Seventh Sunday of Easter

Seventh Sunday of Easter (B)

The Baptism of Paul Gerhardt Grahn

May 12, 2024

Text: John 17:11b-19

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            What petitions, what kinds of things do you pray for a child (or an adult for that matter) who has just been baptized?  What should we pray for little Paul Gerhardt?  And what petitions, what kinds of things do you pray for a catechumen, a confirmand, like Elsa, as she prepares to make her good confession of Christ next Sunday, and receive for the first time His saving body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar? 

            It seems to me we can’t do much better than the petitions Jesus prays for His disciples in our Holy Gospel, in what we call His “High Priestly Prayer.”  What does He pray?  First of all, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:11; ESV).  That is a prayer that our Father in heaven would keep the dear child in his or her Baptism.  Baptism is where we receive God’s Name, the Name given to, and revealed in, Jesus Christ the Son.  And what is that Name?  It is the Triune Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  “Keep them in Your Name,” that is, “keep them as Your Christians, Your children, keep them in the one true faith.  That they may be one, even as we are one,” that is, “keep them united to the holy Church, in communion with one another, even as through Holy Baptism You have brought them into the unity of the Holy Trinity.”  High stuff, that. 

            And now, the rest of the petitions flow from that.  “Keep them in Your Name.  Keep them in the Church.  Keep them as Your faithful Christians.”  Which is to say, “Guard them, lest they be lost, like that ‘son of destruction’ (that is, of course, Judas).  Fulfill my joy in in them (the joy of Christ, which is not that illusive happiness that so many wish for themselves and their children, whatever that is supposed to be, free from all pain and sorrow, but the deep joy of the Crucified, who is risen, a joy that permeates and perseveres in pain and sorrow, and redeems that pain and sorrow in light of the resurrection).  Keep them in Your Word.  In spite of the temptations and hatred of the world.  In fact, don’t take them out of the world, but grant that they proclaim Your Word in the world, and themselves be salt and light in the world.  Keep them for the sake of the world.  And keep them from the evil one.  From his temptations.  From his accusations.  From his murderous lies.  ‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth’” (v. 17).  “Sanctify,” “consecrate,” they are from the same Greek word, “to set apart as holy,” being the idea.  Jesus says He consecrates Himself, sets Himself apart as holy, namely, by His sacrificial death for sinners, so that they, His Christians, you, may be sanctified, set apart as holy, in truth, which is to say, in His Word.  He sets His Christians, His Church, you, apart as holy, for the purpose of sending you into the world to confess Him.  And here, particularly, He sends His Apostles for this purpose, and the preachers who follow in their train.  So you might say, Jesus’ prayer is that the Father keep His Christians in the apostolic faith, under pastoral care. 

            Those are pretty good things for us to pray for little Paul, and for Elsa, and for all the children of our Church, and for one another, and for all our brothers and sisters in Christ.  The prayer of Jesus informs the prayer of the Church.  Indeed, our prayer, for ourselves and for others, flows from Jesus’ prayer for us.  In fact, when you look through these petitions from the High Priestly Prayer, what are they but riffs on the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer?  Especially the first three petitions, that God’s Name be hallowed, His Kingdom come, His will be done.  And the last two, that we not be led into temptation, but that we be delivered from the evil one.  All addressed, not to some far distant deity, but to our Father.  “Holy Father, keep them,” Jesus prays.  All Christian prayer is bound up in the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.  That is a wonderful catechetical exercise you can undertake as part of your devotional life, your prayer life, and as you teach your children.  How do the things I’m asking for in prayer fit into the Lord’s Prayer?  Because, if they fit into the Lord’s Prayer, I know these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven.  He wants to hear them, and He will answer. 

            And what is His answer to Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, to the Lord’s Prayer?...  “Yes.”  What else could the Father possibly say to His own Son’s prayers?  “Yes.”  And so, to our prayers, too, prayed in Jesus’ Name.  But “Yes” in a way that is so much bigger than our petitions.  “Yes” in a way beyond our ability to comprehend, and so, “Yes” in a way that often appears to our finite, fallen minds as “No.”  But understand, it is as Paul writes to the Corinthians, “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:19-20).

