Prayer of Vision and Protection

 

 

John 17:1-19

 

Last Sunday night we had a visitor in our home. He was our neighbor Armen, who is almost five years old. He enjoys playing with Azad.

Then he came out of the room and was having ice cream. He is a very cleaver boy. He enjoys math and is already doing 2nd grade math. While we were talking, I asked him: “How is your life?”

He asked me: “What does Life mean?”

I said: “Well, we get up, we wash, we have breakfast, we go to school, we come back, we do home work, we prepare to go to sleep. we sleep. Next day again, the same thing…” He listened to me, I think he did not like this conversation very much. He changed the topic: “Do you know how to whistle?”

 

What is life? What is the meaning of life? Is it worth to live this life? Is it worth to die in order that others may live? (Memorial Day)

King David jeopardized his soldiers’ life for just a cup of water. Is it worth it? He quickly realized what he had done and turned to God and offered himself to God. (Armenian Sermon I Chron. 11:15-19).

 

Let me tell you a real life story. It is about a Jewish family in Germany. The father was a merchant, and the family practiced the Jewish faith. Once they moved to another German city. The boy was surprised that his father started to take the family to a Lutheran church.

He asked his father why he doing so. He got the answer that, by going to this church they will make new friends and that is good for business.

 

I wonder how this boy felt. I wonder he asked this question: What is life? Why are we living?

This boy who had deep interest in religion became very disillusioned by his situation.

This young boy became an adult and moved to England. He became a writer. His name is Karl Marx. He became the father of Communism. For him religion is “the opiate of the masses.” What a pity, what a waste!

 

What is life according to our passage?

Today’s question is very important. We were talking about heroes of war and how important it is to remember the ones who sacrificed for the country.

How about the soldiers who returned home alive yet suffered from lifelong injuries and emotional problems? Some went into depression.  Suddenly their life is empty. They cannot find a meaning in life. It happened after Vietnam and Korean Wars. It happened after Desert Storm.

 

What is the meaning of life? It is a philosophical question, and everyone can ask this question. I took a course by the title the HUMAN QUEST FOR MEANING. … Even little Armen my neighbor asked me and will keep asking as he grows up.

 

Jesus deals with this question too. He answers it not by giving a sermon.

Not by arguing about it with his disciples. No, he answers this by praying.

Scholars call this prayer: High Priestly Prayer.

The timing of this prayer is very important. The disciples and Jesus have just finished the Passover meal. Jesus knows that he is coming to the end of his earthly mission. He knows that when he leaves his disciples they will be lost.

Therefore He is praying for protection and vision.

 

Jesus prays for his disciples who will face the world after he leaves them.  The disciples experienced the Ascension of Jesus and remembered this prayer. Therefore, this prayer is also for us as we are in the world. We, as the disciples of Jesus, are also a part of this prayer of protection and vision.

 

Jesus said: “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” (11-12)

 

Jesus knows that he will be leaving this world and he knows how easily we would be lost. He is asking God’s protection for us.

Brothers and sisters, this is just a wonderful prayer: Prayer of assurance how Jesus is interested in us. Not just salvation, but to live a life of faith and to be sanctified daily. Maybe we should pray his prayer daily. Daily we need to be protected in this unreliable world.

An author described her son who did not want to go to school. All day he was either playing or resting.

He had to go to school. One morning he goes to take the school bus. He comes back to his mother after a while. He says: “I quit school.” His mother asks: “why?”

He says: “It’s too long, it’s too hard, and it’s too boring.”

Mother says: “Son, you have just described life.”

 

I disagree with them. Unfortunately, for many this is life: LONG, HARD AND BORING.

(Unfortunately, many do not come to church, because it is too long, it is hard and it is boring.)

We try to escape life by going to the bottle! Others go to gambling. Others go to different challenges that are so temporary, which can take them to despair.

Jesus is concerned: “Father protect them by the power of your name.”

There is power in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you felt the protection of God in your life? I have felt it many times. In my driving, in my war life, in my family, in the Churches that I served. And the list goes on.

 

Then Jesus continues in his prayer to pray not only for his disciples but for the ones who will receive this Good News. He says:

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (20-21)

 

We come to the main question again. What is meaning of life according to this prayer?

 

Jesus said: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (3)

 

25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."(25-26)

 

Jesus prays not just only for protection but also to know him. He knows that the world does not know him, and will fight against him. Jesus is clear. He made himself available so we will know him, and there is continues tense.

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known. (25)

The process will not finish. This is our vision. This should be the vision of any church. This is my personal vision in my life. This is why I live: to know Him and make Him known.

I have a friend who lost her husband a day after their daughter was born. She wrote me the following email: “I asked God why He took my husband Peter? Then I changed the question. ‘Why did you leave me and our daughter here?’ And the answer is: I want to live to know God and to make Him known.”

 

And I believe God has protected and kept me so that I continue to know Him and make Him known.

 

And the test of this mission is in Love. “…in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."(26)

It is the same theme like last week’s. We are his friend in order we bear fruit: Joy and Love.

 

Let us review today’s message:

David learned that he needs to be careful in his orders. He came to God and brought HIMSELF and his offering.

Jesus prayed for our protection. He wanted us to live a meaningful life with purpose and vision.

Jesus prayed for your protection and vision. Have you accepted God’s vision of your life?  To know Him and make Him known…