Unity and Truth

The Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 12, 2024

John 17:11b-19

 “Unity and Truth”

Today is Mother’s Day, and so we give thanks to God for the gift and blessing of our mothers, those who are with us still, those who have gone before us in the faith, and those who serve in mothering roles in our lives. Here’s a story that someone shared online for Mother’s Day: “My mother had just finished taking a CPR class at a local college when she and I were in the mall and saw a big crowd gathered around a still body. Mom took off running at a speed I didn’t know she could muster, yelling, ‘Everyone back! I know CPR!’ Just as she threw herself next to the body and was about to begin, a pair of strong hands pulled her to her feet. ‘Ma’am,’ said a police officer beside her, ‘we are trying to arrest this man’” ("The Funniest Thing My Mom Ever Did" | Reader's Digest). Go mom! This Easter season of rejoicing in our risen Savior leads us to rejoice in his ascension into heaven forty days after he rose from the dead (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11). Always on a Thursday, we celebrated this last week with a gathering of circuit congregations and pastors in a special worship service at our sister congregation, Bethany Lutheran Church. Ascension is an often overlooked and forgotten festival of the church, but its meaning is vitally important for our life in Christ. As we confess in the creed, Jesus is now “seated at the right hand of the Father,” which means that Jesus is ruling and reigning over his church and his creation until that day when “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” This means that we are in the “now but not yet.” After Jesus’ ascension, his disciples waited in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we heard about in today’s first Scripture lesson (Acts 1:12-26). The Spirit has, of course, already been poured out upon the people of Christ, including us here and now, through our Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. Each year, we celebrate the Person and work of the Spirit every year at Pentecost, which we will do next Sunday. The “now but not yet” means that although we have already received the Spirit, we wait for the fulfillment and completion of the Spirit’s work in our lives. And that will only come about when Jesus returns in glory to judge the world in righteousness. Until that day, our risen and ascended Savior intercedes for us that we may be abide in his truth and that we may be one. Jesus’ words in the Gospel lesson serve as the basis for today’s sermon under the theme “Unity and Truth.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

John’s Gospel alone contains what we hear in today’s Gospel lesson, a portion of Jesus’ high priestly prayer, as it is called here in John chapter 17. The setting for this is in the upper room where Jesus had washed the feet of his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed (John 13:1ff.). Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke, John does not include Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper while in that upper room; only that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, giving them an example of how they are to love and serve one another. Jesus has a lengthy teaching discourse which follows, and it concludes here in John 17. I would encourage you to go home and read all of John 17 because we only have a portion of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in today’s Gospel lesson. This prayer is all about Jesus’ loving concern for his followers – not just those first disciples, but his followers in every generation, ourselves included. The two chief things that Jesus prays about here are for unity and truth among his followers. Just as Jesus and the Father are one, so Jesus prays that his followers may be one. Jesus prays that his followers may also abide in the truth of the Word that Jesus has revealed. As our great High Priest who is now seated at the Father’s right hand interceding for us, Jesus is still praying that we, his children, may be one and abide in his truth.

The unity of believers among those first disciples was threatened as we hear in today’s Gospel lesson (Acts 1:12-26). Waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, they had to face the ugly truth, not just of Judas’ betrayal, but his suicide. Everybody in Jerusalem knew about this and was talking about it. From what is spoken here, we see that the disciples didn’t try to hide what had happened. Instead, they were honest about it, and didn’t try to cover it up. They did four things that are helpful: 1) they turned to the Scriptures for guidance; 2) they remembered that God is faithful, even when we are not; 3) they confessed that our own human ways are sinful; and 4) they trusted in the rule of Christ. In times of uncertainty and crisis within the church, then or now, when our own unity seems under attack, it’s helpful to hold these things before us. The disciples didn’t denigate Judas when it would have been easy to do so. Peter himself had betrayed Jesus by denying him three times (John 18:15-27). They gathered in the Name and the power of the crucified, risen and ascended Savior, who directed them to someone who would take Judas’ place, and that was Matthias. It is true that unity and trust can be undermined, trampled over, and fractured, but they can also be repaired and restored through Christ. Nothing is too hard for him who loves us and gave his life for us.

Jesus’ high priestly prayer for unity among his people leads into the second part of his prayer: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Truth can be a scarce commodity in our world. Remember when Jesus stood on trial before Pontius Pilate? Jesus said to him: “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37b)? And Pilate’s cynical response to this was: “What is truth?” (John 18:38a). If the truth is too uncomfortable, or too inconvenient, or too radical, we try to avoid it, or soften it, or compromise it. When we do such things, it usually doesn’t end well. When all is said and done, the truth will prevail whether we want it to or not. Jesus tells us that he himself is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). Further, Jesus tells us: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32). There’s that word again: abide. We’ve heard it spoken by Jesus over the last several weeks in the Gospel lessons (John 15:1-8 and John 15:9-17). “Abide” is a big word in John’s Gospel and pops up again and again in what Jesus says. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus prays that his followers of every generation may abide in the truth of God’s own Word. And what is that truth which sets us free? It is the good news that Jesus came into the world, to be one of us. He took our place, doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lived that life of full obedience to the Father’s will and purpose. He died the death that we rightly deserved because of our sin and disobedience. He rose again from death and the grave, and has now ascended to the Father’s right hand. He has promised to come again and take us to be with him forever. This is the blessed truth of faith: that we are loved and forgiven for Jesus’ sake. This is the truth of our risen, reigning and returning Savior that we hold fast to and that we share with the world.

May Jesus’ prayer for unity and truth among his people be fulfilled in our life together. Amen.