            Christ is God’s Yes.  And that is not just a nice sounding phrase (though it is very nice… very Lutheran-y, isn’t it?).  Think how the Father does the keeping of us in His Name (our Baptism, the faith), and in the unity of His Church.  He does it by the very voice of Jesus in His Word.  And the bodily presence of Jesus in His Supper.  Jesus prays for us, that the Father keep us, and the Father answers (“Yes”) by giving us Jesus.  Not just spiritually.  Not just in our hearts.  Audibly.  And bodily.  As present for and with you in Word and Sacrament, as you are present here with Him.  In fact, if you can imagine it, He is present more so, and more fully, than you are.  Because our glorified and ascended Lord fills all things

            Okay, but that’s not all… The Spirit is God’s Yes.  Next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, and our Holy Gospel this afternoon is pregnant with the Spirit.  As we are baptized into God’s Name, as we are kept and sanctified by His Word, as we receive Jesus in the Supper, what… or better, who… is the dynamic power accomplishing that?  The Spirit. The Spirit who inspired the Holy Scriptures and speaks to us in them.  The Spirit poured out on the Apostles that first Pentecost.  The Spirit poured out on us in our Baptism.  Because He is the Spirit who descended upon Jesus at His Baptism, and who abides with Him, and we are baptized into Jesus.  Where Jesus is, there is the Spirit of the Father, proceeding from Father and Son.  Here is Jesus, audibly and bodily present with us, still breathing His Spirit upon us and into us, the Lord and Giver of life (as we confess Him), breathing life into us, that we live in the very life of the risen Lord Jesus. 

            That’s how our Father answers when you pray for the newly baptized, the confirmands, and all your fellow Christians.  His answer is Christ.  His answer is the Spirit. 

            Now, this prayer is the privilege and responsibility of the whole Church of God, and of every Christian individually.  But it is the special privilege and responsibility of baptismal sponsors (or Godparents, as we often call them) who swear before God and His Church that they will do this very thing.  A number of you serve as Godparents in this congregation, and even if you don’t, you may someday, or you may have occasion to select Godparents for your own children, so, I’d like to say a word or two about this.

            It used to be that the Godparents were those to whom you entrusted the custody and raising of your children, should you die before they are grown.  There is undoubtedly great wisdom in that, because you want to entrust your children to people who share your confession of faith, and will raise them accordingly.  But, be that as it may, that isn’t what Godparents swear to during the baptismal rite, as you heard it today.  What do they promise?  First, that they will pray for their Godchildren faithfully (and I would suggest, even daily).  Sarah and I are up to 8 Godchildren (if I’m counting right), and that is something we take very seriously.  Pray for your Godchildren by name.  And look for Godparents who will do that for your children.  Second, Godparents swear that they will remind their Godchildren of the blessings of their Baptism, constantly encouraging them in repentance and faith.  You do that by your words, true, but also by your Christian example.  Your faithful attendance at Church and Bible Study, your love for Christ, your love for others.  Here, too, baptismal anniversary cards are a good idea, or even just random reminders, “Hey, remember, you are God’s own child, baptized into Christ.  Never forget that.  I was there.  I saw it.”  And third, they swear that they will make every effort to see that their Godchild is brought up in the Christian faith, catechized, and faithfully attending the Divine Service.  Place the Scriptures in the hands of your Godchild, and speak God’s Word into their ears.  Make sure they have a Catechism, and use it, and that when the time comes, they attend Catechism class.  There are some great resources for this at CPH, by the way.  May I recommend just two, especially for young kids: The Lutheran Story Bible, a beautifully illustrated volume with simplified, but Bible text, based on the ESV translation.  And then, a little set of books called Follow and Do, based on the six chief parts of the Catechism.  It’s really an illustrated Small Catechism.

            Now, I want to remind you all that, on several occasions, the congregation, as a whole, has answered as Godparents, so really, what I’m telling you applies to everyone here: Pray for the children of the Church.  Pray for all your fellow Christians of all ages.  As the Body of Christ, pray Christ’s prayer.  Speak God’s Word.  Remind.  Encourage.  Help our children to be here in worship.  Sunday School.  Catechism Class.  Pray.  God hears, and He answers.  He keeps us in His Name.  Christ.  The Holy Spirit.  God’s “Yes.” 

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.