Easter 7 Series B

Easter 7  Series B 

(16 May 2021 - Series B 

Acts 1:12–26

1 John 5:9–15

John 17:11b–19

Our Great High Priest Preserves Us in the Name of His Father

On the eve of His Passion, Christ Jesus intercedes for the disciples as their merciful and great High Priest. He prays that His Father would protect them “from the evil one” and preserve them in His name (John 17:11–12, 15). Along with His prayer, Christ Himself comes to the Father by His self-sacrifice upon the cross, thereby consecrating Himself for the sake of His disciples, “that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John 17:19). To that same end, He speaks to them in the world and gives them His Father’s Word, that is, Himself. His apostles, in turn, have written these things “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). For “this life is in his Son,” whom He has given by His Word, and “whoever has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11–12). By this apostolic testimony, disciples are gathered together “with one accord,” as one Body in Christ, “devoting themselves to prayer” and waiting upon the Lord in “the upper room” of His Church on earth (Acts 1:13–14).

Easter 7

John 17:11b-19

O King of glory, Lord of hosts, uplifted in triumph far above the heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth whom You promised from the Father, 

11 καὶ οὐκέτι εἰμὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἰσίν, κἀγὼ πρὸς σὲ ἔρχομαι. πάτερ ἅγιε, τήρησον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς.

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  

12 ὅτε ἤμην μετ’ αὐτῶν ἐγὼ ἐτήρουν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ᾧ δέδωκάς μοι, καὶ ἐφύλαξα, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπώλετο εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ. 

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  

13 νῦν δὲ πρὸς σὲ ἔρχομαι, καὶ ταῦτα λαλῶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἵνα ἔχωσιν τὴν χαρὰν τὴν ἐμὴν πεπληρωμένην ἐν ἑαυτοῖς. 

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 

14 ἐγὼ δέδωκα αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον σου, καὶ ὁ κόσμος ἐμίσησεν αὐτούς, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου καθὼς ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου. 

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  

15 οὐκ ἐρωτῶ ἵνα ἄρῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἀλλ’ ἵνα τηρήσῃς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ. 

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 

16 ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου οὐκ εἰσὶν καθὼς ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

17 ἁγίασον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ• ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθειά ἐστιν.

  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

18 καθὼς ἐμὲ ἀπέστειλας εἰς τὸν κόσμον, κἀγὼ ἀπέστειλα αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν κόσμον• 

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 

19 καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἐγὼ ἁγιάζω ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα ὦσιν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἡγιασμένοι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. 

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

:11 Spiritual unity of the Church. even as Gk kathose, "just as" Whereas the Father, Son and Spirit are one in being [Dt.6:4]  Christians enjoy only a similar unity. Ancient and modern false teachers have badly muddled Jesus' words by overlooking this and arguing that the Father and Son have a unity only of will and works, not of being. Beware such false doctrine! 

:12 Judas see 6:70; 13:27 God remains in control. God brings about good from evil despite people's bad intentions. 

:15 God calls Christians to bvew witnesses to the world which they cannot be if they are no long in the world. 

:19 ἁγιάζω  "consecrate" or "sanctify"  Jesus set Himself apart to do the saving work for which the Father sent Him.

-The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software

-ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

-Schnorr Von Carolsfeld woodcuts, ‘The Resurrection of our Lord’© WELS permission granted for personal and congregational use

-LCMS Lectionary notes © 2018 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis

-Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis