06012022 – John 17. 20-26
It’s all about “the RELATIONSHIP,” I tell you.
It NEEDS to be “MUTUAL.”
It needs to be HEARTFELT.
It’s kind of like a “covenant.”
Especially in the Hebrew “biblical sense” of its meaning, it seems like everything is based on “the idea” of a COVENANT in the Hebrew Bible.
A covenant being “a binding agreement between two parties.”
It is “a promise.”
“IF” the covenant WERE to be broken.
It would be “US” doing the breaking.
NOT GOD!
NEVER GOD.
God is ALWAYS TRUE to his WORD.
Remember the “good old days,” when you gave YOUR WORD?
And your WORD was more than sufficient?
Your WORD was enough?
Your WORD was good!
Remember the HANDSHAKE?
“Many-an-agreement” were sealed with the shaking of hands.
Again, you were giving YOUR WORD.
You were PROMISING to uphold your end of the bargain, no matter what!
And your WORD meant something!
You would NEVER go back on your WORD.
Your WORD was everything.
In some cases, it was the ONLY THING YOU had.
Your WORD and your HANDSHAKE, had to be enough, IF, it was ALL that you had to offer.
So, a covenant is a “contractual agreement,” a “pact,” a “treaty,” a “deal,” an “understanding,” an “arrangement.”
Kind of like “a marriage contract.”
I tell you, “it is relational.”
That’s what is being hinted at HERE in the scriptures.
Perhaps a little bit “cryptic,” a little “ambiguous,” “obscure,” and “vague.”
IT IS – what our Gospel text today is all about.
Its about “THE RELATIONSHIP.”
Some scriptural references for you:
“Anyone UNITED to the Lord becomes ONE SPIRIT with him.” — I Corinthians 6:17
“He has given us… his precious and very great promises, so that through them you… may become PARTICIPANTS of the divine nature” — II Peter 1:4
“IN HIM we live and move and have OUR BEING.” — Acts 17:28
And as far as – us all being “ONE with God” —Jesus himself seems to be saying as much in the Gospel of John:
“I ask not only on behalf of THESE, but also on behalf of THOSE who will believe in me through their word, that THEY may all be ONE. As you, Father, 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.” — John 17:20-21
“UNITED,” “PARTICIPANTS in the Divine nature,” “IN him,” “may they also be IN us.” (Unity-oneness)
The language here is NOT “as mystical” as it might appear. It is all about the RELATIONSHIP with the Father and the Son…and with the Holy Spirit.
Love, by its very nature, is RELATIONAL.
This is to be “a love relationship.”
A forever commitment.
Eternal.
On-going.
Never ending.
A life-long commitment.
A deep and personal commitment.
The reason why God is a Trinity is because there are “three essential elements of love”: the lover, the beloved, and the love that flows between them.
It is all about “THE relationship.”
It is an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP.
It is between YOU and YOUR GOD.
Chances are good that you have never told “another human” being about WHAT that relationship is really LIKE for you– or – what it truly means for you.
Describing it, is very personal.
And anything but easy.
It is private.
We do not talk about it.
It is between God and myself.
My MAKER and me.
My husband doesn’t know, my wife doesn’t know…the depths, the intensity.
It is MY RELATIONSHIP.
HERE in John’s Gospel, Jesus is talking about “THAT RELATIONSHIP.”
All that talk about, “you are IN me and I am IN you, may they also be IN us,” is about THE RELATIONSHIP!
And Jesus in John, is praying that we are in it, for the long haul. That it means something to us. That it means EVERYTHING TO US. That this relationship is ABOVE our greatest joy, our greatest good.
Jesus is praying for that relationship. I pray yours is a forever kind of relationship. I pray it is so. Amen.