Sunday, May 4, 2008 - John 17:1-11

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

In our Gospel lesson this morning, we heard Jesus words that have come to be known as “Our Lord’s high-priestly prayer.” You may be interested to know that it was a 16th Century Lutheran theologian named David Chytraeus who first called this the high-priestly prayer.

And you might think, since last Thursday was the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord, that these words were spoken just before Christ ascended and returned to His Father in heaven. They would have been fitting. But these words are spoken in the presence of the disciples in the upper room following the celebration of Holy Communion.

Jesus has “accomplished the work” He came to do -- He has established the new covenant, and as the letter to the Hebrews states, “with the establishment of the new covenant, the old one becomes obsolete.” But before the old covenant could be made obsolete, the old covenant had to be fulfilled. And the old covenant called for a lamb to be sacrificed by the high priest to make atonement for the sins of all the people.

Under the old covenant, this was done repeatedly throughout the years because the blood of sheep only pointed toward Christ’s one, final sacrifice. On their own, the blood of animals could not appease the wrath of God or cleanse the people of their sin.

There had to be one perfect sacrifice made by the high priest. In the upper room that night, when Jesus establishes the new covenant, the priesthood of Aaron comes to a close. Back on Mt. Sinai, God established Moses’ brother Aaron and his sons as the priests who would minister at the altar of the Lord. In the upper room, Jesus establishes himself as our new high priest.

He was preparing to offer the final sacrifice. But this final sacrifice would not be any animal offered by the people. This final sacrifice would be of no cost to any man, woman, or child other than Christ Himself who was prepared to pay the ultimate price for all the sins of the world -- none of which He ever committed.

So after Jesus has communed with His disciples and established this new and better covenant -- as the new high priest, He must do what are the duties of the high priest. First, He offers a prayer of consecration. Before a sacrifice is offered, it must be consecrated before God, that is, it is to be set apart as something sacred and holy. The priest would say a prayer of consecration.

Jesus says, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you.” He offers His prayer of consecration in view of the impending sacrifice on the cross. Also, this prayer assumes that this sacrifice will be presented before and accepted by our Father in heaven.

What we have here is the prototype for Christ’s intercession for His people in the future. He is our High Priest. He consecrated the sacrifice for the sins of the people. He offered the sacrifice for the sins of the people -- His own flesh and blood. And now, He sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding (speaking to our Father) on our behalf. That is what a priest is called to do.

And it is a perpetual, a continual intercession. Just as Christ’s prayer of consecration assumes that the sacrifice will be made and accepted by the Father, so also, Christ says of our prayers offered to the Father through His name, in Matthew chapter 6 He says, “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” [Mt. 6:8].

St. Bernard said (not the dog, but the man for whom the dog was named), he said that there are two kinds of prayers. There are prayers for which God will surely grant what you have asked and there are prayers where what has been asked for has not been beneficial.” (LW 30:323-324).

God knows that our needs and our wants are not always compatable. But He also tells us to pray without ceasing because He is always listening.

Our high priest is always at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. It is perpetual. It is continual. God always has you in mind. There is never a time when God is not concerned about what is happening in your life. He is always listening and, as Jesus said, He knows what you need even before you ask it.

Our great high priest consecrated Himself, set Himself apart as the final Lamb for the sacrifice on the altar of the cross. And as we heard in our Gospel lesson last week, Christ is in us, therefore we too have been set apart and made holy. He says in His prayer, “I am glorified in them,” that is, in you He is glorified.

And now as God’s holy, faithful people, through the intercession of our great high priest, we may offer prayers to our Father who knows our every need. He knows what is beneficial for you. He is always concerned about what is happening in your life. He is always listening. And He is always leading and guiding you on the path He has chosen for you -- bringing you where you are today and leading you to a blessed end when He will take you from this valley of sorrows to Himself in heaven.

As Paul says in our reading from First Peter, “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace . . . will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” in His kingdom for all eternity. “To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

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