FROM & IN THE WORLD, YET NOT BELONGING TO IT
7th Sunday of Easter — May 16, 2021 - Psalm 1; John 17:6-19
Pastor Ritva H Williams
What makes you happy? What helps you move forward, develop and grow? Are the things that make you happy the same things that help you develop and grow?
Our first scripture reading this morning begins with the word happy. It presents what may seem for many of you a strange picture of what could or should make a person happy: finding delight in studying and meditating on the law of the Lord day and night. How many of you thought of Bible study when I asked what makes you happy? How many of you thought of Bible study when I asked what helps you develop and grow? I must confess that Bible study does both for me.
Here’s the thing: the actual Hebrew word translated as “happy” literally means to move forward, to develop and grow. Bible study is intended to make us happy, but rather to help us develop and grow. God yearns for us to be like trees planted by streams of water, producing fruit in due season, prospering in all we do. The alternative is be like chaff, the unusable outer husks separated from grain during winnowing. Chaff has so little substance the wind just blows it away. Bible study is intended to help us separate out the chaff in our lives.
We meet Jesus this morning as he is praying for his disciples, not only those who are gathered with him in that upper room, but for all future followers as well. Jesus is praying for you and me. Although he uses different words his message is very much like that of the psalmist.
Now I’ve read this passage many times, and preached on it at least 3-4 times. What really struck me this week was Jesus’ repeated use of the phrase “the world.” He says it thirteen times in fourteen verses. That’s really a lot. It must be important. Jesus says:
God gave him people from the world (verse 6)
Jesus is not praying on behalf of the world (verse 9)
Jesus is no longer in the world, but the disciples are still in the world (verse 11)
Jesus speaks these things in the world (verse 13)
the world hates the disciples because they don’t belong to the world, just as Jesus doesn’t belong to the world (verse 14)
Jesus is not asking God to take the disciples out of the world (verse 15)
the disciples don’t belong to the world just as Jesus doesn’t belong to the world(verse 16).
As God sent Jesus into the world, Jesus now sends his disciples into the world (verse 18).
What does Jesus means by “the world”? Is he talking about our planet, the Earth? Like in the songs “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” or “This is my Father’s world”? Probably not.
In Genesis we read that God created humans in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), that God created earthlings from the earth (Genesis 2:7). On Ash Wednesday we are marked with a cross of ashes and reminded that we are dust and to dust we will return. We are quite literally created from the same material as everything else on this planet. We are kin with the grass and the trees, the birds, the fish, and all the animals. We are from the earth, we belong to the earth, we live on the earth, and at the end of our lives, our bodies return to the earth from which they were created. As Professor Claudio Carvalhaes writes, humans are not separate from the planet. Rather humans and the earth are an extension of each other (1).
When Jesus talks about “the world” in this passage, he is not thinking of the planet Earth, but of the plural worlds of human beings, the structures and systems that organize our lives. The worlds of politics, science, work, school, the church, the family, sports, art, and more. Everyone one of us lives in overlapping worlds. We are from the earth, but we are also from these humanly constructed worlds. We are molded and shaped by them, we participate in them, we can influence and reform them. Yet we do not belong entirely to any one of these humanly constructed worlds. Jesus sends us, intentionally and deliberately, into these worlds for a purpose, with a mission and a message.
In his prayer, Jesus asks God, twice, to sanctify the disciples in the truth, adding that God’s word is truth (verses 18-19). Sanctify is a churchy Bible word that means to make holy. Now some people think that being made holy is all about saints and halos, being pious and pure, righteous and reverent, a religious goody-two-shoes, or even worse, a holier-than-thou judger. An additional issue is that in some religious circles, to be holy is defined as separating oneself from other people, religions or groups. But is that what Jesus is really asking God to do to us?
Here’s something to think about: the Greek word holos is the origin of our English word whole (w-h-o-l-e). It means entire, complete, undamaged, perfect, healthy, healed. Holistic describes medical practices that take into account physical, mental, spiritual, and social factors in treating patients. Whole, holistic, and holy are related words. To be holy is to be holistically whole. For individuals, holiness is wholeness and well-being in body, mind, soul and spirit. Communities manifest holistic wholeness as justice and equity, safety and security, well-being and flourishing for all their members. Professor Claudio Carvalhaes describes being made holy as becoming who we really are — sacred people living in sacred places with all forms of sacred life … Reclaiming our [holiness] in God means to become one with God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, earth and God’s people (which are all people)(2).
What does this have to do with Jesus’ mission? How do we connect being made holy with truth, God’s word, and the worlds which we are from and in, yet do not belong to?
God sent Christ into the world to show the world how to undo structures of patriarchy, racism, white supremacy, division, hatred, and violence created by wickedness and sin. Christ sends us into the world to continue this work by connecting with others and share Christ’s love with whomever we can, wherever we can, and whenever we can (3).
Pastor John van de Laar’s prayer “Jesus in Disguise” expresses clearly what it means for God to sanctify us in truth:
It’s a tough thing for us to learn, Jesus, how you hide in the most unlikely places;
how you beckon us into life and compassion by disguising yourself in broken humanity.
But, when our eyes are opened, we discover that we are never far from your heart, from your kingdom.
And so we ask you to show yourself to us again, and lead us into prayerful action;
Help us to share your grief when lives are needlessly lost simply because they have no money
for food or shelter, because they have no access to medicine and care,
because they have no choice but to live where war and violence constantly threaten;
Help us to feel your offense when the least are exploited by the lust of those who are physically stronger,
by the greed of those who are financially richer, by the disregard of those who are politically more powerful.
Help us to know your pain when what you have created is destroyed by the carelessness of expediency,
by the short-sightedness of progress at all costs, by the sense of entitlement of proud humanity.
Teach us to welcome you, Jesus, by welcoming those in whom your image is hidden,
and by working, in our small worlds, to make visible your kingdom where all are welcomed.
Amen.
1. Claudio Carvalhaes, “Commentary on John 17:6-19,” May 16, 2021. www.workingpreacher.org
2. Ibid.
3. John van de Laar, “16 May 2021” Lectionary Resources, www.sacredise.com
