χαρις is given

Have you ever wanted something really bad? Have you ever wanted something so much that you did not think you could live without it? Have you ever wanted something but not had the resources to get it? Or how about at Christmas or your birthday, have you made a list and checked about a billion times to make sure that everything you want is on there, and then you would go to everyone you know, and maybe a few people you did not know, to tell them your birthday was coming and here is a lit of items that they could get for you. These are the things you just can not live without. The things you have to have, and of course we are not let down when the gifts finally come in. We are built up with expectation and know that we will get just what we asked for, right?
Life is a gift. It is not always the gift we wanted, or the gift we expected. We might have asked for a really cool pair of jeans, oversized, low riders, with flames on the pockets, and everything that would make us be cool, and be a part of the in crowd. But instead we get a pair of sensible Khakis. Life is like this. Our time in this world is full of things we wish would never happen, with times we wish we did not have to go through, and things that happen out of no where. Life has a way of throwing us curve balls, and be what we did not expect, but still life is a gift. And all of life is not bad, there are a lot of times we get exactly what we want, and we can know that we are loved even in the bad times.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus gives us 3 gifts. The first gift Jesus gives us is eternal life. In verse 3 Jesus says and this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus. What does it mean to know God, and Jesus? We can read the bible, and know about God and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can help us know God, but what does it mean to “know”? The word for know in Hebrew and also in Greek, has a connotation of intimacy. There is an intimate relationship here. So how do we know God? We know God like we know pain. Most of us can speak about physical pain from an intimate standpoint. We know what pain is, not because we have read about it, we know what pain is, because we have experienced it. Be that from surgery, or breaking a bone, scraping a knee, slamming a finger in a door, these are things we have experienced. This is a knowledge that is not intellectual, but it is personal. We have had a relationship with pain. We know pain, and we can know God, through a personal relationship, and this is eternal life, which is given to us, by God, through Jesus, as it says in verse 2 since you have given the son authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. The second gift that Jesus gives us is the word. Jesus is able to give us the word, because the father has given the word to him. Everything that Jesus gives to us is first given to him from the father. Everything is given to Jesus, specifically in our passage: people, authority, the work, everything, the word, and God’s name. It is by his receiving these things he is able to pass them along to us. He is in a way the middle man, and this is one middle man you do not want to go around. He allows the grace and love of God to be showered over us, he is the restorer of the relationship that is broken by sin, and allows us to “know” God, and be known by God. Jesus is the one who brings us into relationship with the father, through is brokerage of the gifts given to him to give to those whom are given to him. Jesus emulates his relationship with the father, who gives everything to him, by being the giving agent for the community of faith. He even asks for us to be one with the father, as Jesus and the father are one. There is one interesting phrase in all of this discussion of the gift of the word. It actually comes up four times in our gospel lesson in various ways. To all whom you have given him. Jesus is able to give the gift of eternal life and the word to those whom God has given him. We are a gift to Jesus. We are the gift given to him by the father. Our lives are a treasure that has been given to Jesus, so that his work and mission which is the fathers might be continued, through us, the agents of Jesus who has given us what has been given to him, so that we might continue to give it to others. If we can equate this with something all of us will know about, choosing teams. God has chosen us to be on Jesus’ team. God puts us on Jesus’ team. God must think that we are valuable assets for Jesus’ team. However we must be one, as Jesus and the father are one, so there is no one of greater value than anyone else, and the other team is really hurting, because it seems there maybe no one on it. So we are a gift to Jesus, and can see that all things come from God, through Jesus, just as our faith is a gift, based in the faithfulness of Christ to go to the cross, and give us eternal life, and the gift of the intimate knowledge of God in the relationship he secured for us there. God gives us to Jesus, because we were God’s and he can give us to Jesus, and in turn Jesus gives us the gifts of eternal life and the word, which are only two of the three gifts I said Jesus gives us.
The gifts of eternal life and the word are mentioned in our text, but the third gift, is one that our text is. This gospel reading is part of what is called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. In this prayer he prays for himself, his disciples, and for all those who are yet to believe. In our reading for today we see Jesus praying for himself, and the beginning or the section on the disciples. The disciples in this section are all those who believe, including you and I. This can be argued of course that it is only the 12 whom Jesus picked, but that is not what is important here, because you see the third gift Jesus gives us, is the fact that he prayed for us. He prayed for you and for me. He went before the father and brought up your name. The power of pray is a wonderful gift. Jesus prayed for us. This means, first of all, that we are all in need of prayer. We can’t do it by ourselves. Secondly, we are guaranteed help from God. How could God refuse the Son’s requests? However, we may not always want God’s help that Jesus has asked for. We may want to be part of the world, rather than hated by the world. We may not want to be sent into the world where God would have us go. We may not want the unity that becomes our witness to the world. Do we want Jesus praying for us? If so, we need to listen carefully to what he has requested from God. We need to prepare ourselves for God to answer. Prayer will get us an answer maybe not one we want, just like the gift of life. I remember a time when Krista and I prayed for something near and dear to our hearts. We had wanted this for sometime, and it was just not working out on our own. Then one night she asked me if I had ever prayed for this gift to be given, and I had not, and neither had she. So that night we prayed, and grace was given. It may not always be the gift we thought we were asking for, but God’s grace is shining on all of us, in the wonderful gifts of eternal life, the word of God, and Jesus intercession or prayer for us all.
χάρις is given. Accept this gift of grace with the abundant joy with which it is given, be constantly devoting yourselves to prayer, and know that the God of all grace, who has summoned you to his eternal glory in Jesus Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you, as you are his witness to each other and to all the world. χάρις is given. So let your light so shine, that others will see God, and be touched by his grace.
Amen.