7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
“Oh, how good and
pleasant it is, when brethren live together in unity!" (Psalm 133). Amen.
Last week Mother
Liz talked about the New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds, a vision of heaven
coming down to earth, a vision found in the book of Revelation.
Thematically,
this week we find ourselves caught between the Feast of the Ascension (when
Jesus went up to heaven after his Resurrection) and Pentecost (when the Holy
Spirit visited the Apostles). It is the last Sunday in Easter, but our Gospel
passage brings us back to just before Jesus’ arrest. Here we find ourselves at
a precipice.
Today’s Gospel
reading from John comes at the end of what is often called Jesus’ Farewell
Discourse. He is teaching his disciples one last time, and it seems as if he is
trying to squeeze in as much wisdom as possible before he goes. In the section
we heard today, Jesus is “pray[ing] for his disciples” (v. 20). He urges the
disciples to live together in unity, not only with God and with Jesus, but with
each other. The disciples are charged with spreading the Good News of God in
Christ. If they are going to be successful, then they need to swallow their
pride, overcome their differences, and work together. Otherwise, all anyone will
see is a bumbling, bickering motley collection of Jesus’ closest followers;
they will distract from the message of peace and love they are trying to
convey.
Before we get too
comfortable, a closer look at the passage reveals that we’re not off the hook.
Jesus even includes us in this message: “I ask not only on behalf of
these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,
that they may all be one” (vv. 20-21)! We are called to live in unity as
well.
So what does this
unity look like? Humans are predisposed to putting things into categories in
order to process information better. There’s a sense of comfort in identifying
as American, mid-western, Christian, and specifically Episcopalian. We can feel
a sense of unity in situations where we feel we belong, when we are surrounded
by people we identify with and understand, and who similarly understand
us. But, as the Rev. Canon Anthony Jewiss said, “Unity does not mean sameness.
It means similarity of purpose, of intention, of allegiance and of behavior
towards one another. It means accepting. For those who believe, it means
gathering under the canopy of creation and being part of a great singleness of
purpose” (quote found here).
Last weekend at the
Tween Retreat, the 5th and 6th graders explored what it means to be the Body of
Christ. During the Bible Study, we discussed how believing we are all part of
the Body of Christ influences the way we treat people, both those we like as
well as those we do not like. In reflecting on how we treat people we don’t
like, one of the youth said, “It’s like that song from Pocahontas: ‘You
think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like
you, but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger you’ll learn things you never
knew you never knew’” (“Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s film Pocahontas).
Clearly the deeper meaning behind Disney songs is not lost on younger
generations. And this youth was right. Christians don’t have the luxury of
choosing who to be in unity with. Jesus calls us to be in unity with all
people, even people with different thoughts, beliefs, or political leanings.
Unity can be a glorious and beautiful thing, but if everyone involved in the
unity thinks and looks and believes the same, then unity can become dangerous.
It can cause us to look at people not part of the group as different, less
than. Think of the fighting between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Northern
Ireland. Of the ethnic violence and genocide in Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, and
lately, Myanmar. Or, in our own neck of the woods, fighting between gangs.
Unity that shuts out people who are different is not the kind of unity Jesus is
talking about.
A famous example
of unity in the midst of differences came in the winter of 1914 (history.com). On a muddy
battlefield in France on Christmas Eve, German and British troops were
exchanging fire. At midnight some of the Germans stopped shooting and began to
sing Christmas carols. The Allies, hearing the music, put down their weapons and
joined in the singing. Incredibly, by the morning, both sides had come out of
their trenches to celebrate together. They held a soccer match and even
exchanged gifts! Although the experience was fleeting (they started fighting
again the next day), it provided a glimpse of the kingdom of God. They
certainly had differences, but for a short while they recognized each other’s
humanity.
Another way unity
can be dangerous is when we think that only people who deserve it can be
included. Jesus was constantly hanging out with the outcasts, the people others
rejected because of their profession, social class, gender, or diagnosis. He
was famous for dining with outcasts and sinners, after all (Mark 2:16; Matthew
9:10-12)!
An example of
living in unity and demonstrating Christian love happened more recently. In the
wake of the Boston bombings, the Tsarnaev family was looking for a place in
Boston to bury their son Tamerlan, who we know as Bombing Suspect 1. None of
the cemeteries were willing to let him be buried on their premises. After three
weeks of searching, however, a complete stranger came forward and offered his
cemetery plot to the Tsarnaev family. According to news reports, the stranger
gave this reason for his offer: “This person, I
don’t care what a pariah he is, everybody deserves a burial, so I’m willing to
make this offer. I also think it would be a nice thing to do in memory of my
mother, who did teach me to love thine enemy” (New Haven Register, May 6, 2013). Wow. Now this is
more of what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of unity!
Today’s Gospel
and the examples just mentioned provide us with an opportunity for reflection.
Where in our own lives are we failing to live in unity? Where are we looking
down on others? Where are we excluding rather than including? How can we
demonstrate the type of unity Jesus is praying for in school, at work, at home,
and at church? It’s not an easy way of life (after all, the glory of Jesus was
most fully realized in his death and then resurrection). Unity is often
countercultural. In an era of extreme political polarization, and in the face
of a heated upcoming election, unity can even seem impossible.
But you and I, we
know better. We know that unity is possible. In fact, it happens every
week! Each week we have the opportunity to put aside our differences and join
together in Communion. We listen to words telling us the story of Christ, who
loved us so much that he gave his life for us. “This is my body, broken for
you. This is my blood, shed for you.” We remember that we are fractured like
Christ, but also like Christ, this brokenness doesn’t last forever; the Body
and Blood are a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. We approach the altar
knowing that despite our differences and what we’ve done or left undone in the
past, God loves us equally and unconditionally.
Out of his love
for us, Jesus says that he will be with us. He ends the prayer for his
disciples and us with a promise of love: “the love with which you have loved me
may be in them, and I in them” (v. 26). In that spirit of love, I leave you
with a poem by Edwin Markham, entitled “Outwitted”:
He drew a circle
that shut me out--
Heretic, rebel, a
thing to flout.
But love and I
had the wit to win.
We drew a circle
and took him in!
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