1

John 17: 1-11

Farewells, are always done with
mixed feelings. On the one hand there is this
sense of accomplishment and on the other
hand feelings of needing to say good bye. Its
the end of the academic year, graduations,
proms, graduation parties and farewells. A
lot of excitement also loads of sadness to
leave friends and say Goodbye. Bidding
farewells, it is not one of the most favorite
things in life for people, people always say
goodbyes with mixed feelings. Sometimes
we make choices to say good bye,
sometimes, thats how it is, we just have to
say goodbye.

A priest was being honored at his

farewell dinner after 25 years in the
parish. A leading local politician, who
was also a member of the congregation,
was chosen to make the presentation and
give a little leaving speech at the dinner.
He was delayed so the priest decided to
say his own few words while they
waited.
'I got my first impression of the parish
from the first confession I heard here. I
thought I had been assigned to a terrible
place. The very first person who entered
my confessional told me he had stolen a

television set and, when stopped by the

police, had almost murdered the officer.
He had stolen money from his parents,
misused from his place of business, had
an affair with his boss's wife, taken
illegal drugs. I was appalled. But as the
days went on I knew that all my people
were not like that and I had, indeed,
come to a fine parish full of good and
loving people.'
Just as the priest finished his talk the
politician arrived full of apologies at
being late. He immediately began to

make the presentation and give his

speech.
'I'll never forget the first day our parish
priest arrived, 'said the politician.' In fact,
I had the honor of being the first one to
go to him in confession.'
We all know that there is ending for
every new beginning and there was a
beginning to every ending. The text talks
about the Jesus end days on earth after the
resurrection. We dont have much record
that Jesus involved in doing active ministry
after his resurrection, but visited many
people who were close to him. Perhaps it

was his vacation time but for a reason. He

gave new energy to the peoplehowever,
just as every vacation ends, now its time for
Jesus to go home. Its no wonder that Jesus is
fully human, as you can see, Jesus didnt do
everything mechanically, his ministry, his
death, his resurrection and now his
ascensionhe was emotionally involved in
everything he did. As he was going to say
goodbye to his people, he prayed to God,
interceded for them. Its the time that Jesus
is expressing mixed feelings and prayed in
love and care for them. He says a beautiful
prayer on behalf of each one of them. We all
like nice prayerssaid on our behalfdont

we! What is a nice prayer? Often it is not

the one that is theologically sound, nor the
one that is politically correct, nor is it the
one that is profound, but the one that comes
from heart, the one that is caring and
affectionate. Yes, we all find peace after
prayer, especially when someone lifts up our
burdens, our needs and issues.
One of the things that churches are
not doing anymore is doing prayers
collectively, together, with emotion and
passionprayer in love, prayer with love is
always something that is uplifting
I heard a quote that says

Jesus prayed a context specific prayer,

not the one that is to be generalized. He
particularly lifts up the people who were
close to him, whom he loved, and says, he is
praying for them, and only for them. Yes it
is a context specific prayer.
Back in India, it is the same tradition
in Christian homes to pray before saying

good bye like travelling somewhere-- and at

times its a challenge with few people if we
ask them to praypeople say there were
times that trains and buses left because the
prayers were never ending are pending
with God.
A lot of times we go in front of God
without commitment to what we say in
prayer. We cant just limit our prayers just to
a habit, we must mean what we are saying. I
am guilty many times, when we get to the
Lords prayer, its kind of the end of the
service, and we are already thinking about
whats nextthe Lords prayer that we have

memorized it so well, we can say Lords

prayers with no mistake while thinking
about our dinner appointment after the
service. We dont do Lords Prayer because
its a tradition, but because it is a great
prayer, and we need to understand the
significance of what we are sayingshall
we make that decisionwe go to church, we
read many prayerslets not read the prayer,
but pray thempay attention to those words
that we find in this Bulletin. Let us say only
if they are meaningful to us, and that shows
our commitment in prayer. Similarly, lets
pay attention to each word in the Lords

10

prayer, every time we pray, so we pray those

words involved and in commitment.
Now returning to the text, Jesus own
prayer in the text is not the long list of many
favors from God, but he is pleading God to
care for all his loved ones as he will be
physically saying good-bye to them. Jesus
has given us a tradition to pray for our loved
ones, to support and lift one another in care
and love. Jesus prays, I ask you to protect
them from the evil one. Jesus does not ask
that they may be removed from all evil
influences and presence, but they be
protected in the midst of evil, temptation and

11

danger that surrounds them. He also prays

for the unity among his believers. Jesus
prays, Holy Father, protect them in your
name that you have given me, so that they
may be one, as we are one. Thats one of the
biggest challenges today to be one and
united. Jesus is not speaking of merging, so
the dominant takes overno, he wants them
to be united, yet respect diversity. Diversity
in general is threatening because it brings
differences. Most of us rather a have one
opinion and everybody say yea to it, rather
than deal with difference of opinions. Unity
in diversity means acceptance and respect
for one another. It is to abolish the standards

12

and substandards, so there will be unity.

Jesus is worried just like a parent who gets
worried to leave siblings alone. Jesus knows
that its not easy for people to live in unity
and oneness, there are going to be troubles,
but if God helps, then God will help resolve
the matters. How many of us go to God,
asking God to fix our relationshipswe
want to fix them, we dont go to Godyou
know whyif we goclose our eyes God
will speak to us about what we need to
change in ourselves so we can fix ithow
about thatNothats not what we want to
dowe want them to changebut thats not
going to be possible if we open our hearts

13

and let God speak to us. Jesus thinks God

must help us and protect us if we have
issues
The church history has proved the
same; it was all about divisions rather than
unity. Sadly, the church has a hard time with
UNITY. But scripture makes it clear that the
church is called for UNITY. We do have
instances where unity was possible. For
instance, Acts 4:32 says about the early
church: All the believers were one in heart
and mind. What a powerful description of
the Church. .

14

Jesus is burdened and praying for

those he left behind, for the unity of the
believerslook what we have done We
are so divided, the church is divided, the
people are divideddid we let Jesus down?
How can we show our unity, as that is what
Jesus is interceding for us, may it be in our
families, our communities, and in our
churches
Untity, and good relationships bring
harmony, something that we all need to
stand up for. Do you pray for your church in
your daily prayers? We do prayers as we bid
adieu. We say blessings

15

It seems a mother and daughter

having this conversation at an airport-- Its
time for the daughter to go in through the
security check to go across the oceans
leaving her ageing mom back at home.
Many of us can resonate with this setting
well,
Both of them are having their
momentsthey are thinking what if we
dont see each other again They hugged
each other, getting teary
mom, said, 'I love you dear and I
wish you enough'.
The daughter replied as a matter of fact, yes

16

mom, you have always given me more than

enough, I love you too.
The daughter left with a heavy heart.
There was a pastor standing there, moved by
the feeling, and also empathizing with their
anxiety, a feeling of what if its a goodbye
forever the pastor reached out to the
momspoke for a while, and the pastor
asked,
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard
you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what
that means? just curious

She began to smile. She said my

17

parents handed down that blessing to me and

I would give my daughter the same blessing
over and again. She heard it many times by
nowhere is how it goes
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude
bright no matter how gray the day may
appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun
even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your
spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the
smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your
wanting.

18

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that

you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through
the final good-bye.
May God also bless us also with enough, so
all will have enough. Amen.

By Surekha Nelavala