This post is from Guest blogger Rev. Jim Rowe.
***
The assigned Gospel reading for the 7th Sunday
of Easter (if you are using the Revised Common Lectionary) comes from
Jesus’ prayer to the Father on behalf of his followers before the
Passion narrative. When looking at this text it can be helpful to look
at a few things: 1) Read the entire prayer. All of John 17. 2) Pay
attention to the larger context. This prayer comes immediately after
Jesus finishes his long-winded farewell discourse (14:1-16:33) where he
speaks to his followers about what discipleship looks like: “I am the
way, the truth, and the life”; “I am the vine, you are the branches”;
“Love one another just as I have loved you”; and the great “I have said
this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face
persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (which sadly
does not appear in the Revised Common Lectionary). This is the
transition piece from discourse to Passion, from teaching about
discipleship to modeling discipleship.
Key Words:
Key Words:
δίδωμι
(to give) appears 17 times in this chapter, more than in any other
chapter in the New Testament and more than any other verb in this
chapter. The Father gives Jesus authority over all people to give
eternal life to all whom the Father has given the Son. Jesus glorified
the Father on earth by finishing the work the Father gave him to do. But
the focus of the lectionary text is on those whom the Father gave to
the Son from the world.
κόσμος
(world) appears 19 times in this chapter and is incredibly important in
the theology of John’s Gospel. The world came into being through the
incarnate Word, Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world, For God so loved the world…, “I have conquered the world!”
For those whose theology states the world is a place to escape from, John’s Gospel suggests otherwise (17:15). The Creator is in such love with the world that the creative Word that spoke the world into existence will lay down his life to take away the sin of the world. God loves the world. Likewise, in John 17, for those who were given to Jesus by the Father (aka Jesus’ followers) the world and all in it are objects of great love (even laying down their lives?) because even though the world has hated them (17:14), Christ sends them into the world just as the Father has sent him into the world (17:18). God sent Christ into the world because of love, and so Christ sends his disciples (us) into the world because of love.
For those whose theology states the world is a place to escape from, John’s Gospel suggests otherwise (17:15). The Creator is in such love with the world that the creative Word that spoke the world into existence will lay down his life to take away the sin of the world. God loves the world. Likewise, in John 17, for those who were given to Jesus by the Father (aka Jesus’ followers) the world and all in it are objects of great love (even laying down their lives?) because even though the world has hated them (17:14), Christ sends them into the world just as the Father has sent him into the world (17:18). God sent Christ into the world because of love, and so Christ sends his disciples (us) into the world because of love.
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