twice: “Now there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” This passage breathes and embodies the prayer that Jesus offered in John 17.
Let me give you a painful example for the challenge of unity today. There is a huge discrepancy in the global church in terms of LGBTQ issues. In our church, the ELCA, and for the most part in American contemporary culture, there is a spirit of acceptance and inclusion. That’s not the case everywhere an hasn’t been that way very long even in our body of faith. I am pastor long enough to remember impassioned disagreements, heated discussions, angry comments and splits in the church over this issue… I also know that our lifestyles and openness to various sexual identities are not well received in the more conservative global south, in many African countries or other parts of the world that subscribe to more traditional societal norms. Are we right and they wrong? Are we wrong and they are right? Those are the controversies that I believe Jesus was praying for. Can we hold those differences without condemning the other side? Jesus is praying for us!
I would like to point out another interesting and beautiful passage from the gospel for today, which again is easy to overlook because, you guessed it, it is found only in the gospel of John and it has a different ring compared to all the other gospels. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” It is a very spiritual take on the big word “salvation.” It is not referring to some afterlife in which some Christians say we will be divided: heaven and hell, sheep and goats, light and darkness, the dualities that have often deepened the differences within the church. In this prayer, Jesus says, knowing God and knowing Christ sets us free, liberates us from the need to even think in those categories and to wholeheartedly embrace the unity in God as one human family... Believe that ultimately Christ leads us together, all of us, and not apart. That may sound simple but we know it isn’t. It may sound unorthodox but there are many passages in the Bible that will lead us in that direction. One of them is the Lord’s Prayer 2.0, John 17. May we be one in spirit as God is one!
Amen.
