Christ Praying for Us

Acts 1:15-17; 21-26; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:11b-19

The Bible tells us that Jesus is our mediator. This means that Jesus is the One through whom we are able to have access to God. As in the days when the Jewish people had priests who offered sacrifices for them on the altar of the Temple and prayed in their behalf to God, so Jesus now acts as our priest, praying to God, as it were, on our behalf.

One of the earliest examples of Jesus praying to God on behalf of his disciples is our gospel lesson for today. And, essentially, Jesus prayed two things for them: He prayed that they be protected from the evil one. And, secondly, he prayed that they be sanctified in the truth.

But, before I talk about these two petitions of Christ for his disciples, I would like to have us think about the significance of having someone praying for us. Indeed, as I have served as the pastor of various churches, I have always felt the most confident in my work, and the most empowered, when I knew that there were a number of persons in my congregation praying for me and for each other. For when you have such a group of persons praying for you, at least a couple of things happen. First, you have confidence that there are some persons who care about you enough to pray for you. And, secondly, you become the recipient of God's answers to those prayers. If someone is praying to God that I have wisdom then I should be the beneficiary of God's wisdom. If someone is praying for my safety, then I become the recipient of God's protection. If someone is praying for my success in conveying the gospel to someone then I become one who secures what I need to be God's faithful disciple. For there is power in prayer. Our prayers are not prayed in vain. God hears them and answers them through the work of his Son and our mediator Jesus Christ.

Have you ever had someone praying for you? I believe that, if anything, God hears the prayers mothers pray. There is the story of how the president of Princeton University, Dr. McCosh, had a custom of praying with the members of the senior class before he bade them farewell as they went out into the world. When he asked a certain young man to kneel and pray with him, the man responded that he didn't believe in God and did not believe in prayer. Hurt and astonished, the president simply shook hands with him and bade him farewell.

Some years afterward, Dr. McCosh was delivering a course of lectures in Cincinnati. Before going to the lecture hall he was sitting in the lobby of the hotel. A man came and sat down beside him. It was the student who didn't believe in God. He explained how, in spite of his unbelief, he had advanced to an important post in the schools of Cincinnati. And then he bragged about how, even though his mother was praying for his conversion, he was managing to convince others of the foolishness of faith.

A year or two later Dr. McCosh was in his study at Princeton when the same young man appeared with his wife. He said to Dr. McCosh: "You probably don't remember me, but I am the student who refused to let you pray with him. I thought that I was an unbeliever, and wherever I could I sowed the seeds of unbelief; but all the time -- all the time -- my mother was praying for me. Her prayers have won. So, I am here at Princeton to enter the theological seminary. But, before I go I want you to kneel down with me and offer that long-postponed prayer for me."

Indeed, a mother's prayers can sometimes make all the difference in a young person's life. For, indeed, a mother's prayers may be all the prayers a young person has going for him or her. I know that was true for me while I attended the university and attended Wesley Seminary and began my ministry. And sometimes, even today, I am reminded of the prayers my mother prayed for me.

A well known Christian once told how when he was a teenager his mother would never go to bed until he came home. Even if it were dawn -- he would creep up the stairs, but she would still have her light on and he knew she was praying for him.

After he was in bed she would come into his room. He would pretend to be asleep and would not answer her as she called his name softly again and again. In spite of her calling to him, he would not let her know he heard. Then she would stand there -- he could see her against the windowpane -- and pray audibly, "O God, save my boy."

Telling this story about himself many years later, as a respected Christian teacher, the man said, "I myself am quite sure that the prayers of a good mother never die."

Jesus prayed for his disciples. And he continues to pray for us as we pray to him. In our gospel lesson for today we read that Jesus prayed that his disciples may be protected from the evil one.

Certainly, this wasn't the only time Jesus prayed this for his disciples. When Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray, using the words that became known as the Lord's Prayer, he said, "Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil."

