June 1st - Today's Gospel is about the Gospel

Gospel JN 17:20-26
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
"I pray not only for these,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,
but I know you, and they know that you sent me.
I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them."

I am not a big fan of John's gospel - too esoteric and "closed community" for my tastes.  All that Illuminated Word and stuff  -  " In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud D(eu)m, et D(eu)s . . . " In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and . . ."

 It is a big hit with Unitarian's and Catholic Call to Action types who tune-in to NPR when XRT is playing Flashback to 1965. John's gospel is loosey-goosey on the matter of judgment and unlike the other three Matthew, Mark & Luke appeals to Clown Jesus - non-judgmental COEXIST Jesus.

My preference is  " I shall smite your ass, Hickey!" voice of the Triuun God.  I believe in consequences and pray mightily to avoid them.

John's gospel is said to be anonymous ( written by a bunch of guys at a bunch of times) but unified around the "Beloved Apostle."  There are four divisions: The Prologue, The Book for Signs, The Book of Glory and the Epilogue - like a Quinn Martin Production.

Today's gospel section comes from what scholars call the Book of Glory and takes place after the Resurrection.  The money quote is " I pray not only for these ( Disciples and hangers-on), but also for those who will believe in me through their word ( Us). 

I have been a teacher for more than forty years.   Young people are not hard-wired to read Paradise Lost, Absalom & Achitophel, Look Homeward Angel, The Divine Comedy, Canterbury Tales, or Anna Karenina.   That's the task.

Christ prayed  for teachers, cops, nurses, electricians, pipe-fitters and locksmiths - anyone who passes on the codes to Universal Truth: not my truth, or group think.