Sermon for All Saints-by-the-Sea, Easter 7, May 4, 2008
by The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey L. Bullock

“[Jesus spoke] I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one”

When I think about the world, one image comes to mind. You’ve seen it. In a photograph taken against a spangled sky, the Earth rises blue and green above the horizon of the Moon. But the delicate globe, our “island home,” hanging in the sky doesn’t begin to exhaust how we use the word “world.” We tell our kids they need to prepare to go out into the world. We talk about something being the ‘greatest’ or the ‘only’ or the’ most important’ in the entire world. We have world championships. We have newspapers called “the world.” Don’t you think we understand the meaning of the term world? But according to the Gospel of John, we haven’t at all. When we talk about the ‘world’ in the Gospel, we’re talking about everything created by God but that is not God. When we talk about the world, according to John, we’re talking about what God loves most. And in the same breath, we speak of the world that rejects the God who made it.

Remember back to the beginning of this Gospel. In the opening lines of the Gospel, John wrote the hymn of the Word creating the world and being sent for the world. But despite the gift, the world still refuses God. Let’s put those verses in our words: Jesus was before the world. Jesus came to save the world. But the world rejects the Creator. This last is no small thing but in fact the whole reason for Jesus being in the world. The world needs Jesus but still the world doesn’t want him. You’ve seen this verse from John displayed over goalposts coast to coast: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” I suspect we’ve all heard the verse and thought we understood it well. But clearly when we come to the prayer of Jesus this morning, we have not begun to exhaust what Jesus means by the word ‘world.’ And we have not exhausted what Jesus means for the world.

This Gospel falls between the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the beginning of the crucifixion story. When the previous chapter ends, Jesus says goodbye to the disciples. Jesus tells them he’s leaving the world but will return again. When the following chapter picks up, Jesus has retreated to the Kidron Valley, right by the Garden of Gethsemane, where the traitor Judas Iscariot will betray him. There in the garden begins the march to crucifixion, death and resurrection. But between all those developments, we overhear in these verses the intimate prayer of Jesus with God.

The Gospel makes curious reading not the least for the fact we are overhearing the intimate language between two persons. Think about the intimate language you speak; might it not seem a bit peculiar to outsiders? Between two people it may be perfectly right and sensible to call one another, “Honey Bunny, Peachy Poo.” You know what you’re saying. Your partner knows what you mean. But if you children or even your closest friends overheard you, they’d probably laugh. Today we hear the most intimate exchange between two figures of the Trinity. Nothing could be more important and yet perhaps more challenging to grasp. What do these words mean? And more to our point, what’s Jesus saying about the world?

Let’s wonder aloud; if Jesus was part of the creation of the world, why would the world reject him? Why does the world refuse to know him? Most importantly, why won’t the world listen to the message of Jesus?

Jesus himself offers the answer--the world hates him because he tells the truth. And what’s the truth? Simply this: we cannot gain the Kingdom of God except we die and pass into eternal life.
Does that sound too strong? Let’s think about what Jesus says in this morning’s Gospel. He has told the disciples he’s will be crucified; he will die and then be resurrected. Now to be sure, the disciples don’t yet understand what Jesus is saying. They think they do but they don’t. In fact, they won’t fully understand until he returns to them after the Resurrection where he will find them huddling in fear in the Upper Room. But today, today the disciples think they get it. Jesus says he’s going to be ‘glorified.’ That must have sounded very good to the disciples—look, this is the man they are following who will go from glory to glory. They would follow him anywhere. But then Jesus tells them another truth—the disciples will scatter before the wind of their fear. Glorification means nothing more or less than crucifixion, death and resurrection.

Surely there must be another way? We might surely hope so. However when we arrive at the trial before Pilate near the end of the Gospel, even Pilate can’t find another way. All the power and violence and wealth of the Roman Empire can’t stop Pilate from wondering, “What is the truth?” Pilate thinks he has grasped the power to shape his own life but when he threatens Jesus with power, power to release him or power to crucify him, Jesus answers, “You would have no power over me unless God permitted it.” Jesus, unlike Pilate and Rome, doesn’t conquer by violence. Jesus conquers by peace. Jesus doesn’t wreak havoc and threats on the world to make it just and right. Jesus goes to the cross to shape the world by example.

Remember when Jesus said he was ‘the way, the truth and the life?’ Jesus didn’t come to exclude, he came to embrace the world. And the way Jesus offers is the way he must go first. Jesus must be glorified for the world. He must be crucified, die and rise from the dead. Do you see it now? Only when Jesus goes before us can God assure us of eternal life. Of course we will be filled with doubt--we have no proof but the Resurrection. But ask yourself: is there any power in this world, any wealth, any prestige, and power, not matter how ruthless, which can assure you eternal life? God alone in Jesus Christ has gone before us to find the way.

Remember, it’s not a slogan it’s the truth, the whole and complete truth; God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son. Amen.