John 17:6-19
May
16, 2021
Sometimes
I read John’s gospel and I just want to say,
“What?” And this is one of those times.
Jesus
speaks a lot plainer in the other gospels.
In
John’s gospel it sounds more like poetry than stories,
a
little like a freshman in college
who
is excited about their first philosophy class.
John
can make you a little dizzy.
But if you take it
slow, diagram the sentences,
it
does make sense eventually.
This is at the end of
Jesus last long discourse
to
his disciples. At the last supper.
The
very next moment he is arrested and taken away.
This
part is a prayer, an open conversation
between
Jesus and God.
He
is praying for the disciples before he leaves them.
He asks God to
protect the disciples.
To
keep them united.
To
make them one like God and Jesus are one.
Jesus
knows that the world will be dangerous for
his
followers because as he says,
“They
are in the world, but they do not belong to the world”.
They are in
the world, but they are not of the world.
We
hear this phrase a lot as Christians,
but
it can still kind of be a vague statement.
Some
people take it to mean that we should
separate
ourselves from the world completely.
That
we should isolate ourselves and only be involved with people
who
share our religious beliefs and views.
Others
believe that we shouldn’t get involved in
current
events
or politics, shouldn’t run for office, shouldn’t vote.
That
we should leave those things to other “less holy” people
and
keep ourselves clean.
I
don’t think either of those things are what Jesus meant.
Jesus
says in this prayer that he has sent his believers into the world,
just
like Jesus was sent into the world.
Not
to be separated from the world, but to be in it.
Jesus
even says to God that he is not asking God to
take
us out of the world at all.
What
I think Jesus does mean is that his people were in the world,
engaged
in the world, but they were a little different than normal.
They
might have actually looked like everyone else at first glance,
but
after a while, people noticed that followers of Jesus were a little different.
Jesus
is saying that his followers were a little off normal.
In
other words, Jesus is saying that his followers were weird.
Not just any kind of
weird though.
We
had this guy come out to our
house
in Texas who poured a concrete slab for us.
And
he never wore any shoes.
He
did everything barefoot.
He
bent a nail in a board for us with the sole of his right foot.
That
was weird.
But
it’s not the same kind of weird that I’m talking about.
And I’m not talking
about dyed hair and beards weird,
or
dipping your pizza in ranch dressing weird
or
walking around in a Darth Vader costume weird
or
climbing mount Everest weird.
I
can certainly appreciate that weirdness.
But
that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about divine weirdness.
A
weirdness that separates us from the systems of this world.
A
weirdness that puts us outside so we could look
objectively
at what was really going on.
So
the first Christians were still a part of the world,
still part of the politics and the money.
They
followed the laws, they did everything that other people did.
But
they were weird.
I told you last week
about the way relationships
outside
of family were in Jesus time.
People
would have relationships with other people
based
on exchange. What that person could offer.
A rich person would
befriend a poor person
they
could get honor and accolades from them.
A
poor person would then lower themselves
and
honor the rich person because they
would
give them things - money, shelter, food.
Relationships
outside of family were based on
what
people could get from each other.
But
the followers of Jesus stood out from the rest of the world.
They
had real friendships with each other
across
lines of status, class, gender and race.
People
of a higher class were friends with people
who
were of a lower class, and they didn’t shame them
didn’t
demand accolades or honors.
Didn’t demand to sit in the best seats.
They respected each other just because
they were brothers and sisters in
Christ.
They were weird.
And
this weirdness disrupted the whole system.
They
visited people in prison, they took food to hungry people,
they
gathered together in each others homes
for
no specific monetary reason, just to worship God.
They
let women lead their communities.
They sang songs
together. They forgave each other.
They
didn’t participate in the power structure that oppressed others
and
developed their own power structure that built people up.
They
were weird. Divinely weird.
Now
somewhere during these last 2000 years,
Christians
have lost a little bit of their weirdness.
We
started to become normal.
to
become adjusted to the world and not only
comfortable
with it, but to love it.
We actually started
to become the world instead
of
the weird ones in it.
Christians
and Christianity actually became the power structure,
a
structure reflected the world more
than
the teachings and life of Christ.
We
lost a lot of our weirdness.
Christians
started to be the ones that oppressed instead of set free.
We
defended Crusades, Inquisitions, slavery, McCarthyism, segregation.
We
defined being Christian as being absolutely normal,
as
being completely totally conformed
to
this world and it’s laws and rules,
instead
of being uncomfortable with them.
Christianity
basically rejected weirdness.
you
really couldn’t tell a Christian apart from anyone else.
But
now, thankfully,
we have started to bring weird back.
We
have again become mal-adjusted to the conforms of society.
We
have become mal-adjusted to the sight of war and poverty.
We
have become un-comfortable with the world that says
that
there is no place for forgiveness and vulnerability
that
the only way to deal with others is stubbornness and inflexibility.
We have become un-comfortable with the
world that says
financially
stable people are the only ones valuable to society.
We
have become uncomfortable with the rules
which
tell us that it’s all about us and our money
and
our house and our family.
With
the nudging of the Holy Spirit,
we
have become a little weird again.
In the world, but not of
the world.
I ate lunch at Panera and I was wearing my collar
and the worker who picked up our plates asked where I was pastor.
I said, Christ Lutheran Church over on William Hilton Parkway.
He thought and then he said, "Is that the church that gives away all the food."
and I said, yes!
Welcoming the
homeless and the stranger.
The immigrant and the refugee.
The
lost and the lonely.
Offering
forgiveness instead of judgment.
Not
doing what will give us power or money or recognition
but
doing, and advocating, that which helps everyone
in
our community including the weak and poor,
not
just the rich or elite.
When
other people look at us through squinted eyes
and
say, “You people are a little weird”
we
can say, “Thank you very much!”
Then
we will know that we are on the right track.
Then
we know we’ve become the voice that this community needs.
In
the world, but not of the world.
The divine weirdoes.
And that is Jesus
prayer in a nutshell.
“God,
you gave me these people
and
we made them weirdoes.
I
love these weirdoes.
Some
people are going to have problems
with
them because they’re weirdoes.
So
please protect them.”
And that is the point
of this prayer.
Jesus
is leaving. Leaving us alone.
And
Jesus is concerned like a parent leaving
their
child alone for the first time.
He’s
taught them all he can,
now
the rest is in God’s hands.
We are Easter People.
Shaped
by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
We
should be weird. Divinely Weird.
And
being divinely weird is a hard job.
But
it’s Jesus call to us to, his little flock.
And
it is our prayer:
“God
we are yours and you are ours,
please
protect us in this world and
please
keep us weird.”
No comments:
Post a Comment