Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26;
1 John 4: 11-16;
John 17: 11-19;
Today's Gospel, sometimes called "the farewell discourse" takes us back to the Last Supper, where Jesus is preparing to leave His disciples. The prayer which He prays is known as His priestly, royal prayer, and it's the most solemn prayer of the N.T. Within a few short hours, He will be arrested, leaving His fragile friends on their own. How will they cope? As He prays aloud, He prays that His words will instil confidence into them, the confidence to remain in the world, without being of the world (worldly!) without being won over by the world's standards.
There is, in the prayer, a genuine concern by Jesus for His disciples, and a real sense that He wants to protect them. From what? He's sending them into the world, not as passive observers, but active missionaries, to share His message. And the world isn't all that different now from what it was then: we may have more technology, we may be able to skype, text or email people on the other side of the world within seconds, but there's no less violence, fear or lack of trust now than there was then. Probably even more.
He knew that life for His disciples wouldn't be easy - they'd be persecuted and suffer. So He prays that His followers would remain faithful, whatever difficulties they have to face. He prays for them to have integrity, always seeking to follow the truth and remaining united with one another, so that together, and in union with Him, they won't succumb to the evils of the world. It's His "handover" message - so long as they keep faithful, the Holy Spirit will transform them into great leaders, and brave missionaries.
When we think of the changes which we inevitably face in our lives, there's a temptation to try to control everything, to plan it out and make sure that there's as little risk as possible in the future. Of course it would be irresponsible if we didn't do some planning (sitting a driving test without booking a car; moving house without ordering a van, doing no study for an exam) but Jesus wants to teach us that there's another element in coping with change and responsibility: trusting God and praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we do that, we can be reassured that whatever decisions we make, or however much it feels as though life isn't going according to plan, we're not alone, and we have the best guidance from the best teacher in the world.