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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaerther Regularly the church receives prayer requests. Sometimes these are of such a personal nature that I am asked to include them in my personal devotions. But more often the prayer request is incorporated into the prayers of the people. Today for instance we include Joseph Gaul who is suffering from pneumonia. The prayers of the people are not a time for announcements. Sometimes when we pray in groups there is a tendency for the person doing the praying to take the opportunity to communicate to the people rather than pray to God. For instance I heard a pastor pray a couple of years ago, "Dear God be with those suffering in war torn Bosnia, which is a part of the former Yugoslav republic." Now I would think that God would know that Bosnia is one of the former Yugoslav countries. The Prayers of the People are a gathering of the concerns of our community and placing them before God. It is comforting to know when we are hurting that others are carrying our burdens to the cross. The prayers of the people are recognition by the community that together we share the burdens and cares of others and that together we can go to the cross and find them carried by Jesus. It is powerful to know that we are not alone in our troubles. In today's Gospel lesson we find that Jesus prays for you and me. There is not much more reassuring than Jesus himself praying for us. Jesus is even now in heaven interceding on your behalf as he sits at the right hand of God the Father. The book of Hebrews chapter 4 states, "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:14-16). From the very right hand of God Jesus will come from to judge the living and dead, from that seat, he is praying for you and me. On the night when Jesus was betrayed he prayed, what is called by some his high priestly prayer. It is called that because the prayer is the great intercession of Jesus pleading to the Father for the ones that have been placed into his hands. The content of our prayers are in many ways a witness to what is the closest to our hearts, that is to say, the most heavy on our hearts that we need to place at the feet of God? When you pray, consider what is first most heavy on your heart and do a little bit of self-examination. Does your prayer life represent your desired priorities in life? Often times it does not. Because of our sinfulness our prayers are often diluted with our personal selfish desires. But when Jesus prays for you and me his prayer is without sin and without deceit and most earnestly the dearest to his heart. What is dear to the heart of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? His prayer on the night of his betrayal starts with a petition that the Father would glorify his son, so that the son may give glory to God. Considering that when Jesus had finished speaking these words he went with his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane and was arrested it would be a fruitless prayer. But it is precisely in this being betrayed, suffering, crucified, and dying that the glory of God shines. We give glory to God alone because he alone is the God who saves with mercy on the cross. Jesus then asks that it be through this glory that eternal life may be given to all those to whom the father had given to him. Eternal life is then defined by Jesus, saying, "that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Eternal life is not defined by Jesus in terms of quantity. I know that sometime we speak of forever and ever. But in first and foremost eternal life that is ours through the glory of the cross is not defined by time. I have had confirmands ask me if they will get bored in heaven, being up there forever and all. Immortality is often understood by length of time. But I want to tell you today that Jesus prayer is not petitioning the father for extra time for you and me. Jesus concern is not how long life is, because there can be living in hell with the gnashing of teeth, well that is forever too and is not hoped for. Jesus definition of eternal life is described not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality. Listen to Jesus words once more, "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This is the life that is given to you through the waters of baptism. This is the life that Jesus has been given the authority to make known through his life, death, and resurrection. When Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, there is a unity in that phrase. Life is found in the way of Jesus, this way is defined by the one true God, found enfleshed in Jesus. Now sometimes there is a mistake in thinking of quality as synonymous with the way the secular world uses phrase quality of life. A quality of life is described by doctors in terms of physical, measurable, diagnosable qualities. Quality of life is a term used by ethicists to describe functioning skills in terms of being productive and contributable to society. But in the Christian context quality of life that is yours, the eternal life that is yours, is not about power, prestige, or wealth. Ironically this eternal life, quality of life, is found in a suffering, crucified Jesus. He gave his life suffering and dying upon the cross so that we might have eternal life. Jesus did not come so that you can be successful in terms measured by the world. For Jesus the quality of life is found in having a relationship with the one true God and his son Jesus Christ whom he has sent. You have this eternal life right now through your baptism. All those who believe and baptized have life. If I ask you when do you receive eternal life, how would you answer? Some may say at death you enter into eternal life. But Jesus demonstrates for us that you have eternal life right now. Paul wrote in Romans how nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Though you may at times feel like sheep led to the slaughter, hopeless outnumbered in this world doomed. You can boldly live, because you have eternal life. Death has no power over you, because death cannot take away your relationship to the one true God. Poverty has no power over you, wealth does not give you a better relationship to the one true God. Suffering has no power over you, in fact through suffering your God has brought redemption to the world. Through suffering you are brought to rely on the life you have through God and not through your personal success. Eternal Life is yours through knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. This life is the redeemed, forgiven life, defined not by quantity, but by quality. As members of the body of Christ you are not defined in terms of certain capacities. Our society has a dangerous tendency to define people by what they can do for us. So and so is a good person because he can… In fact in the communion of saints, in the gathering of the faithful, those human beings who permanently lack certain abilities—as well as all human beings in stages of life where those powers are absent—are simply the weakest and most needful members of our community. We can care for them only by acknowledging that life is not defined by the quality definitions of this world, but by the quality of being known by the one true God and by Jesus Christ. As Christians we must be ready to stand with and beside those who suffer physically or emotionally, with faith that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself our frail flesh to stand alongside us in our sin. You have eternal life right now through Jesus Christ. This is a quality that the world cannot dim, so shine with the glory of God, just as Christ shined on the cross with the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |