Christ is risen!

Christ is risen, indeed!

In John’s gospel reading for today, we are still in the midst of “goodbye’s.” It’s a time of confusion, sadness, and the work of a pastor. The particular verses that are today’s reading are a portion, a part, of Jesus’ farewell prayer for his disciples. It is not a prayer to or with his disciples, but a prayer to God for his disciples…it is a “pastoral prayer,” a prayer for his flock, his congregation although they had not yet elected a moderator or written up any by-laws!

This prayer is placed in between the final words of Chapter 16 which is a conversation between Jesus and his disciples. It goes like this: “His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace (shalom in Hebrew; salam in Arabic). In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’”

What is intriguing statement by Jesus! “I have conquered the world!” With an exclamation point! What does he mean by those words? Maybe those words are a way of saying, finally, they, the disciples, get it! I don’t have to keep explaining anymore. I can imagine Jesus being so relieved that he just blurts out that sentence. Doesn’t it make sense to you as a deeply human response to three years of a frustrating ministry with those who know him the best, those with whom he has been so vulnerable in his humanity, those to whom he has tried to be the teacher using so many different pedagogical strategies. You tell it, Jesus!!!
Doesn’t sound so similar to some of our own experiences. The frustration of trying to get a certain point across to someone, using every trick in your book, and, finally, after maybe years of attempts, finally, it is understood! And you exclaim: I HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD! Or at least it feels that way!!! You shout it out, Jesus!!! (I need an amen and I shouldn’t have to ask for it!!)

Now, on the other side of our Chapter 17, and the farewell prayer, is the arrest of Jesus in a garden, a pastoral spot called Gethsemane, located in the Kidron valley, between Jerusalem (the city called “peace”) and the Mount of Olives. So, quoting from the other side of our pastoral prayer in Chapter 17 we hear these words: “So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came here with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, ‘Whom are you looking for?’ They answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus replied, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he,” they all stepped back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them (why so many times does he ask that question?) ‘Who are you looking for?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men, my disciples, go.’ This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, “I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.” A kind of addendum to the prayer previously offered to God.

So, on the one hand, we have an emotional and encouraging conversation between Jesus and the disciples, complete with exclamation marks! And on the other side of the prayer in Chapter 17 we have the dramatic arrest of Jesus in a garden, a garden, maybe like our community garden across the street when it is in full bloom and ready for harvest.

Sometimes preachers are “accused” of presenting a sermon that is meant more for us than the congregation to which we speak. And what I would say is that it is both/and. Especially in the United Church of Christ where the pastor is most likely an official member of the congregation it is natural for a sermon to apply to the one occupying the pulpit as it is to those located in the pews. What we have in the first 11 verses of John’s 17th chapter is another both/and situation. Only this time we have a combination prayer and sermon. And maybe those of us as preachers and those in the pews should understand more fully the intimate link between preaching and prayer. George Buttrick is quoted at the beginning of the bulletin using these words: “Prayer is the way we cooperate with God for the release of God’s power in ourselves and in our world.” I would argue that the same should be true regarding preaching: “…the way we cooperate with God for the release of God’s power in ourselves and in our world.” That is radical grace. To be arrested in the garden and then to advocate for the release and freedom of the beloved community – the disciples – for whom understanding Jesus was, and will remain, so difficult. Radical grace is what happens at the precise point of the arrest in the garden. So where is the precise point of radical grace in our lives? Are we willing even to go to the garden? Karl Rove, one of the main architects of the lies that committed this country and so many lives into the failed, illegal, immoral, war in Iraq will be in Wichita on May 15th. What will we do about that visit? Protest, send letters, sit still,….go to the garden??

I’m going to close now. But remember please that in many ways a sermon is a prayer and a prayer is a sermon. In our gospel lesson for today we overhear but are not involved in a pastoral prayer, we are represented in the prayer, but not addressed by it. John, often referred to as the Evangelist, is persistent in his view that the life and death of Jesus were not contingent on circumstances, family, friends, or enemies, but on the will of God. This will of God viewpoint does not rob us of responsibility, but it gives encouragement to those so overwhelmed as a minority group in a hostile world that we can easily nurse a victim mentality. To say God’s will prevails not only supports the believers but also reminds them of the radical grace that has taken initiative in Christ for our salvation. That initiative cannot be finally countered by any force that seeks to destroy. This fourth gospel leaves no one in doubt: the church is not an orphan in the world, it is not some accident of history, it is not a thing to be dislodged and dismembered, it is not the frightened child of huddled rumors and superstitions: It is the beloved community of truth, established and unbroken, set free by the one who says to the powers and the betrayers, let these others go, I am the one you want. During his last sermon, the night before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr., said: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will.” Do we have the kind of courage to will to do God’s will? Can we say to the powers and to the betrayers, let these others go, I am the one you want?

Amen.