The Professional Priest Prays for God's People

John 17:1-11 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. ⁶ "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name-- the name you gave me-- so that they may be one as we are one.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. Amen. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Ellen was at work when she received a phone call from her babysitter that Ellen’s daughter was very sick with a fever. Ellen left her job and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication for her daughter. When she returned to the car she found that in her rush she had left her keys locked in the car. In a panic she called home and told her babysitter what had happened and that she didn’t know what to do. The babysitter told her that her daughter was getting worse. She suggested, “Maybe you can find a coat hanger and use that to open the door.”

Ellen looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown on the ground – possibly by someone else who at some time or another had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, “I don’t know how to use this.” So she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help. Within five minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, “Great. God, this is what you sent to help me?!” But she was desperate, so she was also thankful.

The man got out of his car, noticed Ellen struggling with the coat hanger and asked if he could help. She said, “Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I have to get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car door?” He said, “Sure.” He walked over to the car and in less than a minute, the car door was open.

Ellen hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank you so much! You are a very nice man.” The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour.” Ellen hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, “Thank you, God, for sending me a professional!”

We thank God for also sending us a professional – Jesus Christ!

But that also shows how bad off we are in life. Our children get sick, our bodies are falling apart, we are struggling with cancer, Alzheimer’s, corrective surgeries; we are confused, worried, afraid; we doubt, question, cry out; at times we feel like strangers in this world and at other times, sadly, we feel like we fit in all too well in this world. Because we are lost and condemned creatures, sinners in thoughts, words and actions, marked as children of God but living so often as the spawn of Satan; because we find ourselves, by nature, locked out of heaven … we need prayers. And not just “any old” prayers. We need the prayers of a Professional – Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It always feels good when you are going through a particularly difficult time in your life and someone says to you, “I’ll pray for you.” When someone is praying for you, whether in the Prayer of the Church or on a Prayer Chain or just a personal, friendly prayer of a fellow saint – it makes you feel a bit vulnerable, a bit uneasy. It is an admittance that things are beyond your control. You’re not strong enough on your own. You need help. You need hope.

But you also receive the feeling of comfort and peace of mind in knowing that you are not alone. Someone cares for you. And Someone cares for you.

That is why Jesus prays for His disciples and us. We cannot make it on our own. Life is quickly spinning out of control. We aren’t strong enough on our own to defeat the devil or even beat down our sinful desires. We need help. We need hope. We need to know we are not alone.

And so Jesus prays.

The apostle James writes that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). How much more powerful and effective is the prayer, then, of THE righteous man – Jesus Christ?

Jesus has finished His Last Supper with His disciples in the Upper Room. This is the transition when Jesus goes from teaching His disciples to praying for them. We call this the High Priestly Prayer because Jesus our Great High Priest offers prayers for Himself, His apostles and all who believe in Him.

Jesus begins His prayer by looking up toward heaven and saying out loud, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Jesus first prays that God the Father would glorify Himself through Jesus’ coming crucifixion. The Roman cross was never connected with glory; it was a symbol of shame and dishonor. St Paul would call it a “stumbling block to Jews” and “foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:22). The Jews stumbled over the idea that God would let His Son suffer and die on a cross, rather than sit in glory on a throne. The Gentiles thought it foolishness that you could receive salvation through someone else’s execution.

Jesus continues, “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Jesus, in the midst of death, would not seem very powerful. As He breathes His last on the cross, Jesus would not appear to be the Creator of the world. He would not seem to be given all power and authority, but yet He was. Through His impending death in less than 24 hours, Jesus would give eternal life to those He loves. Jesus was praying for that outcome.

“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” As an earthly father glories in the athletic and academic accomplishments of his sons and daughters, so our heavenly Father would glory in the accomplishment of His only begotten Son. The Father’s glory would be in His Son’s passion, suffering, scourging, sorrows, cross and death. There would be glory in Christ taking creation’s deserved suffering upon Himself and replacing it with His righteousness and goodness. Glory would be in having mercy upon creatures who did not deserve it. Christ’s glory would shine brightest through the darkness of Mt Calvary. Jesus is praying that God would glorify Him by punishing Him for the sins of humanity.

Then Jesus shifts His focus from praying for Himself and His work of salvation to praying for the protection and safety of His disciples. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”

Remember, in the next few moments, Jesus and the disciples are leaving the protection of the Upper Room. They are heading out into the cruel world – the cruel world that was going to betray Jesus, arrest Him, chase away His disciples and put Him to death. But before this happens, Jesus prays for His disciples, telling His Father how the past three years had been spent training these men to begin to understand that Jesus was not just a carpenter from Nazareth, a babe born in Bethlehem; but He was the promised Messiah. And how did they come to believe this? The same way you and I have – through the Word of God. He preached and they listened. He taught and they learned. He educated and they were encouraged.

Then Jesus gets very specific in His prayer. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” This was not the time to pray for the world. The disciples were His special charge and they needed help and strength to face what was coming.

In these words, Jesus is praying for all His elect – all those past, present and future disciples who were chosen by God since the foundations of the world. This is called the doctrine of Predestination or Election. Jesus is praying for those who are His, who are God’s, so they may believe. This is the mystery of Election. It is a doctrine of comfort for believers. But how do you know if you were chosen and elected to salvation? Do you make faithful use of God’s Word and sacraments? Do you believe Jesus as Savior? Have you kept Christ’s Word? Then you are one of the Elect. You are a chosen child of God. You were marked with the cross at your baptism, receive the sign of the cross in worship, and carry your cross through life. You belong to Christ. He prayed for you. He did for you what God needed done.

However, (and this is a difficult teaching) Jesus is not praying for those who are of the world – those not in Christ, those who reject Him, those who by their own reason and strength decide to remain in their rebellion against Him. He doesn’t pray for them. They are the ones who have damned themselves for they have rejected Him who was rejected for them.

Jesus continued by praying for our protection. “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name-- the name you gave me-- so that they may be one as we are one.” The world is hostile toward Christians who truly believe Christ and follow His teachings. We are foreigners living in enemy territory. Jesus describes you in this way, “they (Christians) are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” You might live in this world, but that doesn’t mean that you’re of it. You may look the same, but you are different. And what makes you different also makes you dangerous to the devil and hated by the world. But Jesus doesn’t pray that we be taken out of this world, but that we be protected while we are in the world.

The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with bow and arrow. He was a professional, battle-tested, fearless warrior. It was his father. He had been there all night long.

You may not be able to see your Heavenly Father protecting you, but He is with you. Yes, as a Christian, you are a soldier behind enemy lines and Satan will do everything he can to bring you down. But God guarantees that He will protect you. He is your professional, battle-tested, fearless, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present warrior.

What a comfort it is knowing that others are praying for you. But even more important, remember that Jesus, your professional priest prayed for you in the Upper Room and now your ascended High Priest continues to intercede for you at God’s right hand. It is always good to know you have a professional nearby – praying, interceding, watching and protecting. Amen.

7^th Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on June 5, 2011