John 17:1-11 (Acts 1:12-26)

Into His Prayerful Hands!

            Today is the last Sunday of Easter. It’s the last Sunday that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ in this season. It’s the last Sunday before the Church year gives way to the monotonous Sundays that follow. For if you’ve followed the Church calendar, you would also know what big festival was celebrated this last week. Today marks 43 days since the Resurrection. But on the 40th day, we remembered that Christ ascended into heaven. He leaves us behind as he returns to his Heavenly Father. And like the disciples in the following week, we ask the question, What next? What are we supposed to do now that Jesus is no longer with us? What are the next steps we’re supposed to take? How do we go on when our leader, our teacher is no longer here? Thus arose the Christian’s concern for the state of the church. Without our leader, we don’t want the ship to become rudderless. We can’t move forward without our guide. Especially following the death of the apostles, Christians were left to care for the church in Christ’s stead. So, every time the church thrived, we felt good. We celebrated. But every time the church faces struggles and challenges, every time when the church shrinks and loses members, we panic. We fear that the church will disappear altogether. Yes, this has been a constant discussion in modern-day America. We’ve seen churches shrink and close for the last thirty years. And what have we seen? Panic. There’s fear that the Church will disappear on our watch. This has yielded any number of responses from Christians, going so far as to say let’s chuck the bible out the window just to save the church!

            But today, Jesus shares some precious words with his future Church. With some of his final words among us, he teaches us about what it means to be the Church. And by his words, we’re to find peace and comfort as his people even in a hostile world. For let us learn:

GOD HAS GIVEN US TO JESUS SO WE MAY BE KEPT IN HIS NAME FOREVER!

I.

            It should be interesting to us that one of the first things the apostles did following Jesus’ ascension was to replace Judas. Perhaps this seems mostly practical to us. It’s obvious that they had much work to do and extra hands are never a bad thing. But this was far more than just finding extra help. Notice the requirements which they laid out, “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection,” Acts 1:21-22. They were to be a witness not just of parts of Jesus’s ministry, but ALL of Jesus’s ministry! They were to have as close of a relationship with Jesus as Judas or any of the other apostles had. This was what it meant to be an apostle. They were all eye-witnesses to Jesus’s teachings, miracles, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. For their job, their mission, was to tell the whole world about what they had seen. But notice once more how this man was chosen. They prayed. They prayed to God for Him to choose… and he did. 

            This is one of the many ways in which we can see Jesus’ care still present and active in his Church today. When God calls and sends men to be pastors to shepherd his church, when God calls teachers to teach his word to children, when God gathers together his people around Word and Sacrament, we know he is here with us. Because Jesus prayed for exactly this. As we read, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours,” John 17:9. One of Jesus’ major concerns prior to his passion is the care of the church… His church. For this is where we go all wrong today. We act like the church is ours to do whatever we want with it. We act as though Jesus gave us something incomplete or unfinished and now we need to do the rest. Every time the church falls on hard times, we act as though we need to be the church’s savior, as if she didn’t already have one.

II.

            But this is why we’re greeted with this chapter of John at this time every year. Because Jesus is reminding us and telling us, you don’t need to be the church’s savior. You don’t need to endure that burden and pain. Rather, he has already done everything for the Church which she requires. Thus, it’s His church. Not ours. If it’s his, then who are we to change it? Who are we to alter his words? Who are we to tell the church who she is supposed to be? Rather, here what Jesus said, “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one,” John 17:11. God gave the church to Christ, to Jesus so that He may be her savior. God gave us to Christ so that we may believe in him. God gave us to Jesus so that with Jesus, we might die and rise again. For this is what brings about the unity in the Church which Christ desires. When we are united with Christ, we’ll truly be united with one another.

            So, instead of trying to be the church’s savior, let us cling to the true savior of the Church. For it was Christ who created the church. It was Christ who clothed her in righteousness. It was Christ who shed his blood for her. And it will be Christ who will be her redeemer. Thus, through hell and high waters, let us know that Christ’s Church shall be standing long after we’re gone. Because it’s the eternal hands of Christ who is holding her up. Thus, consider also these words of Christ, as he prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him,” John 17:1-2. Christ’s Church stands to do what Christ has said. To give eternal life to all who believe in him. To hand people over to Jesus so that Jesus may be given to them. For eternal life is exactly this, knowing God as your Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior. It’s knowing that in Christ, you have eternal life. In Christ, you have unity with the Father. In Christ, you have security in heaven. 

            So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, find comfort and peace in this truth. This is Christ’s Church and you belong to him. You below to the Savior who died for you, was buried for you, and rose from the dead so that you may rise also! And for this, Christ has prayed so that God shall see it done. In Jesus’ name. Amen!