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Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:6-19 Acts 1:15-17; 21-end

Teresa of Avila has said:

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

This quote came to mind when I read the prayer that Jesus prayed, for his disciples, and for his followers of all time, even for us, as part of His Body, the Church. You might wonder why Jesus went to all the trouble of prayer, when he was going to save his friends anyway by going to the cross. Surely, in one fell swoop, God could have made everything right there and then? It’s the question that is often asked about prayer: why, if God knows what’s going to happen, do we need to pray? Does it make any difference at all? Well, I’d say a very loud ‘YES!’ I know it for sure, because I’ve seen it. Prayer does make a difference: a situation placed into God’s hands is safer there than anywhere else – and a person who prays is a person who stays. Prayer doesn’t always get the answer that is asked for, or the answer comes a long time afterwards. But prayer does something for the person who prays no matter what the answer may be: the person who is drawn closer to God in prayer will find that he or she is changed in the process. Let me explain a little bit more:

You may agree with me, that if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you will probably never find it. I have sometimes changed my prayers mid-course, because I became aware of a change, either in me and my own priorities, or in the situation itself. Prayer is not just offering up a shopping list. Rather, it is a way to anchor oneself, to adjust to God’s leading hand, but it’s also a re-aligning or re-directing of ones priorities, so that they will fall in step with God’s plan. Jesus spent a lot of time doing that: he’d often go to a quiet place all by himself, early in the morning, for example, simply to pray. If he needed that, then surely we do even more! So he prays, and the prayer that’s recorded in John’s Gospel is very specifically for continued protection and guidance for his followers once he’s gone from the earth. We find an example of the way this worked in Acts 1, when Peter leads the group into prayer for a new disciple, to take Judas’ place. Prayer, followed by action in faith, delivered result, and Matthias was chosen to join the eleven apostles. When Jesus prays for his followers, he makes a specific reference to the world, how it hates him as well as them and how they need to be protected from being drawn in and falling prey to its tricks and traps. Yes, in Jesus, they will be kept in the loving care of the Father, and he has already done all he can for their souls. What he is praying for now is that the Father will complete in them what Jesus has already begun. The outcome is pretty awesome: indeed, we, as the Body of Christ on earth, as his hands and his feet, his eyes and his ears, are called to ‘look compassion on the world’ in all its needs. Our hands and feet are to declare God’s word to all who don’t yet know it; to speak his love, to touch with his healing of body, mind and soul. How do we do that? Through prayer as a start, as a beginning of a new wave through the community, and as a continued approach to make Christ known. The Church didn’t stop with the Twelve Apostles. They prayed, laboured, and gave witness to Christ Jesus with all their might. And others after them did the same. That’s why there’s a Teresa of Avila, that’s why there’s me and you, and the Church of this day. So, what does that tell us about the future?

Let us pray:

O God of power, glory and might, the One and Only Sovereign, who has given us life through your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, change our hearts and help us to reflect your loving care in the way we speak and act your living word to all. Teach us anew to pray as you wish. That the whole world may see your glory. Asking it in Jesus’ name. Amen.