Eastertide

May 29, 2022

Scripture Reading:

John 17:20-26

‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

‘Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’

How important is it to have someone we trust say they trust someone else, and we can trust them too? When we apply for a job, we are often required to provide references. My dad cosigned the first loan I made to buy a car. Having paid that loan off as prescribed by the agreement, I never had to have anyone cosign for me again. One of Jesus’s missions, when he came in human form, was to tell us by word and example that we could trust God.

I can envision God scratching his head following the exile, following the calamity after the exile, and following the rule of Greece and Rome wondering, “What do I need to do to convince my children that I love them and that my love is the guiding principle in living successfully in the world I created?” God decided to come to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ to model the way that living in God’s world works.

What we have learned is that when we get out of sync with God’s plan for the world, we suffer the consequences. There is no room for hate, bigotry, greed, dishonesty, violence, or adultery in God’s world.  Just as there is no room for the results of such behavior such as allowing poverty or violence to exist.

Prayer: Help us clearly see the way Jesus modeled life in your love and change our lives to follow his way. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.