Sermon for May 16, 2021 Easter 7 B House of Prayer Lutheran Church
John 17:6-19 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Did you happen to catch the story on the “60 Minutes” news program last month, about the 6 boys who were stranded on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean? You can look up the story by Holly Williams on the CBS website, or even look up old documentaries on Youtube. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shipwreck-deserted-island-south-pacific-survivors-60-minutes-2021-04-04/
Back in 1965, in the island-nation of Tonga, six teen-aged boys ran away from their boarding school (St. Andrew’s School) and stole a boat, planning to sail 500 miles to Fiji. After setting sail, a storm blew in and ripped apart their sails and rudder. They drifted at sea for 8 days, traveling 100 miles, until finally they landed on a little volcanic island, where they lived all alone for the next 15 months!
At this point some of you may be thinking of the novel “Lord of the Flies”, which is a fictional tale of schoolboys who get stranded on a deserted island. In the novel, the boys divide into competing tribes and become violent and deadly towards each other. But in this real-life example, the castaways pulled together. Even though they despaired of ever seeing their families again, they worked in unity in order to survive, and eventually even to thrive. And in their example we see a real kind of Easter story about the power of God at work.
The first thing these boys did upon reaching land--after their boat had smashed to pieces on the rocky shore--was to grab onto one another and say a prayer of thanks to God. Then they salvaged an oar and a piece of wire, which they used to catch fish and birds for their first meal in 8 days. After gaining strength, they climbed up to a forested plateau--and after exploring found a clay pot, a machete, and chickens! These had been left behind by the previous inhabitants of the island, who tragically had been captured by slave traders 100 years earlier.
They boys then figured out how to make a fire, and cook their meals. They took turns tending the fire so that it never went out. Not only could they eat hot meals, but they’d also be able to send a signal to any ship that might pass by. Whoever’s turn it was to tend the fire also had the responsibility for saying the prayer that night. They went on to build a hut out of palm branches, plant a garden of bananas and beans, construct a badminton court and gym, and took turns being on the lookout for passing ships.
As you can imagine, these high school boys also had their share of disagreements. How did they deal with them? The offended parties walked to opposite sides of the island to settle down and clear their heads, and when they got back they could work things out. If anyone got into a fight, the other boys took responsibility, and made them sit down and listen.
These boys were united throughout their ordeal. Their faith, cooperation, partnership, endurance, and hope even when things looked bleak is a powerful witness to the very things Jesus was praying about in today’s gospel reading from John 17, which took place shortly before Jesus was betrayed and arrested.
Jesus begins this prayer by praying for himself. He ends it by praying for those who will one day become believers (people like us, or those castaway boys). And in the middle section, which we heard today, he prays for the disciples. One of the main things Jesus prays for is that the disciples will have God’s protection so that they will be united, just as Jesus and his Heavenly Father are united. This is a pretty big ask!
As we look at the story of those shipwrecked boys, though, we see an example of Jesus’ prayer taking shape in people’s lives, with God’s protection leading the boys to care for each other; as well as the unity Christ desires so that they would survive on the island. They turned toward God even while living in a world that often resists or rebels against God (as they once did when they decided to run away and steal a boat).
These boys were united--even though they did not always have unanimity in their opinions or actions; because unity is not the same thing as unanimity or conformity. They did have disagreements, and sometimes they even fought--but they were still united because they were committed to their partnership with one another for a common purpose. They persevered through their disagreements, and even through their sadness and despair at being stranded; and were even able to find moments of joy in the midst of their trials--think of them playing badminton and exercising in their homemade gym. They endured with one another until they could be saved.
After being rescued by an Australian fisherman who noticed the evidence of fire on the island while sailing nearby, they made it home to a joyful reunion with their families. One of the boys said it was “like walking through the doors to heaven.” They had truly been given a new life, which for them was heaven on earth--kind of like how our eternal life with God begins here in this life through our faith in Jesus.
The kind of unity these boys lived with was the same kind of unity the disciples would need when they were on their own after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. They needed unity so that they could carry out the common purpose of continuing the work of Jesus in the world. It wasn’t easy for them, and it’s not easy for us, either, because the world we live in often resists the way of God, or doesn’t realize that God is present. Yet this world is the very same world that God loves so much, that he sent his only Son, in order to open the way to life eternally, and to open the possibility of joy for today even in the midst of trials and difficulties.
The disciples, and the shipwrecked boys, and even us--the modern-day disciples of Jesus--can find our unity in God, because Christ has given us all one common purpose: to keep on doing the work of Christ in the world. None of us does the whole work of Christ--but he has given each of us a little piece of the work, to carry the love of God into the world. As followers of Christ, we don’t always agree about what to do, or how to do it. And that’s because, as broken human beings, we each see only in part. But we can commit to being partners with each other, and try to do our best with the little piece that God has given each of us.
Only God sees everything in full, and that’s why Jesus and the Father are “united”-- because they see the whole entire big picture; whereas any one of us only sees a little part. We need unity with each other in order to put as many pieces of the puzzle together as possible. And even though our ability to see or understand the way of God--or even to understand each other--is limited by our sin, we can still be united by staying connected to God in faith.
In the shipwrecked boys, we can see how this understanding of unity, which Jesus prayed for on behalf of his disciples on the night he was betrayed, carried them through the next 50 years. One of them fulfilled the promise he made to God on the island--he became a minister, the head of the Church of Tonga in America. Another of the boys spoke as an old man of how his beliefs were forged on the island: helping and teaching one another with love, compassion, and justice.
As Christ’s prayer for unity was fulfilled in them, may it also be fulfilled in us, as Christ sends us into the world as messengers of God’s love for all! Amen.
Footage telling the story of their ordeal is on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO_RlJxnVI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CbyVNUuDYw