Preaching Paths 12 May 2024 Easter 7B

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Gospel reading today, John 17:6-19, is the middle section of Jesus’ intercessory prayer, the final chapter of the “Farewell Discourses” (John 13-17). Here, the one who is God’s Word embodied in the world communes with the divine Source, the one he calls “Father,” about his mission and that of his disciples. Preceding our text, Jesus’ prayer reveals much about his self-understanding in relation to the one who sent him, as well as his anticipated departure from the world and return to the Father. In this middle section, Jesus expresses his gratitude, his concerns, and his hopes for his disciples, the ones God “gave him” (v. 6).  Jesus prays for the eleven who remain as Jesus also prays for us.

The prayer’s vocabulary is for the most part simple. Ordinary nouns like “name” and “world” are woven together with straightforward verbs like “give,” “take,” “remain,” “belong” and “protect.” Yet, the weave of the words is such that unexpected depths open as we listen. Some words, like “world,” carry double meaning  (compare Jn 3:16 with 15: 17, 27, 30-31). We encounter two verbs, “glorify” and “sanctify,” favored by John. The prayer is richly relational, with personal and possessive pronouns tumbling over one another in a swirling dance.  The prayer evokes the dynamic web of passionately committed relationship that connects the Father, Jesus the Word, and human beings, all co-actors in nothing less than the remaking of the world God so fiercely loves (John 3:16). 

It can be tempting to approach a layered text such as this one analytically—sorting out the text’s grammatical building blocks, explaining the meaning of each, then rearranging the bits into digestible servings of doctrine or moral principle. Yet, we are dealing today with a prayer; and prayer is shaped more by the passion of poetry than the precision of prose. While an outline sketched on the preacher’s notepad may be a step toward the pulpit, it doesn’t belong there. The integrity of today’s  text may be better preserved if we first invite our listeners to overhear as Jesus intercedes for his disciples amid the dangers and challenges of their specific time and place; here we can help listeners grasp exactly what dangers and challenges lay head for Jesus’ disciples. Then we might invite them to overhear again a section or two of today’s text that resonates with their situation. We might focus that overhearing with a carefully crafted guiding question or two. For example, we hear Jesus speak with gratitude about his disciples’ role in his ministry (in their hearing), despite all their obvious failures. Might we dare to imagine that Jesus sees us as chosen, indispensable participants in God’s redemptive mission? Jesus’ prays for his disciples’ protection in a world in which they are, in a sense, misfits. In what ways are we God’s “set-apart” misfits? In what ways do we fit in all too well? 

Jesus continues to intercede for us (cf Rom 8:34; Heb 7:35). Strikingly, Jesus did not pray for his disciples’ protection from death; most of the remaining eleven will give their lives in his name. Rather, Jesus prays that they shall be delivered from the “evil one,” that age-old broker of tantalizing lies, the one who whispers that if we are privileged, it was always meant to be so, and should be kept that way—by violence, if need be. Perhaps Jesus prays, in our time, that we shall live by a different story than the world tells–a truth-telling story in which the one down on the floor  washing feet is the best exemplar of the servant-like, world-changing power of God. God give us courage to live that story.