7th Sunday After Easter C, May 23, 2004
Text: John 17:20-26
 
The Fellowship of the Love-Message (John 17:20)
 
Last Friday morning many of us heard a familiar voice on the CBC 
morning show entitled “Children of the Dragon.” It was my wife Tingyu being 
interviewed on the topic of why so many Chinese immigrants are showing 
up in churches throughout Toronto. Most of them, like Tingyu, came here 
as atheists, not even believing that there is a God. Why are they 
turning to Christ? Last Friday our ESL Bible study had nearly 50 
participants. For some it was their first time. New people keep coming because 
their friends invite them. Why do they come? Some are eager to practice 
their English, to meet new friends or simply out of curiosity. 
 
But I believe there may be another reason why many keep coming. It has 
something to do with the quality of fellowship they experience. Here 
they find a fellowship that is shaped by the Gospel, the message of God’s 
love. Here they experience something that gives them hope and refreshes 
them. Here they find godly fellowship, a fellowship “made in heaven” 
(pardon the pun) and fellowship is an important part of people’s lives. 
 
In our Gospel we hear Jesus praying. In my past conversations with 
Muslims who deny that Jesus is God, they often pointed to a passage like 
this and asked: “Who is Jesus praying to? If He is praying to God, then 
how can Jesus be God? If Jesus is God, isn’t He speaking to Himself? Are 
you saying that God is schizophrenic?” Well, of course not! So what is 
going on here? Why do we see Jesus praying?
 
We see Jesus praying because God is not just a unity of ‘one’ but a 
unity in community. If that were not the case, how could the Scriptures 
say that God is love. True love is not self-love but love of an ‘other.’ 
Love requires a counterpart. Since love is part of the divine essence 
it follows that within the Godhead there exist an I-You relationship. 
Love is the glue, the source of unity, among the three persons within 
God. Even though the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct persons, 
their unity in love is so perfect and powerful that they do not exist in 
isolation from another and so we confess in the Athanasian Creed that 
there is but one God, inseparable and indivisible.
 
We see the implications of this reality played out in the prayer of 
Jesus. Listen how Jesus prays for all those people who will believe in Him 
after He completes His mission on earth. “I pray … 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…may they be one as we are one…may they be brought to complete 
unity” (John 17:20 f.). The kind of unity Jesus talks about here is not 
physical; it is not a unity of politics, culture, language or race. He is 
talking about a union created by God’s love. The love that exists 
within the three-fold unity of God is to find its expression also among us. 
As we experience God’s love we are transformed into people who reflect 
that love in our relationships with each other. In love we are united 
in heart and mind for one purpose: To be a people in whom the Father’s 
love dwells together with Jesus Himself. As Jesus prays: “May the love 
you have for me be in them and I myself be in them” (26).
 
Jesus also prays, “Father, I want those you have given me to be where I 
am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you have 
loved me before the creation of the world.” Jesus wants us to be with 
Him where He is. Last Thursday was Ascension, the day we remember Jesus’ 
bodily ascension from earth into heaven where He sits at the right hand 
of His Father. When Jesus says He wants us to be with Him, He is 
talking about some future being together with Him once those who believe in 
Him join Him in heaven? Yes, that is true. We will not be able to see 
Jesus in His glorious resurrection body until that time. But there is 
more: Remember that although Jesus has ascended to His Father in heaven, 
it does not mean that Jesus is absent. After all, where is heaven and 
where is God? God is everywhere and anywhere He wants to be. And the 
expression that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father signifies 
that He shares all divine powers of His Father. So Jesus is also present
 everywhere and anywhere He chooses to be. 
 
The Bible tells us that people on earth will not see Jesus until He 
returns visibly on the Day of Judgment. However, Jesus does make Himself 
present to us, even as He comes to us this day in His body and blood. In 
His sacramental presence in the bread and wine we see His glory with 
the eyes of faith. Here faith sees the love of God poured out for me, for 
my sins. Here faith sees the body of Christ broken for my 
reconciliation with my heavenly Father and share in a true fellowship with Him. In 
this sacramental fellowship meal God unites Himself to us and we unite 
ourselves to Him in a union of love. We all share in that divine 
fellowship and have tasted the sweetness of God’s love. And God now gives us a 
unique opportunity. He lets us invite anyone we want to join us in this 
divine fellowship.
 
For about eight years people of our church have been involved with 
Bible studies for Canadian newcomers. During this time I would estimate 
that at least 300-400 people have passed through this program. Of all 
these people less than 10% came as a result of seeing an advertisement or 
because we had invited them. The vast majority came because students 
attending the Bible study invited them. I believe there is a saying, “A 
satisfied customer is your best advertisement.”
 
Jesus expressed His wish to see all people experience God’s love. How 
does Jesus intend to accomplish that? He leaves the earth and ascends to 
His Father so that He can now do His work everywhere in the world 
wherever His disciples are. As Jesus’ disciples we have a beautiful message 
of God’s love to share. And it is not primarily a message in words, but 
a message that plays itself out in how we live. Our fellowship in God’s 
love blesses us with inner strength, peace and joy. We enjoy a 
fellowship that people everywhere long for but which often eludes them. There 
are forces of darkness that blind their hearts to the truth of God’s 
love and which also try to intimidate us from speaking the message with 
boldness. 
 
It is somewhat like Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” There the 
Fellowship of the Ring was forged to save middle earth from being destroyed 
by Sauron, the Dark Lord. In our Baptism God has also forged us into a 
fellowship: the Fellowship of the Message of the Gospel, or, the 
Fellowship of God’s Love-Message, if you may. Our mission is to see that all 
people are invited to join with us in the Fellowship of God’s Love.
 
Here in this time and place each one of us is privileged to share in 
this great mission. Some of us have the gift to share the message of 
God’s love verbally on a regular basis. But most of you probably don’t have 
that particular gift. However, you do have opportunities to share God’s 
love in other ways that are equally important. 
 
As with the Fellowship of the Ring only Frodo could carry the ring into 
Mt. Doom. However, without the help of his friends in the Fellowship, 
he could not have done it. Likewise, in order for us to succeed in 
bringing the message of God’s love to the people of our world, God has 
gifted each of us with unique gifts and opportunities within the Fellowship 
of Love that are all needed for this task. Trusting in Him, we have 
what it takes to fulfill our mission as members of the Fellowship of God’s 
Love-Message.
 

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