7th Sunday Easter C

Jesus is there for You

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

How wonderful it is to realize that there is some one always for us. Some one is caring us and thoughtful of us. Yes dear brothers and sisters, there is someone always thinking of you. Jesus. Isaiah 49:16 says “See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name; your walls are ever before me.” Jesus will always be there to lift us to our feet when our
wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
Do we not sometimes wonder whether Jesus actually thought of us, or whether he only had in mind his disciples who were right there before him when he prayed?
Poet Francis Thompson wrote his epic poem "The Hound of Heaven."
Francis Thompson himself was somewhat of a "lost sheep." He was a drug addict who suffered all his life. In fact, he only wrote one poem that became famous and that poem is titled: "The Hound of Heaven."
In this beautiful poem, Francis Thompson describes Jesus as the Hound of Heaven. Jesus is relentless in pursuing us.
The Hound of Heaven is always at our heels with amazing grace. This was true for the apostles who abandoned Jesus in his most needy hour; it was true for the drug addict in his worst days, and it is true for each of us when we seem to drift farthest away from God's saving power.
Here is how the poet describes his own attempted flight from the Hound of Heaven:

I fled him down the nights and down the days.
I fled him down the arches of the years.
I fled him down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind; and in the midst of tears,
I hid from Him, and under running laughter,….
The poet then goes on for many verses and finishes with Jesus speaking these words to the soul who has fled from him:
All which I took from thee, I did but take, not for thy harms, but just so that thou mightest seek it in my arms. All which they child's mistake, fancies as lost, I have store for thee at home ,Rise--clasp my hand and come.
Rise, clasp my hand and come! Those words can rightly be attributed to the Risen Jesus. We too are to rise with him towards glory!
Do not ever think that we have no one for us. There will be always Jesus for you as the Hound of Heaven.

Today’s gospel passage is unique in the sense that this is the only place in the gospels where we get the assurance that Jesus thought not only of his immediate disciples but of us as well. It makes a lot of difference for us to know that Jesus thought of us, that he had us in mind as he died and gave his life for the salvation of the world that he actually prayed for us. We know that God always hears the prayer of Jesus. So, if Jesus prayed for us we would like to know what it was that he prayed for us about. What Jesus asked the Father in our behalf is basically two things: To be like Jesus and to be united like the Trinity.
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one…He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly." As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"
That's our Destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium.
Secondly; Jesus really wants us to be one. When He says “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you,” He really means it and it is so astounding that we find it almost impossible to believe. Jesus wants us to be one in the same way that He and the Father are one. We cannot even begin to imagine this closeness—much less with someone with whom we totally disagree. How different our world would be if we really recognized that we are one! Most of the time we only want to be one with those who think like us and who appreciate us deeply. We don’t even want to consider being with people whose lives are terribly different from our own or whose way of thinking seems entirely foreign. Often we begin to find ways not to be around such people. St Augustine said; “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty; in all things, charity.” The only way that leads to unity is the way of love. To have a deep unity Jesus and St Stephen showed us some shortcuts:
1. They surrendered their Spirit, total life to God.
2. they forgave the others who persecuted them
3. And they prayed for people who killed them.
"God determines who walks into your life....it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.