We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a better day
So let’s start giving
... We are all a part of God’s great big
family
An
inspiring song from Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie in 1985.
Recorded
by a stage-full of 45 of the world’s greatest music stars.
To
raise funds to help the victims of famine—USA
for Africa.
Words
that make us proud of our ability to get into the spirit of unity.
A
song so successful it raised about $150M in today’s dollars.
And
was re-recorded again in 2010
To raise funds for earthquake victims in Haiti.
To raise funds for earthquake victims in Haiti.
Brotherhood,
unity, oneness.
We
are the world.
So
what is Jesus talking about in today’s Gospel?
He
says, I do not pray for the world,
But for the ones you have given me.
He’s
giving his farewell to his disciples at the Last Supper.
As
part of that farewell he prays to the Father.
He prays out loud.
Talking
to the Father,
But including his disciples as part of the conversation.
But including his disciples as part of the conversation.
His
words are simultaneously a prayer to the Father,
And
a lesson for the disciples.
He’s
speaking for their benefit.
Their
benefit from being able to listen and learn.
And
their benefit from the fact that he asks the Father to help them.
They need help because he is leaving
the world and they are staying.
But why won’t Jesus pray for the world?
And if we are the world, then what does that mean for us?
Fortunately for us,
Jesus and Michael Jackson are talking
about two different worlds.
When Jesus makes a negative reference
to the world, as he does today,
He isn’t talking about the individual
humans who make up the world.
He’s talking about that place, that
spirit, that attitude that resists God.
What Bible scholar William Barclay
calls
A human society organizing itself without God.
The world that he prays his disciples
will work to overcome.
When Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie
refer to the world
They do mean all the individual humans.
And they see them united under God.
They’re looking to that better day when
the world is one.
They’re urging us to help build that
world.
They simply echo Jesus’ call.
His sending us out into the world to
change it.
To carry his message of oneness and
love and mercy.
To make sure that everyone has a chance
to hear it and act on it.
Jesus didn’t pray for that old world.
But he did pray for us—his disciples.
Who for now, are in the world but not
of the world.
Prayed that we would go out, and
continue going out.
Continue working with the Holy Spirit,
Through our words and actions and
example.
Until this world becomes
the world it was meant to be.
Tuesday 7th Week of Easter
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