John 17:1-11a After Jesus had spoken these things, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you. 2For you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 4I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5Now, Father, glorify me at your own side with the glory I had at your side before the world existed.
6“I revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have held on to your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8For I gave them the words you gave me, and they received them. They learned the truth that I came from you. They believed that you sent me.
9“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, because they are yours. 10All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. And I am glorified in them. 11I am no longer going to be in the world, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.”
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3)
The soldier answered his nation’s call. He left behind his family, friends and fortunes – personal treasures that so many take for granted. He is the warrior who was called upon to fight our nation’s enemies. He fought in distant lands to keep the battle far from our homes. He fought against tyranny. He fought to keep the darkness and evil away. He fought in exhausting heat and bitter cold. He fought in desserts, mountains and bombed-out streets.
But he wasn’t only a warrior. He was also a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a co-worker and friend. He wanted to see his daughter score the winning goal and walk her down the aisle. He wanted to see his son in the school play and run across the finish line. He wanted to see his children graduate and get married and give him grandchildren. He wanted to see his wife and give her a kiss again.
He promised everyone that he would return.
He wasn’t able to keep that promise. He wasn’t able to do any of the things he wanted to do. He became a casualty of the darkness and evil and bullets he fought against.
He is the soldier who died so we might be free. He sacrificed everything for us.
This Memorial Day, we remember the fallen soldier. He is the soldier who gave up everything so we might have the opportunity of having everything. He died so we might live. He fought so we might be free.
Jesus is the Solder who answers his Father’s call. He left behind the saints and angels, the safety and glory of Paradise to come to a world at war. He is the Warrior who fought against our enemies of the unholy trinity of the devil, the world and our sinful nature. He is the Lord of Light who went into battle against the Prince of Darkness.
Jesus bled to pay the price. He died so he might defeat death. He allowed the Serpent to strike his heel so he might crush the Serpent’s head. He took humanity’s sin upon his perfect body so he might make sinless all those who believe in him. He sacrificed everything for us. He died so we might be free.
The fallen soldier promised he would return. He was unable to keep that promise.
His wife, parents and children must learn how to live without their husband, son and father. But they are proud of what he did for others who may never know his name.
Our fallen Savior promised to return. After his death, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. One day, he will return and keep his promise. We will not see him until our death or his return. We praise Jesus for what he gave up to gain us eternal salvation for us. We proudly and gladly share his Name with others. Then they can share in the gift of eternal salvation with us.
We don’t have to learn to live without our Brother, Savior and Redeemer. Though he has left us to ascend to his Father’s right hand, he prayed for us before he left. “I revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have held on to your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me, and they received them. They learned the truth that I came from you. They believed that you sent me” (John 17:6-8).
With everything going on in our nation right now, and with this being Memorial Day weekend, we are reminded that freedom is not something that is given to us. Freedom is won. Fought for. Bled for. Died for.
The battle for your eternal freedom was not fought against flesh and blood with swords and bullets, but “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12).
When Jesus was conceived, the Prince of Darkness coiled for attack. When Jesus was baptized, legions of demons assembled and were sent out. When temptation failed to snare the Son of God, the devil desired to attack the disciples, to sift them like wheat. Whenever Jesus came into town, the demons fell at his feet. Wherever Jesus preached, the demons fled in terror, their ears pierced by the power of the One who brought all things into being, the One who undoes the work of Satan and makes all things new.
The battle for our salvation was not brought about at the tip of a sword. The cost for your redemption was not purchased with gold or silver, but with the holy, precious blood of the innocent Son of God. God bled. The Lord of Life died. The Creator died at the hands of his creation. He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, goes the way to end his life.
Before Jesus goes into battle against the forces of darkness, he prays. He doesn’t pray for himself. He prays for Peter, Thomas and Andrew. He prays for all his followers. He prays for you.
Jesus prays for you because he has left you – left you in this world but not as part of this world. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, because they are yours. All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. And I am glorified in them. I am no longer going to be in the world, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you” (John 17:9-11).
Jesus is leaving. He is leaving his followers behind. We are in this world, but Jesus prays for us to be different from the world. Basically, Jesus is praying that the Father makes us “weird.”
We are seen as “weird” in our world. Weird for wanting to get back to worship in our church. Weird for giving money to our church for ministry work. Weird for waiting to have sex until marriage. Weird for not watching certain shows or talking certain ways. Weird for putting so much money and effort to send our children to Lutheran schools like WLS and Shoreland.
Since we are so weird, people will notice. We are Christ’s soldiers living in Enemy territory. We live and eat and drink and speak and act differently from those who belong to the Enemy. We are trying to win them over to our side, to Christ’s side. Why has Jesus left us in this spiritually hostile world? He doesn’t pray to the heavenly Father that he take us out of the world. “I am not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the Evil One” (John 17:15).
Jesus has left you here for a distinct mission. Not a super-secret mission. But a well-publicized and visible mission. “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you. For you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him. This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me at your own side with the glory I had at your side before the world existed” (John 17:1-5).
Your mission is to receive and believe in the eternal life Jesus has won for you.
After a soldier wins the war, hopefully he will be transitioned into a peacekeeper in that country. Jesus has already toppled Satan’s regime – the battle has already been fought, and Jesus has already won. Your mission, then, is to get the word out that Jesus has won. All sins have been paid for! The gift of eternal life is yours! You will someday rise from the dead! Millions of people all over the world don’t know that Christ has set them free from the power of the devil. Satan has lost the battle – his regime was toppled on Easter morning. Jesus has won. And he has left you here, in this hostile world, to carry out the greatest humanitarian aid project in the history of all mankind – to share with people the good news about what Jesus has done for the benefit of all humanity.
Jesus prays for you because although he is risen and ascended, although he has overcome the world, undone the works of Satan and firmly established his dominion over all things, although the war is won, the battle rages on. The Great Dragon has fallen from heaven, but he has turned his rage against the earth, and in particular, you. Why you? Because you have been set free. You are baptized. Once you were in darkness but now you are in Christ, the Light of the world. Once you were not a people, now you are a people holy and blameless in the sight of the Lord. Once you were his, now you are the Lord’s. You are not your own, but you have received a new life, a new today, a new future. Your old has passed away and the newness of the gospel of Jesus has regenerated you. This is not of your own doing, not even of your own deciding, but it is all gift, a gift given you when you were baptized in the name of the Triune God.
You are different. You are weird. You are in the world, but not of the world. You hear all the news, but you only believe Christ’s Truth. You are strangers here and citizens of heaven.
You thank God for the freedom won for you on the battlefield by the fallen soldiers who will never return. Fallen soldiers whose names you may never know. You thank them for that freedom. You appreciate that freedom. You stand up for that freedom. You fight for that freedom.
You thank God for the freedom Christ won for you on the battlefield of Golgotha’s bloody hill and the Garden Tomb’s empty grave. A crucified Solder whose name you know and you will honor and praise now and throughout eternity. You appreciate that freedom. You live in that freedom. You fight for that freedom. You share that freedom.
What do we do when our plans fall through and it seems as if Jesus has left us? Remember that Jesus has left us to ascend into heaven. He prayed for us. He promised us. He will return for us. Amen.
May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers. May he never leave us or abandon us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways (1 Kings 8:57-58a)