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| East Lake - Kings Canyon National Park |
Fr.
Dale Matson
In our Gospel reading for today, we
are given the High Priestly Prayer of Our Lord.
“And I am no longer in
the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to
you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that
they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in
your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one
of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am
coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy
fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your
word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the
world, just as I am not of the world. I do
not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them
from the evil one. They are not of the world,
just as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them in the truth; your word is truth. As
you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for
their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be
sanctified in truth.
I do not ask for these only, but also
for those who will believe in me through their word, that
they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,
that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that
you have sent me. The glory that you have given
me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one.”
(John 17:11-22)
I want to offer some thoughts as I
read this prayer. I think of the very different structure Jesus uses in this
prayer than in the prayer he gave us to pray. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:
9-13), we have a vertical relationship with God the Father. In the Lord’s
Prayer, we acknowledge God’s Glory and position. Our petitions are on bended
knee. In the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, I am struck by the sense of unity
with God the Father that Jesus expresses in this prayer. It is a work already accomplished
for the elect by Jesus and the Father. They have a partnership and a loving collaborative
relationship that is revealed in this prayer. It is a prayer of supreme faith
since Jesus has not even been arrested. Jesus as God is calling things that are
not (yet) as though they were. (Romans 4:17) He even prays for you and me. “I do not ask for these only, but also
for those who will believe in me through their word” In the Lord’s
Prayer, we are praying to God for ourselves. In this prayer, we are prayed for
by Jesus. In this prayer we are prayed into unity with God. This is also a
prayer of salvation. This prayer is a model for us also. While the Lord’s
Prayer is a prayer of praise, position and petition, The High Priestly Prayer
is a model for us of intercession, faith and unity. Our Epistle lesson from Jude states, “Keep
yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to bring you to eternal life.” (Jude 21) What better verse to confirm
the statement from Jesus that He is the way, the truth and the life. I especially
like John Wesley’s explanation of this verse. “By these means, through his
grace, keep yourselves in the love of God, and in the confident expectation of
that eternal life which is purchased for you, and conferred upon you, through
the mere mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I believe if we reflect on this
prayer with the help of God the Holy Spirit, we will not only see Jesus in a
clearer light, we will understand our relationship with Him and the Father in a
much deeper way. Amen
Feast Day of John Henry Hobart Bishop of New York 1830
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