One of the religious afflictions of our time has been the over dramatization of evil to the point that society really doesn't have much of an idea of what evil really is. For instance, there have been movies out about exorcisms and witches and warlocks and evil spirits and hell. And several weeks ago there was even an exorcism performed on national television by a priest. Certainly, these are interesting stories that get the attention of the public, but perhaps, more than anything else, it confuses us about what evil really is.

Evil in its most dangerous form isn't the evil that causes someone to be possessed. It isn't the evil that surrounds the lives of witches and warlocks. It isn't the evil that comes out of a closet or a T.V. and grabs at you in your chair, as was seen on the movie, Poltergeist. And I can say this with some confidence, because these things very rarely happen, if they happen at all.

But, evil in its most dangerous form is the evil we, ourselves, do to one another and to ourselves. Evil is the parent who drinks too much and comes home and beats his/her children or spouse. Evil is the person who, in trying to make a fast buck, sells dope to kids. Evil is when we just get too busy to care for each other. Evil is when old persons sit in care centers without anyone visiting them. Evil is when communities don't care enough about their youth or their future to provide the necessary funds to pay for nothing but the best in educational programs and facilities. Evil is when a person would watch television rather than get involved with other persons. Evil is when people say, "I don't care." Evil is apathy. Evil is when someone charges a high price for an apartment, makes a profit, and lets the house deteriorate. Evil is when people go to work only for the money, caring little about vocation. Evil is when people ask, "What's in it for me?" Evil is when we stop praying for each other and start criticizing each other.

I think that's what Jesus was praying for when he asked God to protect his disciples from the evil one. He was praying for his disciples to lead a life of love, a life of caring, a life of service, a life of feeding the hungry, a life of healing, a life of reconciling, a life of creating. And Jesus continues that prayer for us, even today.

But, there is something else that Jesus wanted as he prayed for his disciples. He prayed, "Sanctify them with the truth. Your word is truth." In other words, he wanted his disciples to be made holy by knowing the word of God.

For us, knowing the word of God means reading the Bible. But, I believe that there is more to it than this. Indeed, I believe that there are many persons who read the Bible, but do not experience God's word as they do so. For God's word is not the words in the Bible. Rather, God's word is the meaning of what is read as revealed by the Holy Spirit. It is possible for a person to read the entire Bible but to never be touched by God's word. It happens all the time. It even happens to me.

But the beautiful thing about it is that after the reading of the Bible, even days or weeks later, God's Spirit can come and touch us in such a way that God's word is revealed to us through those words of scripture. And when that happens we experience the holiness and sanctity of God.

The Bible is, thus, a marvelous tool that God's Spirit uses, time and time again, to reveal the word of God to us. And, yes, that is one of the main reasons for reading the scripture. But, more, that is one of the most important reasons to pray about what we have read, as well.

But, certainly, God's word can come to us in other way, as well. God's word may be revealed through a father, or by a friend, or by a teacher, or through art, or through music, or by a mother.	Back in the late 1800's there was a man who became a famous speaker and writer for a newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia. For many years he was honored, eulogized, and recognized by persons all over the nation.

One day he closed his desk at the newspaper office and, telling his associates that he was not sure when he would be back, he disappeared. No one saw him or heard of him for a month. He had gone to the Georgia farm where his mother still lived. When she met him at the door, he said, "Mother, I have come back to spend some time with you. I have been losing my ideals out in the world where I am living. I am forgetting the things I learned here in the old home, and God is getting away from me. I have come back to you, Mother, to live for a little while." The famous orator was a boy again with his mother, the two wandering together over the fields, talking, praying, singing together. Then he went back to the city, refreshed and strengthened, ready to face the temptations of life.

Certainly, God's word can come to us in many ways. But, are we in the right place to listen? Are we too busy? Too preoccupied? Too involved with other things? As Jesus sent his disciples out into the world, so has he sent us. But, let us go prepared, as Jesus said, "sanctified by the truth, sanctified by the word of God." Amen.