Year B

John 17:6-19

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

No Sweat Gabriel

This final Sunday after Easter gives us an opportunity to bring to a conclusion the faith-filled journey we have traveled from Ash Wednesday through to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. We have participated in a sacred meal, walked the road to Calvary, and have been witnesses to the resurrection. As we enter this seventh week of Easter, Jesus has ascended and we remain as it were in the world, gathered beneath the disappearing soles of his feet with a sense of anticipation for the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus just before his ascension to the Father. We’ve seen the disciples move from despair and confusion to boldness and forthright witness. There is an ancient legend that tells of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. He is met by the angel Gabriel who asks him, “Now that your work is finished, what plans have you made to insure that the truth you brought to earth will spread throughout the world?”

Jesus answered, “I called some fishermen and tax-collectors to walk along with me as I did my Father’s will.” “Yes, I know about them,” said Gabriel, “but what other plans have you made?” Jesus replied, “I taught Peter, James, and John about the kingdom of God; I taught Thomas about faith; and all of them were with me as I healed and preached to the multitudes.” Gabriel began to lose patience. “Really now, all this is well and good, but surely you must have other plans to make sure your work was not in vain.” Jesus fixed Gabriel with a steady gaze and said with finality, “I have no other plans. I am depending on them! “Today in the Gospel, John is describing the things that happened while Jesus and the disciples he was depending upon were around the table celebrating the Passover Seder on the night before he was arrested.

When the meal was over and Judas had run from the room after being identified as the betrayer, Jesus seemed to understand this was his last opportunity to teach them and help them understand the plan. He told them not to let their hearts be troubled, but just believe in him, and in God, and all would work out. He talked about his love for them, and how they should love one another. He told stories like the one about him being the true vine. He warned them that he soon would no longer be with them as he had been, but they should not be afraid, comparing what was to happen to a woman giving birth to a child. There would be pain, but then everyone would celebrate when they saw what was actually borne from that pain.

Then Jesus begins to pray to God asking for God’s presence and guidance as the disciples will soon be sent into the world to witness to God’s love and unity.  The key to this text seems to be that the disciples will be under God’s protection while in the world because they do not belong to the world. The rub is that disciples then and today are called to live their faith in a world that will at times hate them. We might ask, isn’t that a bit extreme Jesus? Yet, we hear Jesus say: “The world has hated them-the disciples, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” That certainly does seem like a grim assessment of the world and our lives in the world. After all, for instance, as we look around the world, we would like to believe this nation favors our faith and protects our churches. So how can we not “belong to the world” while we live in it?

John and his community of followers by the end of the first century found themselves attracted to a life of faith that would take them out of the world and the powers that were opposed to the gospel because by that time, conflict with the authorities and others was on the rise. They were oppressed, hated and ostracized by their culture. Their values, the churches values, were different from the culture’s values. Christians thought there were some gospel things that were more important than what the society held as worthwhile. Jesus had given them a vision in the great commandment and a mission in the great commission and he knew that they would need God’s help and guidance to carry out the work they were being called to do in a world that at times have not liked them.

There is something very tempting about escaping from the world. Millions are spent by the tourist industry and real estate business to lure us to take cruises, to buy second homes in the mountains or on the water, to live in gated communities where we can escape the world. The human desire for escape from the pressures is also nothing new to Christianity. The history of Christianity is filled with stories of those who have and do live in monasteries, convents, and retreat centers trying to create a place that would allow for a closer, more faithful, holy life; a life set apart from the world. Yet, Jesus was in the world, and his disciples must continue in the world, for how will the Word be made known? How will others come to believe? As John writes in this final reading from 1 John, “so that they may know they have eternal life.” The disciples must be about their task of carrying on Jesus’ mission despite the fact that “the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world.”

Therefore, Jesus emphasizes in his prayer that the disciples are called, set apart, and sent into the world in the midst of conflict and confusion. He asks that they may be made holy, as he is holy. Holiness is itself a kind of setting apart; to be holy is to be different from “the world,” though not separate from it. The disciples are not separate from the world God loves: their mission is to that world. They are consecrated by the truth, trusting in faith in God’s word. They are given a direction and sent to do God’s work. This is how disciples then and today live in this unbelieving world, yet at the same time profess and live their resurrection faith. We are given the same vision in the great commandment and a mission in the great commission. We have a direction to carry out God’s work in our world to the ends of the earth.

Jesus was depending upon those first disciples, so he set them apart and they went to ends of the earth, his work was not in vain Gabriel, and like them we have been set apart in our baptismal covenant with God, called, given gifts to bring God’s truth, love, mercy, forgiveness and justice to our neighbor and to continually seek our Lord’s guidance and strength to be able to carry out our baptismal covenant with God and each other. The disciple’s world continued to change and they had to continue to seek God’s direction for their mission. It is no different for disciples today.  Let us pray for God’s guidance, protection and peace in these days ahead.