Through Stained Glass: Walk the Talk

This is part 1 of a 2 post series about the promised protection of Jesus as we walk the wisdom way.

In just a few verses we see Jesus go from teacher to servant, to friend, and then to a pray-er. 

Jesus says three times in a couple of chapters that what the disciples are to do when he dies, is resurrected, and then ascends, is to love—one another as Christ loved them. 

This love will challenge the world. It will cause an uproar, and they will probably lose their life because of it. Then in John 17, Jesus prays for the disciples, the infant church. He prays that they may be one. He prays to God reminding God that God gave the disciples to Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus says, “They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you…they have received [the words you gave me] and know in truth that I came from you; they believed you sent me.” 

Jesus gives them back to God, the Father/Mother. Jesus asks on their behalf that God will protect them, “so that they may be one, as we are one.” 

Woah. 

We share in the same union with God as God does with Jesus. Did you catch that? Do you get the beauty in this petition of Christ’s? Jesus wants us as God’s people to know joy. This joy, of course, comes when we are one, embracing the larger narrative of Scripture that God wants unity, not uniformity. Thus, we as God’s people are not gatekeepers to the heart of God but we are ones who fan the flame of Christ’s love so that it may spread, and by God’s breath all of us are consumed with the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus could have removed us from the world and this life then and there, but Jesus doesn’t. Instead, Jesus asks for our protection as we strive to be one. No, as we BECOME one. You see, Christ sends us the way Christ was sent by God to proclaim release to the captive, hope to the hopeless, and offer good news to everyone. This world is in the process of being made new by us, God’s people!

Here's the take away in this post. It is through our witness, as we do the work Jesus gives us, that Jesus will be made known to the world. 

OMG, right?

“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.” 

Jesus has shown us the way, and it involves walking. At the end of his ministry with the disciples, Jesus holds up how we share the wisdom of God. He doesn’t give a theological discourse or offer some apologetics lecture. Instead, Jesus says, “as I am, you, too can and must become. I will be here to help you. But you must do the work.”* 

Don’t get me wrong. Beliefs about Jesus are essential. However, what we hear in Jesus’ prayer for the disciples, and for us, is that what matters is not so much to believe the theological premises of Jesus but to share in Christ’s unity with God. We are to put on Christ as we live in this world. 
In four chapters we see Jesus the teacher; Jesus the servant; Jesus the Son; Jesus the pray-er; and Jesus, the lover. 

Now, what the world sees is up to us. 

Thanks be to God that Christ has sent us the Spirit to guide us, protect us, and gift us with love. 
So, what will you do? How will we be God’s presence in a hurting world? 

May you know God’s love for you runs deep within you. May you trust in Christ’s promise to be with us always, even until the end of time. And may you welcome the Spirit to move you beyond your fears so that we may make the love of God known throughout the world…

Not only with our words…

But with our lives as well!

*Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind: A New Perspective on Christ and His Message. Boston: Shambhala, 2008. 20-21.