Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

May 21, 2012

“Who Does Jesus Pray For?” Sermon 05.20.2012

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

John 17:6-20 • May 20, 2012 • “Who Does Jesus Pray For?”

Click here to hear an audio recording of this sermon. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen. As a pastor, I get asked one question more than just about any other. It’s this – “will you/can you pray for me?” Of course my answer to that question is always yes, but most of the time I will also say to the person asking me to pray for them, if they will pray for me as well.

Whenever I think of prayer, I think of my grandmother. It’s always important for her to know that I pray for her. And it’s not necessarily just because I’m her grandson and she knows I love her, it’s also because I’m a pastor and she thinks I have a closer connection or wifi signal to God as I offer prayer for her.

I think prayer is one of the most misunderstood aspects of our life in Christ. I also think that if we believe that pastors have some special connection to God hearing our prayer that is better than everyone else, we may never get any closer to understanding the significance of prayer in our own life of faith.

John 17 is one of the most dense and challenging pieces of scripture there is. There is no way that I’m going to attempt to uncover all of the nuances of this chapter today. BUT – what I hope to do is highlight a few parts of this final prayer of Jesus that have spoken to me for many years and continue to speak to me today.

It’s important to understand a little about the context of this prayer that we hear Jesus offer. The 17th Chapter of John takes place in Jerusalem shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion. Many believe it is probably in the same room where the Last Supper was held. Jesus last prayer in the other gospels takes place in the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus being alone. In John 17 Jesus is not alone and this is not a private time of prayer. This prayer was written not only so followers of Jesus centuries later could read it, but also so followers like us could hear it again and again just like the first time Jesus offered it in the presence of his disciples.

So who is Jesus praying for?

John 17:6-8 (NRSV) 6“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;  8for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”

In the first section of this prayer, Jesus is offering prayer for his own mission and ministry in the world and thanksgiving for how his relationship with God has shaped this mission. One of the most significant struggles that I have with prayer is the pressure that I feel to sometimes be something that I am not in my prayer life.

You know the kind of prayer I’m talking about? Just follow these 7 steps of prayer or pray in this specific way. If you do that, you’ll behave and look and feel more like the Christian you’re supposed to be. We become so focused on doing something or becoming some sort of super-hero prayer warrior that we fail to simply be followers of Jesus who pray. I’ve always wondered how the people who want me to pray in these systematic ways know what kind of Christian God is calling me to be?

For Jesus, prayer is a gift. And the best part of this gift is relationship with God through Jesus. No one specific prayer formula is going to work for everyone in growing their relationship with God. Our prayer life is not dependent upon the techniques we use when we pray.

John 17:9-19 (NRSV) 9I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.  10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.  11And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.  12While I was with them, I protected them in your name that£ you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.  13But 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.  14I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  15I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  18As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Starting at verse 9, the second section of this prayer, Jesus is offering prayer for the community of followers – those God has given to Jesus. He is offering prayer for protection and unity for that community.

Do you believe that God is protecting you? Do you pray for protection – for yourself or someone you love? Have you ever prayed for unity – whether with yourself or with others? I mean, what do you think the world would look like if the nearly 40,000 Christian denominations that exist today were really and truly united as one as Jesus is praying for in John 17?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, one of the reasons why I love this chapter in John’s gospel is that it is a powerful reminder for all of us who seek to follow the risen savior Jesus. A powerful reminder that Jesus not only prays for himself and his mission, but also for his disciples and the entire church. The church – for you and me. I believe that is still true today. The relationship to which you and I are invited to participate in with God through our savior Jesus Christ is very intimate – prayer is a significant piece of living in this intimate relationship.

So, who does Jesus pray for?

John 17:20 (NRSV) 20“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be united as one.”

Jesus does not just pray for the disciples Peter, James, and John.  He also prays for saints like Augustine, Benedict, Francis, and Theresa. He brings Calvin and Wesley, Luther and Whitefield before His Father, as well as Billy Graham and Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King, Jr.

As Pastor Bruce Laverman states about Jesus’ prayer, “Here Christ is praying for you and for me, and for all his disciples who would follow Him into the lost and broken world of the 21st Century so loved by Him.”

That’s pretty clear in Jesus’ words in verse 20 isn’t it? “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may be united as one.”

German theologian Karl Rahner wrote an essay in the 1960’s called “Pray Daily Life!” Rahner’s words connect our own prayer life with Jesus’ prayer life. Rahner wrote “…everyday life becomes in itself prayer. All our interests are unified and exalted by the love of God; our scattered alms (offerings) are given a specific direction toward God; our external life becomes the expression of our love of God. Thus our life takes on a new meaning in the light of our eternal destiny. Make everyday life your prayer.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what do you want Jesus to know? What do you need Jesus to know? What do you want prayer for, not just from your pastor or a close friend? Jesus prays for you. What do you want Jesus to pray for?

