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S. Easter 7.25 John 17:20-26

‘Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me…’

Right there, Jesus tells you what it’s all about, why the world and we were created: to behold his glory. Even Aristotle, pagan that he was, and confused about many things, realizes the τελος, the End and Goal of human life, is the adoration of God. And this is not for God’s benefit (he got nothing but an excruciating death and a stay in hell out of creating us) but it’s all for our enjoyment and delight alone!

St. Paul tells us this quite plainly, last verse of 2 Cor. 3: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Lord Spirit.”

This beatific vision of Jesus will, by his Spirit, transform us into the image of him whom we adore! This is the joy little children yearn for when they find a super-hero they adore (Batman, for me; never was much of a Superman guy, don’t know why 😉 With the unselfconscious delight of small children, we pretend to be our super-hero, throw a dish-towel around our necks as a cape and do our best sharing in our hero’s mighty deeds. 😉

What the Gospel of Jesus Christ promises us is that this childhood dream of becoming our super-hero will actually come true. This is why Jesus is constantly telling us we must become like little children to enter his kingdom! Adults would be embarrassed to admit they still really want to be Batman. Admitting that Jesus has replaced Batman in their pantheon of heroes would be more mortifying still, for most, I will wager…

In his “High Priestly Prayer” Jesus prays for this: that we would behold his glory, with faces unveiled (not having to have a bag over our heads like Moses, after Sinai) but seeing him as he is, face to face. John tells us even more plainly, in chpt 3 of his (only canonical) epistle: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Seeing is not just believing. Seeing Jesus, as he is, means becoming the very image of what we see! To see is to… be! “I’m not saying I’m Batman. I’m just saying that no one has ever seen me and Batman in a room together.” 😉

I have never been entirely sure what exactly the “Hokey Pokey” is or what it is all about. But I know this is what Xnity is all about, right here: beholding Jesus’ glory; and in that beholding, being transformed into the same image by the Lord Spirit!!!

And you know: if Jesus prays for this, for all who believe in his name: Well! It must happen! Because whatever Jesus prays for, the Father gives him. And by his word and sacrament, through his Spirit, the miracle happens. Which is why I’m here Sunday after Sunday and pouring over the scriptures every day—to get in on this wonder. Because I sure need a powerful lot of transforming! Just ask my wife… 😉

Now, at this juncture you may say, “Well, sure; this is all quite obvious Pastor. What else would anyone think Xnity is all about?”

Ah, and I’m glad you asked that excellent question!

I was reading an editorial by my old grad school buddy Rusty Reno in First Things recently. He was enthusing about how we can learn a lot about theologizing from the Jewish rabbis (Rusty’s wife and kids are Jewish).

He recalled a class he had years ago on the works of an 11th century Jewish Rabbi named Rashi who affirmed the earlier rabbinic opinion that the scriptures are mistaken—that they should not begin with Genesis 1:1: God creating the heavens and the earth, but with Exodus 12:2: “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months”—what the rabbis hold to be the 1st commandment of God to Israel.

Rusty writes, “By citing the opinion that the scriptures are “mistaken” and begin in the wrong place, Rashi is conveying a theological judgment: God creates for the sake of his covenant. Or, as Karl Barth puts it, covenant is the inner basis of creation.”

So! God does not create for the sheer joy of it, to share the wonder and glory of it with us?, so that we would swim in it like the Perelandrian seas and so become transformed into his image ourselves? No! According to all Judaism’s rabbis and all Calvinists like Karl Barth, God creates for the sake of the Law—to lay down rules for us to follow so he can reward and punish us according to our works.

Hermann Sasse, in his wonderful book “Here We Stand” has a chapter on Karl Barth the 20th century Swiss theologian as the quintessential Reformed theologian with his insistence that God really is, at heart a Totalitarian Dictator, whereas Jesus in the gospels is, as Luther sees, pure love and mercy, joy and forgiveness and free grace… 😉

Franz Pieper, a leading light among Lutheran theologians, says there are only TWO RELIGIONS in the world: the Religion of the Law and the religion of the gospel. The Religion of the Law is all about God saying “do this and don’t do that” and then punishing or rewarding you for your works, whereas the religion of the gospel is God giving himself away in love—even dying on a cross!—and rewarding you for his works, for the sheer glory and joy of it all!

Sadly, most of Christendom is the false Religion of the Law, of which the Devil is the real High Priest. The religion of the gospel, as Jesus and apostles proclaim it, is always a minority view as Jesus says in Matt. 7, that: the way to hell is a superhighway most take, while the path to heaven’s a narrow, difficult mountain pass few follow…

Rome, the largest Christian denomination by far, takes the Lord’s Supper!, the purest gift, and turns it (bizarrely and nonsensically!) into a WORK, a sacrifice WE make by the priest to earn pardon and peace—as I saw firsthand with Rusty attending a Roman mass with him at his NYC congregation, March ‘24.

Luther saw that turning the gospel into a Law, having us—not Jesus! run the verbs, kills as St. Paul says the letter of the law kills! Paradoxically, it’s only sharing Jesus’ dying, being so enamored with him that: if he goes to the cross and down into hell, we’ll say: “Wherever Jesus is, that’s the place for me! Probably in death and hell, we’ll have some real adventures and get closer to him!” Ps. 139!

This is the way—to be so enraptured by Jesus we’d follow him anywhere, endure anything and be delighted, just to be with him! And in this glory of his cross is joy, and peace, surpassing all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.