Jesus prayed for his disciples … and for us
The Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 29, 2022
Acts 16:16-34 • Psalm 97 • Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21 • John 17:20-26
On this seventh Sunday of Easter, our gospel is from John 17. This chapter of John's Gospel comes at the conclusion of Jesus' Farewell Discourse delivered to the disciples at the Last Supper. The whole of this chapter is a prayer of Jesus, commending himself to the Father and expressing his care and concern for his disciples. At the end of this prayer, Jesus and his disciples depart for the garden, and Jesus is arrested.
Several important themes are in this prayer of Jesus. First, Jesus' prayer reaffirms the complete union between Jesus and the Father. Throughout John's Gospel, Jesus has been presented as the one who pre-existed with the Father and as the one sent by the Father to do his work on earth. In today's reading, we hear Jesus ask that the unity he experiences with the Father be extended to all who believe in him. He prays that we be one with each other, with him, and with the Father. We are reminded that Christ is the source of Christian unity. Through Christ, we are united with one another and with God our Father.
One of the greatest gifts that we are given in our family life is protection from harm. This is particularly true for us as we grieve the families in Texas after the horrible shootings this week. Families work together to keep one another safe in a physical sense. Think of the effort a family makes to “child- proof” their home for infants and toddlers. Families also work to protect each other from emotional harm. For example, we attend to the ways in which family members talk to one another so that we do not hurt one another's feelings by our words. Most importantly, families work together to protect each other from those things that might harm us spiritually. We shield our children from those things in our culture that tempt us away from God. When families and communities work together to strengthen their sense of God and unity, we build the spiritual strength to turn from those things that would lead us away from God and the Church. Jesus' prayer for his disciples can also be a prayer for our family life.
What do you want to protect each other from? Observe that in today's Gospel, Jesus shows these same two tendencies as he prays for something he wants for his disciples and prays for their protection as well. We know that when Jesus prayed for his disciples he was praying for us as well. We pray for these things as well—for example, when we pray the Lord's Prayer. A wise friend of mine shared a quote which I think is very appropriate: Prayer without action is just noise. We are all called to do something when we face a national crisis like gun violence. Write to your congressional representative; march in a demonstration; just be willing to stand for peace and justice.
So let us all pray for deeper faith, courage to help and protect each other and to grow closer to God. Amen.