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April 16, 2012

“The Fuse of Resurrection” 4.15.2012 Sermon

By Bishop Craig Schweitzer

John 20:19-23 • April 15, 2012

Click here to hear an audio recording of this sermon.

The Fuse of Resurrection: Fear Behind Locked Doors or Mission in the World

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

One of my favorite holidays is the 4th of July. You see, I’m a bit of a pyrotechnic. Granted I do enjoy other parts of the 4th of July – being with family and barbeques and parades, but I think I enjoy something else just a little bit more. I like fireworks. I like watching them and I like shooting them off. Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed fireworks and the anticipation about what they will look like or how they will sound or how high they will fly.

My fascination with fireworks is just one unique part of who I am as a child of God. There’s just something about lighting the fuse, getting out of the way and anticipating what will happen. Or occasionally what won’t happen, because sometimes nothing happens. Times when the fuse doesn’t work or the firecracker is a dud.

So here we are – the first Sunday of Easter. One week after Christian churches around the world were filled to capacity, or in the case of Good Shepherd, filled WAY beyond capacity a few times for grand and glorious worship celebrations of the risen Christ. Easter is a day of worship that is the most magnificent display of the Christian church’s fireworks. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. God defeating and conquering death and all that darkens this world – forever.

I know I’m still feeling a little worn out after another year’s journey through Lent and Holy Week and Easter Sunday worship. I’m not even sure if I’m still as excited as I was last week. A question that I’ve been asking myself, is whether the magnificent display of Easter Sunday is still with me today, just one week later?

I mean, is that really all there is? Or, did I miss something? Is the excitement of the fuse that was lit in the resurrection 2,000 year ago still with me? Is it still with you?

In our gospel reading today, the disciples are huddled somewhere – the Greek text doesn’t say that it’s in a “house” like our English translation offers. Let’s not get stuck in a biblical Greek lesson today. What the text does offer us is that the disciples are somewhere, locked behind closed doors, and afraid. They don’t know that the resurrection has occurred. All they know is that Jesus has been crucified and there is a pretty good chance that they will be next in line if anyone finds them.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, take note as to what happens right smack dab in the middle of the disciples fear behind locked doors, behind uncertainty for their very lives, behind a fuse of change in the world that Jesus had lit; a fuse that they think has been extinguished forever in the death of Jesus on the cross.

In the disciples’ moment of fear and darkness and hopelessness, Jesus enters with a greeting of comfort and a message of unimaginable hope, “Peace be with you.” Jesus comes to the disciples, and to you and me, and shows us that what has happened is not the end. It’s just the beginning. And to help us understand what is happening, Jesus offers a second greeting, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

In Jesus life and ministry, a fuse that will change the world forever has been lit. In Jesus’ resurrection, this fuse of change in the world is set free. And this is not a fuse from a dead firecracker – a dead man hanging on a cross. The resurrection ignites all of us as children of God to be active participants in the most spectacular display of God’s love for all creation that the world will ever know.

A dear colleague of mine recently said that, “Easter Sunday is the only way she knows how to both deal with and be honest about all the Maundy Thursdays, Good Fridays and Holy Saturdays in her life. Christ has risen makes all the difference in the world for her.”

Whether you worshiped on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, or Holy Saturday is not the point I want you to hear. The point I want you to hear is that if you and I are waiting until the dark days in our life stop or until we have everything in perfect order before we get started as resurrection people in the world, you and I will never begin. We’ll never get beyond the locked doors that we hide behind in fear.

The resurrection isn’t trying to force us to church once a year. The resurrection enters us into a relationship with God through the risen Jesus Christ. A relationship that challenges us to live together united in community. A relationship that allows us to joyfully seek out and serve our neighbors in need; like Good Shepherd did this past Thursday evening by serving a meal with The Banquet ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bismarck. A relationship that empowers us to lift up brothers and sisters in Christ that we will never meet like we’re doing in the Central African Republic through congregations just like ours across the western North Dakota synod.

Pastor Thomas Long wrote, “John’s gospel gives us a snapshot of a church with nothing – no plan, no promise, no program, no perky youth ministry, no powerful preaching, no parking lot, nothing. In fact, when all is said and done, this terrified little band (Jesus’ first disciples) huddled in the corner of a room with a chair braced against the door has only one thing going for it: the risen Christ. And that seems to be the main point of this story.” Long continues his thought with this, “In the final analysis, this is a story about how the risen Christ pushed open the bolted door of a church with nothing, how the risen Christ enters the fearful chambers of every church and fills the place with his own life.” [Whispering the Lyrics, Thomas Long, CSS Publishing]

The risen Jesus Christ has filled this place that we know as Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and the entire world for that matter, with his own life. It’s the most magnificent and glorious gift, relationship, and calling that humanity has ever received. And you and I are part of that.

As you leave today, I hope you take note of the signs near every exit of this church. And I hope those words from the risen Jesus Christ guide you in your journey as people of the resurrection this week.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the fuse of resurrection has been lit. Let’s not stay behind locked doors. Let’s go from this place and share the good news of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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