Psalm 1 (New Jerusalem Bible)

John 17: 6-19 (Common English Bible)

The reading from John’s gospel is part of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples. He is preparing them for his death, resurrection and ascension. Jesus knows that his disciples will be rejected by the world as he was. In this passage he hands over his mission to the disciples and all believers who came after them. The disciples have spent three years in training. Now is the time for them to pass the final test and go into the world.

Jesus’ farewell address should be our farewell address to the world. When we die to ourselves, we die to our old way of thinking. We can look at the world in an entirely new way. Instead of Us vs.Them, we orientate our thinking to what we can do to help the least of these, those who hunger and those who are being oppressed by power structures controlling them.

Jesus’ request was an expansive one. It was made on behalf of his disciples. But his thoughts travel throughout history. The world Jesus lived in existed through group identity and unity within that group. We are to be a united group that does God’s work in our world. We are to be united in our homes, our relationships and our church bodies. In spite of the lack of unity we have today, we as believers are not to withdraw from the world. We must be aware of what is going on in the world and be a positive influence for justice. Hearts must be opened to the real needs of people, wherever they live. We do this by putting aside our differences and working together with the same action that Jesus showed us.

The present world we live in is captive to a spirit that is alien to God’s spirit. It is governed by a sense of imagined scarcity instead of its abundance for all, there is fear of the new instead of courage to coexist with change and there is selfishness instead of sacrificial love. Jesus encouraged his followers not to embrace the world’s values of prestige, power and wealth. Just because we exist in this world does not mean to embrace the typical standards of this world. Jesus offered an alternative egalitarian vision of the world as the true Kindom of God. 

Even though Jesus is not with us physically, he is still with us through the Holy Spirit. We are not to dwell in feelings of despair or abandonment, because the Spirit of Christ is always with us and we belong to Christ. Because we belong to Christ, we become holy in following the truth that Christ taught. If we have an unfounded fear that causes us to withdraw from the hard issues, the living church will recede into the dark. This fear can be overcome by baring our souls to our Lord and Maker and being silent so we can hear God’s response within our hearts. If we are transformed by God’s spirit, we will shine a bright holy light in the midst of darkness.

The disciples belonged to God and so do we. The origin of discipleship is obedience to God through Christ. Christ is the living Word as it was written in the opening chapter of John’s gospel.

As long as we try our best to determine what God wants us to do in our lives, Christ will be with us. Even though we live in a chaotic mixed up world, we must remember that God’s love and our own call to love takes priority. The kind of Christian faith that buries itself in a secluded place is not what Jesus wanted. Jesus wanted his followers to be holy activists by spreading the Good News.

Holiness is often interpreted as avoiding “bad things,” but a deeper meaning is the term “sanctified.” That is to be set apart by God to be a blessing to the entire world. Jesus prayed for his holy community to awaken humankind of God’s creation and how humans have abused each other and nature itself. And this abuse still continues with the continued clear-cutting of trees that leaves forests no better than a desert, prone to accelerated flooding.

The reading from the first Psalm compares a blessed person to a healthy tree. As it says in verse three, “Such a one is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither, and every project succeeds.”

We can see why this person who meditates on God’s word is called blessed. The person is compared to a tree planted beside streams of water. The “water”in this reading is a symbol of the holy scriptures. In the Middle East, the idea of planting near abundant supplies of water was and is very impressive, because of the widespread dryness of the land. Just as streams of water supply the tree with nourishment and moisture, so do the scriptures supply us with spiritual nourishment. When supplied with steady streams of the word of life, our own lives will produce a growing faith and good works. And I recommend the Upper Room as an excellent daily devotional.

The Psalmist chose trees to symbolize moral beauty, commitment to God’s teaching, health and positive living. Trees are part of God’s nature to represent the many qualities that God desires humans to follow.

The first disciples can be compared to those watered trees. They were watered by the Word in flesh not only by what they learned, but what they saw. The disciples experienced death being broken and the Word resurrected with the promise of the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in power for all to see. About that, we will hear more during Pentecost Sunday next week.

AMEN