The Seventh Sunday of Easter - The Rev. Colette Hammesfahr

 John 17:6-19 – Seventh Sunday of Easter 

Most of you know that Kurt and I have four children. Last week, our youngest graduated from college. Now living in his own apartment, we are officially empty nesters.  

Last Saturday, as we were getting ready for graduation, Kurt said, “Well, we did it. We successfully raised four children.” I hadn’t even thought about it that way. For 26 years we’ve been caring for, nurturing, and praying for our children. We’ve tried to be good role models for them. We’ve tried to teach them wrong from right and what it means to respect and care for others. We made sure that they went to schools where they could learn and grow. We brought them up in the church where they could learn how much God loves them and they could know of God’s grace. We’ve watched them fail and we’ve watched them succeed.  

At every stage of their lives, there was always a new worry, a new stumbling block. I remember as young children we would sometimes leave them with a babysitter, or sometimes my mother would stay with them overnight. I would have a laundry list of instructions. “If this happens…do this. If this happens…call this person. Here’s their routine for going to bed. This is what they like for breakfast. This is what they eat for lunch.” It was hard to enjoy the time away because I was so worried about their well-being. As they grew older and started going out with their friends, there were different laundry lists of instructions for them as well as many do’s and don’ts.  

Now that they are all out on their own, that doesn’t mean we don’t still worry about them. We still pray that they will be safe. We pray that they will be happy. We pray that they will be healthy.  

Today, Jesus is praying. It’s the night before his death. He is 100% aware that he is going to die – not an easy death but a death by crucifixion. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I knew I was going to die the next day in the way that he was going to die, I would be praying to either get out of this situation or for an easier, less painful death.  

But no, in this prayer, Jesus is not praying to avoid his crucifixion or for less pain. Instead, he is praying for others. He is praying for his disciples – those he is leaving behind.  While he was with them, he could keep them safe. He could protect them from evil. Like a parent, who nurtures and protects, who teaches and questions, and who walks with their children through life, he was with them for three years, doing all these things. He revealed who God was through the way he lived.  

Jesus would be gone soon so he prayed. He prayed for his disciples, not for himself. He prayed to God for their protection, for relationship, for joy, and for sanctification. In his prayer, he acknowledged that the disciples had been given to him by God. God’s word was given to the disciples through him. The disciples were given God’s word in Jesus. He was praying that the disciples would remain close to God…that they would follow all that he had taught them, and that God would be with them as they continued to spread the Gospel.  

I wish that the Gospel for this week would have added a few more verses. Because it’s in verse 20 that Jesus prays, “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word.” He was not just praying for the disciples he was leaving behind. He was also praying this prayer for you and me – all of us who believe in him. He prayed that we would all be one, as God is in Jesus, as Jesus is in God, we would be in them. That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it?  

Reading that extra verse changed today’s reading for me. At our baptism, we became one with God. At his death, we became one with Jesus, as he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He prayed for us. Jesus prayed that the prayer he prayed for his disciples be extended to you and me. What a gift!  

I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer this week – how Jesus prayed, how you and I pray.  Thinking about what we pray for and how often we pray. Just as he prayed for us, he wants us to pray for others. Jesus taught us how to pray in the words of the Lord’s Prayer. We are to pray for others. We are to forgive others. We are to do God’s will. We pray because that is who we are as Christians. Prayer is a way to live out our faith.  

He prayed to God for our protection, for relationship, for joy, and for sanctification. Our prayers should be centered around that as well, for everyone, not just ourselves.  

There is a faith-based movie that came out in 2019, called Overcomer. In the movie, Coach Harrison frequently visits a man named Thomas who turns out to be the father of one of his cross-country runners. Thomas is in the hospital. He is blind and is very ill, suffering from complications associated with diabetes. As he was walking out the door after one of his visits, Coach Harrison turned to Thomas and said, “I’ll be praying for you.” Thomas replied, “I’ll take it.” At his next visit, Thomas asked Coach Harrison, “Last time you were here you said you’d pray for me. Did you?” Silence filled the room. Coach Harrison said, “No.”  

Have you ever had someone say they would pray for you? Do you remember how it made you feel……to know that someone was praying for you? Have you ever said to someone, “You’ll be in my prayers?” …….Were they?  

I know I’ve already told you the story about my friend Lorie, who I met in seminary, in a past sermon, but I think part of the story is worth repeating.  

In the fall of our third year of school Lorie was diagnosed with inoperable stage four liver cancer. Palliative care was all the doctors could do for her. Lorie was a spiritual warrior. The first time we sat down to talk after her diagnosis Lorie asked if she could say a prayer. Lorie’s prayer was for me. She didn’t pray for her healing. She didn’t pray for her cancer to go away. She prayed for me. She prayed for protection, for my relationship with God, for joy, and for sanctification. Lorie prayed for me, as she knew she would be leaving soon.  

Jesus prayed for his disciples and prayed for us, as he knew he would be leaving soon.  

As our children leave our home, Kurt and I pray for God to protect them from evil, for them to have a relationship with God, for joy, and for sanctification. As God’s beloved children, we are tasked to pray for others. We are tasked to pray for those in our church community and people we may not even know.  

Prayer changes us. Through prayer we grow closer to God. Through prayer we grow closer to one another. Richard Futrell, a Lutheran pastor, says this, “So what do we say when we pray? We say what our Lord says. And what do we pray for? We pray for what our Lord promises. And what do we ask? We ask that our joy may be complete. For then, we have said what He says, and asked for what He gives. And then our joy will be complete.” 

Instead of having questions for you to think about this week, I have a task for all of us. In John 17:13 in his prayer, Jesus says, “But now I am coming to you and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.”  

If you look at the numbers from the verse, 17:13 as being a time on the 24-hour clock, on the 12-hour clock, the time of 17:13 is 5:13 pm. For the next week, at 5:13 pm, I’m asking all of you to stop and pray. Pray for your family. Pray for our church. Pray for your friends. Pray for our nation. Pray for other nations and people throughout the world. Pray for protection, a relationship with God, joy, and sanctification. I hope that you feel the power and joy of knowing that at 5:13 pm while you pray, others are praying with you, and for you.  

I read something last week and I don’t remember where I read it and unfortunately, I don’t remember who wrote it so that I can give them the proper credit. I will direct the question they posed to all of you today. “If God answered all your prayers from last week, would the world be a better place?” I will be praying for you and with you at 5:13 pm.  

Amen.