“Jesus’ Prayer For You”

May 16, 2010

(6th Sunday after Easter)

John 17:20-26

I want to tell you a story about one of the most powerful and effective Christians that Patti and I have had
the pleasure of knowing. If you met her, there would have been nothing outwardly that would give you
the impression that Blossom Thrash was anything other than an ordinary, small woman and later, bent
with age, she appeared to be even smaller. She was humble and unassuming, the only clue you would
have at your first meeting was her beautiful smile and the warm of her spirit. Patti knew Blossom for far
longer than I did, probably from the time Patti was first invited to church, but when I met her, Blossom
had already lost her husband and was struggling to guide a rebellious child through early adulthood. Her
daughter had taken a road far from where her parents had walked and seemed to be regularly involved
with drugs and in a lifestyle with which she knew her parents and her church would never approve.
During my youth and early adulthood, I watched Blossom and I watched how she reacted to this difficult
situation. Blossom’s faith never wavered. I am certain that Blossom shed many tears over her daughter
but it was also apparent that all along, she was praying.

Our church at the time had (and still has) a practice of opening the front of the church for persons with
significant prayer needs to come forward and to pray at the altar. During these times of prayer, often
times those persons would be joined by the pastor or, as the needs were great, by members of a trained
prayer team. In some cases, friends, family and other members of the church would come forward and lay
hands on those who were in prayer. As the years passed it became apparent to everyone that Blossom was
a woman who was well acquainted with God. Although she was never loud and seldom spoke out in
meetings, it was clear to us that Blossom was a woman of deep faith and commitment to the cause of Jesus
Christ. As a result, although Blossom didn’t usually say much, what she said was taken very seriously.

As Patti and I graduated from college and eventually began a relationship with one another, Blossom was
among those who were there to share our joy and to bless us and, we knew, to pray for us. As we started a
family and went through a variety of struggles, it was Blossom who would join us when we went to the
altar to pray (at least until she became too frail and fragile) and she was among the very few with whom
we would share private concerns and whom we would seek out to ask for prayer. For me, it seemed as if
once I knew that Blossom was praying, my own fears and worries were remarkably lessened. Of course I
knew that God hears every prayer but it seemed to me that adding Blossom’s prayers to mine would do no
harm. Blossom had spent so many years in prayer that she and Jesus seemed to have a deep and intimate
relationship that had been planted in her youth and had a strength that was forged into iron through the
fires of struggle and pain of her life. If Blossom were praying, I knew that even when we were too
worried, or too busy or too distracted to pray, God would hear our prayers from the lips of his dear and
intimate friend as she hammered on the gates of heaven on our behalf.

I regard Blossom Thrash as one of the heroes on my journey of faith and from her I learned a great deal
about faith, hope and courage. I hope that, at some point, every Christian might have a prayer warrior like
Blossom in their lives. The good news contained in today’s scripture lesson is that an even greater prayer
warrior is on our side and is lifting us up before the throne of God.

After the last supper Jesus and the disciples discussed many things and we have read about several of
them these last few weeks. In John 17, Jesus prays, first for himself, then for the disciples that were
gathered in the room with him and finally for all believers, everywhere. Hear these words from John
17:20-26…
1
20
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that
the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may
be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world
know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have
given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved
me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know
you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make
you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Before we even begin to analyze this passage, the first thing that we need to remember is that Jesus, the
Son of God and a member of the Trinity, himself fully God, cared enough to pray for you and for me.
Jesus takes the time to pray for all those who would hear the Good News and believe. In doing so, Jesus
prays that we would not be divided but united. Jesus prays that we would not only be in unity with one
another but also with him and with his Father in heaven. What’s more, Jesus identifies for us the reason
that he desires our unity. Jesus prays that we would be united in Christ and that God would be in us, and
in unity with us, so that the world would believe that God really did send his son Jesus. Twice, Jesus says
this. First that we might be in unity together “so that the world may believe” and second, that we might be
brought to complete unity so that the world would know that God had sent his son and that God loves
them as much as he loves his son.

Next, Jesus tells God that he wants the people that God has given to him, the people of this world, to be
with him in heaven. Jesus explains that he has been sent to the earth to make God known and that he will
continue to make God known to all of humanity so that God’s love might be in us and that Jesus himself
might enter into us.

