Pascha VII

The Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 1:12-14; Psalm 27; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11

For as often as it is recorded in the Gospels that Jesus prays, we are only privy a few times to his inner voice speaking with the Father.

On the cross Jesus prays Psalms 22 and 31. We are in earshot of his anguished prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. And we hear his physical groanings as well as his words as he prays prior to calling Lazarus forth from the dead.

“Why have you forsaken me…?”

“I am like a broken dish…”  

“Take this cup away from me…”

Jesus’ prayers express abandonment, fear, uselessness, isolation, and hopelessness. Are these not the feelings and prayers of many people around the world at this time of pandemic, food shortages, war, job losses, economic crisis and uncertainty of the future? How appropriate these prayers are for us today.

The prayers of Jesus are honest and though they begin with his – our – deepest human desires, griefs and fears, they do not remain there but root themselves in trust, fidelity and praise of the God who saves.

“I trust in you…” 

“Be strong and take heart…” 

“I will live for God…” 

“Your will be done…”

Of the four Gospels, John is unique. He records no prayers of Jesus in the garden or from the cross.  Rather, we are given, along with the disciples at that last supper, entrance into the heart of Jesus. He turns aside and speaks with the God he knows as “Abba” – the God of relationships. It is a prayer like no other. In tender and intimate terms it speaks of glory, victory and intercession.

The prayer arises out of their relationship as dad and son, child and parent and the life they share: “Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you…” Parents, you sacrifice everything for your children and in turn are honoured by their accomplishments and the values they live out. You are mirrors of and to each other.  And that is what Jesus says is eternal life – to know the only true God, and the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ.

Thus for John’s Gospel, eternal life is not to be experienced in the afterlife but is life itself now. “This is eternal life, to know God,” that is, to be in relationship with God; the same intimate and tender relationships that we experience, though imperfectly, between each other.

And so Jesus’ prayer must then turn to those relationships, we his disciples of every age: “I revealed your name to them…I have given them your word…I pray for them…I have been glorified in them…”  Are they not the words of a parent?  Parent as giver of life, teacher, support, mirror.  Roles are intermingled and reversed; for Jesus is now the parent, we, sons and daughters.

“I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”  All parents on some unanticipated day must let go of their children.

Do you remember the day when you were running alongside and holding on to the back of the bike teaching your child to ride?  And the day came when you gently let go of the bike and off your daughter or son unknowingly was riding by themselves.  Do you remember the feeling you had deep within you?

I expect it was the feeling Jesus expressed on the cross.  For all the prayers of Jesus come full circle in his final word on the cross as he shouts, “Tetelestai!” – “It is finished/accomplished!”  It is the shout of a king at the end of a successful battle; a cry of victory!  The battle against evil, sin and death is accomplished.  My children are free!

The prayers at the heart of Jesus are needed in these uncertain times; not for victory over a virus, but to lead us in victory over our fears and feelings of isolation, uselessness and hopelessness.  We need, like Jesus, to root such honest prayers in trust and fidelity to the God who has been and is trustworthy and faithful to us.

The Prayers of Jesus

John 11:40-42; at the calling forth of Lazarus

Matthew 26:37-44; Mark 14:32-36; Luke 22:41-42; the garden

John 17:1-26; the final prayer after the supper known as ‘The High Priestly Prayer’

Psalm 22

Psalm 31