The Coveted Golden Head Scratcher

John 17:6-19

”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 

But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

THAT Gospel lesson has won “Most Convoluted” Gospel lesson for 2000 years running!  It has also won the “Clear as Mud” award, the “Huh, What?” medal, the “It’s All Greek to Me” trophy, AND the coveted Golden Head Scratcher!  Now, there actually IS something great inside that twisted tangle of words that Jesus just prayed there, but honestly what hit me first when I read this giant gospel word salad, was how much THAT lesson SOUNDS... just like I'm feeling right now as I climb out of this pandemic.  Jesus sounds like a giant, jumbled, confusing, anxious mess and THAT is EXACTLY how I feel!  

I know I’m not alone either.  When I talk to Kelly, she tells me that she too is seeing her crew members at JetBlue, as they return to work and flying schedules begin to ramp up, show up disoriented, confused, jumbled and anxious.  I hear that same thing from people here in Sheffield and online across the country.  I think a lot of us… maybe even ALL of us, have been caught off guard.  Who would have thought the END of the pandemic would be so hard? Should we all have seen this coming?  Maybe?  Change is hard.  Even when it's good.  But look at Jesus, who in John’s Gospel is portrayed as knowing every detail of God’s plan for him from before the beginning of the universe.  Even HE seems to be spinning as he prays while he walks toward the change from life to death to resurrection. 

Because of that, I think one of the BIG take-homes from this lesson, even before we try to untangle Jesus’ puzzle prayer, is that what we are all encountering now, as we emerge from the pandemic, is indeed a GIGANTIC change!  We are bound, simply by our humanity, to be anxious, confused, jumbled, and perpetually exhausted in this midst of something this huge!  None of us imagined our first trip back to the Big-Y could ever be so stressful!  And yet it sure enough is!  No-one anticipated that just sitting in a restaurant again would produce so much anxiety!  But it sure enough does!  Like Jesus was back then, I think the people of our entire world right now, in one way or another, are living through a giant, confused, jumbled, clear as mud, head scratching time in history!  Just like Jesus was back then, we're all doing this crisis the best way we can right now.  So let’s be gentle with ourselves and with our neighbors as we all walk through this jumbled, anxious, confusing time.  And if that’s all you can take in from today’s lesson, then you’ve done well and I’ll excuse you from the rest of the sermon. 

However, if you still have a bit of emotional energy left, I’ll share with you my untangled version of Jesus’ prayer that we read today.  It goes like this:   

Hello God, this is Jesus.  You gave me the gift of these amazing people so I could tell them in person what you wanted them to know.  They’ve now embraced that message and that is simply amazing!  Amazing for me, for them, and for You too!  

While I was here I protected them from a world that is all too often more interested in wielding crushing power, than in your message of abundant life through loving one another.  Now that I’m heading home, would you please continue to take care of them as they continue to live in a world that sees love, kindness, generosity, grace, mercy, and compassion as weaknesses rather than the world transforming power You and I know they are?  

This world can get pretty hate-y toward people who live their lives in a loving way and refuse to buy into the winner-take-all way the world has fallen into.  So hold them tightly as they live out your truth, using Your power of love to continue to change the world.  Love is the truth I told them.  That’s the truth they’re now telling others.  It is beautiful and holy work for sure, but it’s also really hard, so please God, hang in there with them.  Always.  Amen.

Even though this prayer came out of Jesus’ mouth as a jumbled, tortured, word puree, once you untangle it, it has deeply woven into it, that core message of God’s gift of unchangeable love.  With everything swirling around him, so much so that his words came out in this mess… he seems to have still held onto God’s transformational love… he still held onto God’s promise to always be with us… he still held onto the truth that love is mightier than hate and life is stronger than death.   

Believe me… I'm feeling all THIS too these days!  EVERYTHING is harder.  Everything is exhausting.  But I take some comfort knowing that Jesus himself had these times as well AND was still was able to hold onto God’s core of love!  We too have that same strength to hold onto God's core of love.  Together we are the Body of Christ.  So together we have the power to walk through the jumbled, exhausting, days that still lie ahead.  Together we can hold onto that same, solid core of God’s infinite love even in these head spinning times and be confident through it all, that God is with us.  Amen.