Let’s review what we’ve found so far. Jesus desires for us to be united, to be joined in spirit with one
another, with him and with God. The purpose of our unity is to reveal the love of God to the world. Jesus
wants all of humanity to be with him in heaven. Jesus’ mission on earth was to make God known to the
world and he promises to continue that work so that the love that God has for his son Jesus might be found
in every person and that Jesus might be found in the hearts of the people of the world.

Jesus desires for us to find a place of unity through him and many of us probably knew that, but in this
passage we should see something that we often seem to miss. In his prayer for us, Jesus prays that we
would find unity because our unity is pivotal to his ministry. Here, Jesus does not say that it is our faith
or our good works that show the world that the love of God is real or that the stories of Jesus are true.
Instead, Jesus reveals that the love of God is demonstrated to be real through our unity with one another
and through our unity with him. I think that if we consider this prayer of Jesus seriously it can, and indeed
must, forever change the way that we think of our personal relationships in our church and with Christians
everywhere. If we take this seriously, and I believe we are intended to do so, we must believe that every
time that we gossip about a brother in Christ we turn people away from the Kingdom of God. Every time
that we speak destructively and divisively about our church or about church politics we do damage not
only to our church, but also to our witness in the community. Every time that we speak hurtfully about
brothers and sisters in Christ who belong to another denomination we hide the truth of Jesus from an
unbeliever. Every time that we denigrate Christian brothers and sisters in other nations or of other races
we hide the glory of Jesus Christ from the world, do harm to the mission and purpose of Jesus and in fact,
work against the will of God.

Jesus said that God’s love for the world would be revealed through our unity and through our love for one
another. Jesus said that humanity would believe that God had sent him to rescue them through our unity.

2
If we believe that, and if we take it even a little bit seriously, then we need to give serious thought to how
we relate to one another. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that we won’t disagree from time to
time and it doesn’t mean that our interpretations of certain scriptures won’t differ from one another. It
certainly doesn’t mean that Christians in one part of the world won’t have significant cultural differences
or that we won’t find a thousand other ways in which we will be different from one another. What it does
mean, is that we need to do a better job at identifying, and pulling together toward, those things that are
critical to the mission of Jesus Christ and, at the same time, granting grace toward others in those things
on which we disagree. As servants of Christ, I am certain that none of us ever want to be found working
against the will and the purpose of Jesus. The good news is that Jesus didn’t want that either and it was so
important to him that one of his last prayers on earth was that we would live in unity and peace with one
another.

Blossom Thrash was a small but amazing woman of faith. Her prayers for my family and for the people
our church were undoubtedly powerful and effective and I believe that her life of prayer was one of the
reasons that she was so well loved by so many people. Blossom’s times of prayer caused her to draw
closer to Jesus and in doing so she found a place of unity with both Jesus and with the people around her.
I have no doubt that Blossom Thrash sometimes disagreed with some of the people in the church or with
some of the decisions that were made in the church but no such disagreement ever caused her to become
disagreeable.

As we follow the example of Jesus Christ it is important that we remember the things that he found to be
important. High on that list we will always find prayer and Christian unity. As we journey onward in our
Christian life, we are called to follow the example of Jesus and I believe that in doing so, it is of great
importance to follow his example in prayer. Let us pray for one another as Jesus prayed for us. Let us
pray that we would to be joined in spirit with one another, with him and with God. Let us pray for unity
and that our unity would reveal the love of God to the world. Let us pray that the love that God has for his
son Jesus might be found in every person and that Jesus might be invited into the hearts of all the people
of the world.

We might not always agree, but we must not allow our disagreements to make us disagreeable. Instead
our disagreements must reveal the grace that we show toward one another and the unity that we have
found in Jesus Christ. Maybe we’re not quite there yet, but if not, let’s keep praying for ourselves, and for
one another until we are there.

It’s important.

It’s so important, that this is the prayer that Jesus prayed for you.

3

You have been reading a message presented at Johnsville Grace and Steam Corners United Methodist Churches on the date
noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of the Johnsville Parish. Duplication of this message is a
part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and
donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Johnsville Grace UMC or Steam
Corners UMC at P.O. Box 205, Shauck, Ohio 43349. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of
membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by
contacting us at subscribe@johnsvillegrace.org. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on
Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John
Partridge and audio podcasts at http://www.sermoncloud.com/ (type the church name in the search box)
All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.