June 1, 2025 – The Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C
John 14:23-29
Rev. Misa Furumoto
Today is the seventh Sunday of Easter, which marks the final Sunday of the Easter season. Next week, we will celebrate Pentecost. In many ways, this Sunday feels like an in-between time—a bit uncertain and unsettled. Even though we still call it part of Easter, Jesus has already ascended into heaven, which we remembered on Thursday, and the Holy Spirit has not yet come, as we commemorate at Pentecost.
It’s a bit like Holy Saturday, the day between the crucifixion and the resurrection—when the disciples were filled with grief, confusion, and waiting. Today carries a similar feeling: a quiet pause, a sense of emptiness, and perhaps even loneliness as we await what comes next.
During these ten days between the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost—days that can often feel uncertain or unsettled—the worldwide Anglican Church invites us to pray together using a booklet called Thy Kingdom Come. It’s an invitation to pray that God’s kingdom may come and that those especially on your heart might come to know Jesus.
This prayer initiative began last Thursday. I’m sorry we weren’t able to give you the booklet earlier—they didn’t arrive in time two weeks ago. But it’s not too late to start. Please feel free to take one home today and begin praying.
There’s also a wonderful website you can explore—just search for “Thy Kingdom Come.” This movement has grown into a large ecumenical effort, crossing denominational lines, and this year marks its tenth anniversary. I truly believe it’s worth joining in, and together we can experience the power of prayer.
And for this Sunday every year, the Gospel reading is chosen from a section called “Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples,” found in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. The scene takes place on the night before Jesus is arrested, right after the Last Supper with his disciples.
At the beginning of that supper, John writes, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” After that, Jesus washed the feet of the twelve. Then he began what is known as the “Farewell Discourse,” where he taught them many important things—about the love of God, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the command to love one another.
It’s a bit like a terminally ill mother gently telling her young children, “I’ll be going to heaven soon, but I’ll always be watching over you. So don’t worry—but remember to love one another, just as I have loved you.” And then, at the end, Jesus turns toward God the Father and prays for his disciples—just as a mother might turn to her husband and say, “Please take care of our children when I’m gone.” Quite touching.
Today’s passage comes from the very end of this heartfelt prayer. It begins with these words: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word”. Now, this is quite different from what a terminally ill mother might say to her husband. She wouldn’t ask him to also take care of her children’s friends or classmates. But Jesus did something far greater. He prayed not only for the disciples who were with him that night, but for everyone who would come to believe in him through their message.
And who is that “everyone”? It’s us. Each one of us. Jesus prayed not only for those he knew face to face, but also for you—and for me.
Now then, what did Jesus ask God for—on our behalf? He prayed “that they may all be one.” He said, “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Jesus longs for us to be united—to be one. And more than that, he invites us into the very communion between God the Father and himself, the Son. What does that mean? It means we are invited to become children of God—a part of God’s family.
And how is this even possible? Through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to his disciples on the day of Pentecost. When the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they were filled with God’s love and power. No longer afraid, they went out into the world boldly and began to proclaim the good news of the Lord.
That’s how the Church was born. And that’s how, through generations, the message has reached us—so that we, too, may know Jesus and become one family in him.
And this same Holy Spirit is given to each one of us, too. We are given God’s love and power to share the Gospel of Jesus with those around us—and to invite them into God’s family.
Let us believe this. And let us remember: sharing the Gospel is not done by words alone. We are called to pray—just as Jesus prayed to the Father—for those who do not yet know the love of God.
And when we love others as Jesus has loved us, that love becomes a witness. It shows them who God is.
So let us be confident that the Holy Spirit is with us. He will guide us. He will help us. And through us, others may come to know the love of Christ.
So, as we look ahead to Pentecost, let us spend these next seven days preparing our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit. Let us take time each day to pray, to listen, and to open ourselves to the love and power that God longs to pour into our lives.
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
