Easter VII

Easter VII (John 17:1-11 “This is eternal life.”

Prayer is the window of the soul. Prayer reveals the inner most reality of the soul.

From time to time college students tell me they no longer believe in God. And, from time to time when they are facing an exam or a personal crisis they ask me to pray for them.

They share the attitude from an old song lyric that says: I swear there is no heaven but I pray there is no hell.

The Bible demonstrates for us how most people most of the time consider God to be an inconvenient truth. Most (perhaps all) people view God as the judge whose demands prevent us from having fun or experiencing pleasure. People also tend to view God as a kind of Santa Claus magic Jeannie who is obligated to give us what we want when we want it.

Moses and the prophets observe how people hold these two contradictory beliefs about God: the God of condemnation and the God of indulgence. Neither is true. Either will result in a person following the path of self- righteous pride or self- indulgent despair.

Jesus embodies for us the reality of who God is and who God has created us to be. In this passage of scripture Jesus embodies the reality of God and humanity through prayer.

Jesus’ first concern is the glory of God. The glory of God is the real presence of divine love at work in the universe, this planet, our species and in each of us as individuals. Is this your first concern in prayer?

According to Moses and the prophets, people who pray generally pray for things within four broad categories: power, prestige, pride and pleasure. Even when people invoke God’s glory we tend to do so tactically as a means to an end.

For Jesus, the glory of God is the active outpouring of the love of God to all people everywhere, For Jesus, the glory of God is preeminent. Jesus once said: seek ye first the kingdom of God. Jesus also teaches that the first and great commandment is to love God through all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. We can only do this through worship at the time and place God designed into the universe and wrote on stone for all people for all time.

The glory of God manifests in the hearts and minds and lives of the people of God as we follow Jesus to the altar of Real Presence on the day of real presence.

The glory of God is also humanity fully alive, as St. Irenaeus once said. Jesus came to bring us abundant life. He does this by offering us eternal life.

In his high priestly prayer, Jesus acknowledges that this is the meaning and purpose of the incarnation. The co-eternal Son came to earth to unite his divinity with our humanity. In that union Jesus makes it possible for us to reunify with God the Father, through God the Son, by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus clarifies that eternal life is not a reward for good deeds done. Neither is it a fundamental human right we can demand and claim. It is an organic and spiritual reunification Jesus offers all people everywhere as a gift.

Eternal life is not endless existence. Eternal life is also not some future state we must wait to experience. Eternal life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We can, if we choose, experience eternal life here and now at the altar of real presence in the sacrament of real presence.

What prevents us from receiving the gift of eternal life and the experience of eternal life here and now is pride. If you want to understand how pride blocks the gift of God then read the Bible, study the Bible, memorize the Bible. At the very least pay attention in church when the lay readers and sub deacons read the lessons from the Bible.

Jesus reveals his innermost being as he prays for the Glory of the Father to be made manifest in the abundance of the eternal life and infinite love the Father offers all people everywhere through the Son by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Do you believe this?

Do you value this?

Do you really want this?

Will you ask for this in prayer?

Jesus is the eternal love of the Triune God who offers himself to you and to everyone in the sacraments, the Bible and the community of Faith called the Church.

The operative principle that governs our lives in this universe of cause and effect is choice.The Holy Spirit is asking you to make a real choice today to pray with Jesus for the glory of the Father to fill your heart and soul and mind with eternal love.

This is eternal life.