“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word” (Jo. 17:20).
Easter is a “no holds barred” season: though it goes on for fifty days, until Pentecost, there’s a sense in which Easter never ends. Each Sunday of the year, even the Sundays in Lent, is a “little Easter,” commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each Sunday is “the first day of the week” (Jo. 20:1), the day of resurrection; and though our Gospel reading may give us a story of Jesus teaching or healing, the reason why we’re there in Church on Sunday is because it’s the day that Jesus rose again. You might say that the reason for the season is to remind us of the Easter character of each and every Sunday. The day of resurrection overflows in a continually recurring weekly celebration.
Our Gospel reading today helps us reflect on the meaning of new life given us when God raised Jesus from the dead. It gives us part of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples on the night of the last supper. Jesus has just washed the disciples’ feet and invited them to share in his own sacrificial ministry. That ministry is marked by acts of service like Jesus’ own. It’s also marked by intimacy with God; by sharing in Jesus’ own relationship with the Father. One requires the other. Service alone will be unsustainable without close relationship with God; relationship with God will become hollow without love of the fellowship. As it says in the first letter of John, “Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 Jo. 4:21).
What does Jesus pray for when he prays for the disciples? First of all, he prays that they may be one, as he and the Father are one. Unity is not uniformity: every member of the Church is different, with gifts that vary (as St. Paul reminds us, Rom. 12:6). But the gifts all have their origin in the Holy Spirit, and reveal the common character of Christ. Unity is not uniformity, but it does require that we stick together. Without unity, without being together, we will never be able to mirror the relationship and intimacy that exist between the Father and the Son. Jesus calls us to union, with each other and with him, that begins with sticking together but culminates in a much deeper relationship.
We get a sense of what that means when Jesus prays that the love that exists between the Father and the Son may remain in the disciples as well. Jesus will be in them to the extent that this love abides in them. This kind of love is agape, sacrificial love that is willing to give all for the sake of the other. It is the love that Jesus shows on the cross. It’s connected to the love that exists within the fellowship of the Church. In the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus calls the disciples “friends” (Jo. 15:5), giving us an idea of the relationship that ought to exist between the members of the Church.
Thus, in part, Jesus’ prayer for the disciples. But there’s another purpose revealed in the prayer, a subtext if you will; other purposes for which Jesus prays. He prays for unity and love “so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jo. 17:21), as Jesus says; “so that the world may know that you have sent me” (Jo. 17:23). The two words, “believe” and “know,” as Jesus uses them here, are virtual equivalents in John’s Gospel; Peter certainly uses them that way at the end of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand in the sixth chapter when he says to Jesus, “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jo. 6:69).
Here, in Jesus prayer, we see the “no holds barred” character of the Easter proclamation once again. It’s overflowing into the life of “those who will come to believe… through their word” (Jo. 17:20), as Jesus says in our Gospel. That means all of us. Jesus has in view the fellowship of the Church, the friends who in the days to come will live together in unity and love. Jesus is praying for them, for us, for those who gather each week to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, who break the bread and bless the cup in remembrance of him.
I said a minute ago that Jesus uses the words “believe” and “know” interchangeably, but that is only partly true. Jesus often describes himself as knowing the Father, or the disciples coming to know him, but he never describes himself as believing in the Father. They don’t have that kind of relationship. Jesus doesn’t believe in God; instead, God calls us to believe in him, in his life-giving death and resurrection. Belief falls to us as members of the Church; it’s our unique calling. We trust that God is mighty to save; that God is our sure rock and confidence. Belief is faith, trust in God; belief in the saving power of Jesus’ death and resurrection which means new life for us.
Today we live this out at St. Paul’s Church, in our celebration of baptism and confirmation. Here we are engaging others in the life of faith through the word that we proclaim. Easter overflows and washes over all of us! Today God is calling people to faith, through baptism, and calling others to reaffirm their faith in confirmation. Remember the words of Jesus’ prayer? We’re seeing it fulfilled today. “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word” (Jo. 17:20).