"But Wait !"

Please read John 17:20-26
Lectionary Scriptures Easter 7-C

Do you remember the moment, the very moment when you first heard someone sweetly and earnestly pray for you in your presence? Whatever the reason might have been, someone looked to the heavens and called out to God for you and you overheard. The feeling that swept over you surely is etched in your memory. The actual words might have faded over time but the sense of humility, of peace, of healing and of purpose remains forever. It is overwhelming. God’s ear is turned on words offered on your behalf by another. Often it is that very moment that fills us with God’s strength and sends us into the world as disciples.

Jesus’ disciples had gathered and were waiting together as instructed. In their waiting, no doubt there were whispers as they prayed, as they wondered and as they pieced together the words that Jesus had earlier offered to them. Oh, how they must have felt to have overheard Jesus’ beautifully intimate prayer for God’s glory to shine through his life and in his suffering. How powerful and yet how humbling it must have been to be counted among the disciples as they overheard his prayers for God’s power and protection to come upon them. They now found themselves in a room, waiting for this holy power to come and send them out into the world.

But wait! What is that we hear? Did Jesus offer prayers to his Father for us as well? These very prayers have brought us into the room with the disciples. We are listening even closer than before. Jesus is praying in earnest for us. Staring death in the face, Jesus remembers you and me. We are always on his mind.

We hear Jesus whisper “may they be one.” His words resound throughout the ages. This is a prayer for complete unity among believers not unlike the unity of Jesus and God … a unity of love and faith-filled obedience. This overheard prayer is for the body of Christ to be of like mind, realizing that the diversity of its parts is not a division in the body. He prays for us, the body of believers, so that we might stand before the world in Jesus as he is in his Father. He prays that through this strength found in unity, of like purpose and of love, the world will come to know that the very same love that God has for him, God has for us as well. In our unity, in our oneness, Jesus prays that we mirror his divine relationship with God so that the world might know of this tremendous love for all and that we might bear witness to it.

And just as we want to run out into the world, filled with the loveliness of Jesus’ prayer for us, he says “But wait … You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” There are times when it is good to be overwhelmed by the prayer that Jesus has prayed for us in our presence. It is good as well to be wrapped in the swaddling of this love before going out into a world fully clothed with this holy power. So wait … wait until …

Holy God … Thank you for allowing us to overhear such intimate conversations. This prayer that has been whispered on our behalf has truly touched our hearts in overwhelming ways. But who are we to be counted among the disciples? Who are we to be chosen to share your great love with others? Who are we to have our very names whispered by Jesus in such a way that they might fall before you? We are yours and we are loved and that is enough, isn’t it? Give us like purpose, Oh God. Bring us to that place were Pentecost happens. Amen

anna