Easter 7 John 17:20-26 Know Jesus

Acts 1:12-26 Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20 John 17:20-26

In our gospel lesson, we get to listen to Jesus as He prays to His Father. Judas will soon betray Him with a kiss. The Lord is about to be handed over to the authorities. He will surrender to them without a struggle. He is willingly going to die for the sins of the world.

Sin has divided the people.  People quarrel and fight, steal and rob, and sickness, disease and poverty affect many. Jerusalem is governed by Rome and soldiers are there to keep the peace.  Sin has also separated mankind from God. The world does not know God and most people refuse to believe that Jesus has come to set the world free from sin.  Yet, in spite of unbelief and hatred, Jesus is about to restore our connection with the Father. His death for our sin will unite God’s people.

The greatest glory He can give is to die for the sins of all people. And in return, those who know Jesus for who He truly is will glorify Him. Jesus knows that many in the world will not understand that. But the world will see what Jesus has done to those who know Him.

But what does it mean to know Jesus unto salvation? Our Lord spent three years teaching the disciples and they knew Him and what He taught well enough to believe that He was the Messiah. Nevertheless, despite the fact that Judas heard the same word as the other disciples, Judas did not know Jesus as His Savior.  So we see that there is more to knowing Jesus than head knowledge.

To know Jesus unto salvtion, the Holy Spirit must open up your heart to believe. Saint Paul calls this knowledge that leads to salvation ‘a righteousness that comes from God.’ In Philippians he states, “I consider (all things) rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11)

Through the work of Jesus on the cross you are now reconciled to God; nothing stands between God and you. Once you were an enemy of God, but now Jesus has brought you into God’s family. Once you were separated from God and headed for hell, but now Jesus has united you with your Father, and you are headed toward heaven. When you know Jesus in this way, and truly believe it in your heart you have that righteousness that gives you salvation.  That knowledge of who God is has been revealed to you by Jesus Christ who has reunited us to the Father so that we are one.

This oneness is forged by God. Just as God the Father is one with his Son, Jesus, we are made one with the Father and the Son when we believe in the Son. We are part of his body, inseparable from him. We cannot create this oneness. God comes to us in Christ through His word. He opens our hearts to know Him and establishes His covenant with us through the Holy Spirit. We are to acknowledge our triune God for His work, thank Him for it, and reflect upon this oneness in our lives.

Knowing what sin does in our lives and that our sins separate us from God should cause us to hate sin and evil. Moreover, knowing that Jesus has suffered and died to pay for our sins should cause us to hate sin even more. Yet at the same time knowing that Jesus has paid the price for our sin should cause us to love Jesus for what He has done. We carry out that love in worship and in our every day lives by doing what God has commanded us to do.

Bear in mind what Jesus asked in His prayer, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one.”  Before He died, Jesus prayed for you because you are one who believes through the witness of the disciples. He prays that all who hear the Word through those who believe in Him may be one.

Jesus recognizes the unity he has with the Father. He wants us to share in that relationship. If we are to be one with God, we will also be one with one another. Notice the steps of his prayer. First Jesus prays for the disciples that are present with Him that they may be one in their faith and knowledge of who He truly is. He prays for all who will believe through the disciples one message.

Therefore Jesus prays that the world will see the unity His believers have in Him and in one another, so that many more in the world will believe.

When we see the disunity of His message even among those who call themselves Christians, we cannot help but wonder if Our Lord’s prayer will ever be answered.  The truth is it will not come about in this life, not only because of sin, but also because just as an infinite, triune God is beyond our understanding, His word will not be understood in its entirety in this life.

Therefore it is incumbent on us to continue to study His word, to wrestle with His written word so as to understand it more fully. Jesus’ prayer will be fulfilled on the last day when the believers will be in perfect accord with the thoughts of God. Saint John state in our Epistle lesson, “They will see His face and His Name will be on their foreheads.) (Revelation 22:4) On that day we will no longer desire to sin.  Indeed, we will find sin repulsive. We will be completely one in Christ and in God. That day will be one of happiness and amazement for all believers in Christ.

The second characteristic is that all Christians are to be one with each other. Again, Jesus stresses this in His prayer when He says, “May they be brought to complete unity” (John 17:23). All who believe in Jesus as their Savior are members of the one body of Christ, and are attached to each other.

Paul put it this way, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:3–6)

We make this effort through diligent study of His word as found in scripture. Heart knowledge saves us through faith in Jesus Christ.  Head knowledge strengthens us and allows us to speak His word to those around us more accurately and therefore more effectively.

When we look around at the world today, we see that the lack of knowledge of scripture has led many people astray in faith and in their lives.  People hungry for what the world has to offer are quickly being led down wrong paths which direct them away from the world to come. Rather than becoming one with God, many continue to live apart from Him and His word. Jesus has told us that He is the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father without knowing Jesus as their Savior. Jesus prays that we proclaim that message to all people throughout the world.

So we continue in the tradition of the Apostles, witnessing the gospel; the same gospel that the Apostles’ taught, neither adding nor subtracting from God’s word.  We still baptize for the remission of sins and celebrate the Lord’s Supper according to God’s word.  We still receive His forgiveness though confession and absolution to the glory of God the Father through the work of the son and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. We are truly blessed by God.

 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22:14) John wrote those words as a comfort to you. Because you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you are united with Him now and forever. In Jesus Name, Amen.