John 17
Fodder
So, Trinitarian mission.
If, when attempting a conversation involving the uncharted waters of the
Trinity we are to avoid any mention of food or arithmetic, what are we (humble
laymen and women that we are) to talk about?
How about with the words of Jesus himself, the perfect image of God
(Colossians 1:15)? We’ll use John 17,
seeing as I’m still feelin’ fresh from last weeks Bible Study.
John 17 is the last chapter in an epic four chapter-long
Jesus throw-down message. These four
chapters (14-17) are epic for two reasons: 1) because of what Jesus is saying
and 2) because of when he is saying them.
1)
Jesus is spelling out for his core group of
disciples what things will be like and who they will be after he conquers the
world and returns to the Father. Though
the world will indeed be conquered by what He’s about to do (16:33) it will
also be hell-bent on persecuting any and all who follow in His footsteps
(15:18-16:4). Following Jesus means
obeying his commands (14:21), and his command to them is to love one another
(15:17).
2)
Jesus says all this during what he calls “the
hour” (12:23). Judas, the devil, and
some soldiers are literally on their way to arrest Jesus during these four
chapters (14:30), giving a profound sense of urgency to the whole scene. These are truly Jesus’ last words to His
followers.
The entirety of chapter 17 consists of Jesus praying a prayer,
which brings together and fills out themes and ideas from the previous three
chapters. Instead of focusing on the
entire chapter I’d like to highlight select portions, combined together and
shown below.
17 After Jesus said this, he looked
toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son,
that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over
all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now
this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing
the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your
presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to
me through them. 11 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.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even
as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is
truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the
world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
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. 22 I have given
them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — 23 I
in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the
world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I
am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me
before the creation of the world.
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.”
I’d like to begin by
highlighting the end of verse 11: “may they be one as we are one”. Verses like this are responsible for the
death of thousands of trees and octopus to supply the paper and ink needed for
the thousands of books and articles devoted to the verse’s unpacking.
Let us unpack a little.
Firstly, it should be noted
that the thrust or underlying motive for these words of Jesus is
missional. That is, Jesus isn’t telling
the disciples how they are to live and love for
their own sake, but for the sake of the world that He means to redeem. He commands them to love one another and even
seems to make this command central to his entire programme, but not simply to form
a private community hidden from the eyes of outsiders. The opposite is true. His prayer is not for them to be out of the
world but to be in it, guided and protected by the providence of God (v. 15).
The church does not exist for her own
sake. God’s plan for the church extends
beyond a private me-and-Jesus relationship.
He means for us to exist, to be little Christ’s, in the world. That the
church loses her identity when she loses her missional existence is true on the
corporate and individual levels.
Second, we must be sure to
understand Jesus’ definition of love. Jesus’
love, like his peace, is not of this world (14:27). The greatest love of all, says Jesus, is
exemplified when someone lays down his life for his friends (15:13). True love is sacrificial.
For the average American
Christian this definition of love, if not totally trite, at least feels very
normal. We have heard it a thousand
times. But we shouldn’t forget the scandal
it is. Friedrich Nietzsche, an infamous
German philosopher, described Christianity as “the one great curse, the one
enormous and innermost perversion… the one immortal blemish of mankind”, and
said this precisely because of the
way Jesus defined the word “love”. In a
world where power is worshipped, Jesus’ words and actions can aptly be
described as Nietzsche has done.
To further the scandal, Jesus
does not merely say that this love is for humans alone, or that the love
available to us is less because of our creaturely status. No, Jesus roots this love in the Triune God
himself. He claims this love
characterizes who God has been for eternity.
Literally, in 17:24, Jesus claims the Father has loved the son this way
“before the foundation of the world”.
And here is some fodder for
our Trinitarian understanding and subsequent conversations. There it is, in Scripture, in “plain
language” (16:29). “Triune God” means
“God who is Love”. “Triune God” means
“God who is Community”.
And we, little Christ’s filled
with the Spirit of this Triune God, can practice this love and community right
now.
In fact, we are commanded to
in the name of Jesus. The degree to
which we practice this love, by the power of the Holy Spirit, while being in the world, is the degree to which we
are a part of the holy, universal church.
Trinitarian Mission: loving one
another with the love of the God who is Three, in full view of the eyes of the
world, so that the world may know who Jesus is (17:21).
This is the mission of the
church.
No comments:
Post a Comment