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June 5, 2011 1 Peter 4:12-14 John 17:1-11 Glorifying GodDr. Ted H. Sandberg

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come;glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people,to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you,

the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.Since the beginning of Chapter 13 here in Johns Gospel, Jesus has been sharing with the discipleswhat scholars call his Farewell Discourse. This discourse is meant to ensure that the disciples dontthink that this is the end. Jesus wants them to know that even though hell be crucified, he will liveon, and even more, theyll not be left alone. God will give them the Paraclete, the Comforter, the HolySpirit.

With chapter 17, Jesus begins whats known as his high priestly prayer, a prayer that asks God to grantJesus hopes for his disciples. Essentially, Jesus acts here as a high priest, making intercession to Godon humanitys behalf. While the image isnt exact, the title highlights Jesus offering to God theconcerns of a community faced with remaining in the world after his departure. 1 While shaped hereas his prayer, Jesus meant for his disciples and arguably for us two millennia later to overhear his

petitions. Hours from the crucifixion, Jesus focuses precisely on what matters most from his entireministry. This desire to communicate one last time what is at the center of ones life and hopes is anenduring human experience. A colleague in ministry tells the story of a young mother dying of cancer in a hospital who finds purpose and energy from the opportunity to construct a videotaped message for her preschool daughters, so that when theyre older they can listen to what she most hopes will guidetheir lives. Its very important to her to make sure her daughters receive her motherly care and love,even though she wont be alive to speak to them in person. 2

Whats central among Jesus concerns? What would you say was the most important thing that Jesus

wanted his disciples, which includes us living 2000 years later, what would you say Jesus wants us toremember? I believe that for Jesus, the culmination of his work is that we know God through his lifeand ministry. Jesus final hopes arent a celebration of himself, but the recognition that his life andministry are windows into Gods love and saving purposes. So Jesus prays that people will come toknow God through him. Knowing describes a powerful, active, confessional, and intimatelyrelational claim on our lives. Knowing God is an experience that draws believers into a new reality inwhich the new order that will be shaped eternally by Gods vision for love and justice and service canalso be realized in relationships and communities now. Knowing God will be evident in our obedience

1. Adams, Richard Manly Jr. John 17:1-11: Exegetical Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preachingthe Revised Common Lectionary Year A, Volume 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara BrownTaylor, general editors, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 2010, p. 539.

2. Ramsay, Nancy J., John 17:1-11: Pastoral Perspective, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the RevisedCommon Lectionary Year A, Volume 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, generaleditors, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 2010, p. 538.

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to love, the singular commandment of this Gospel. 3 Love God. Love others. Love self.

This sounds familiar, I suspect, the same message youve heard over and over in church throughoutyour life. Love God and love one another because God is love is preached everywhere by everyone.Yet this message that God is love doesnt always seem to be well understood.

I read a book this last week by Rev. Rob Bell entitled, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and

the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.4

As you can perhaps tell from the title, the book is aboutwho he believes gets into heaven and who goes to hell. Bell makes the case in the book, that becauseGod is love, God doesnt want anyone to go to hell, and if God doesnt want anyone to go to hell howcan mere humans win that fight against God? Many, of course, argue that this is a universalisttheology and universalism has been denied by Christians from the beginning of the Christian church.Only those who accept Jesus Christ will go to heaven. While Bell agrees in theory with this, he

broadens that kind of statement rather than making it exclusive. I found myself pretty much inagreement with Bells argument because Bells argument is based upon the love of God.

I share this with you because I believe we Christians too often preach about a God of love, but wedont necessarily believe God is love which is Jesus central message to us. If were to be one with

Christ, one with God, if were to love God, its important for us to know the God whom were seekingto love.

This is how Bell puts it:

Bell writes, This story Jesus tells about the man with two sons (what we call the story of the ProdigalSon), has everything to do with our story (our lives). Millions of people in our world were told thatGod so loved the world, that God sent his Son to save the world, and that if they accept and believe inJesus, then theyll be able to have a relationship with God. [Just what Jesus is saying here in JohnsGospel.]

Bell writes, Beautiful.

Then he goes on, But theres more. Millions have been taught that if they dont believe, if they dontaccept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the gospel does, and they were hit by acar and died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever, in conscioustorment in hell. God would, in essence, become fundamentally a different being to them in thatmoment of death, a different being to them f orever . A loving heavenly father who will go toextraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel,mean, vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony.

If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities. If there was an actualhuman dad who was that volatile, we would contact child protection services immediately.

If God can switch gears like that, switch entire modes of being that quickly, that raises a thousand

3. Ramsay, p. 538, 540.

4. Bell, Robert H. Jr., Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, HarperOne, New York, 2011.

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questions about whether a being like this could ever be trusted, let alone be good. Loving onemoment, vicious the next. Kind and compassionate, only to become cruel and relentless in the blink of an eye. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die? That kind of God, Bellsuggests, is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We cant bear it. No one can.

Bell then says, And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: theydont love God. They cant, because the God theyve been presented with and taught about cant beloved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.Sometimes the reason people have a problem accepting the gospel is that they sense that the Godlurking behind Jesus isnt safe, loving, or good. It doesnt make sense, it cant be reconciled, and sothey say no. They dont want anything to do with Jesus, because they dont want anything to do withGod. 5

Dont misunderstand. Im not saying that we arent free to accept or reject God because we are. Wecan say no to God if we so desire. But I believe that God doesnt give up just because a person saysno today, because God loves us more than we can know or understand. God is love, and love is arelationship. This relationship is one of joy, and it cant be contained. . . Jesus invites us into

[relationship with God], the one at the center of the universe. He insists that hes one with God, thatwe can be one with him, and that life is a generous abundant reality. 6

This is what gathering at the Lords Table is all about remembering that were one in Christ Jesus,remembering that God loves us so much that nothing we can do can separate us from the love of God.Paul writes: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able toseparate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 7

We gather here, were inv it ed here, to eat and drink of these symbols of how much God loves us andnot just us but eve ryo ne . The more we love one another, the more God is glorified, the more God is

praised, the more God is honored. May we glorify God by loving one another.

5. Bell, pp. 171-179.

6. Bell, p. 178.

7. Romans 8:38-39.