Completely
One
A
sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington
Presbyterian Church
May
20, 2007
John
17: 20-26
"I
ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will
believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. 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. 22 The glory that
you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we
are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely
one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved
them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also,
whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory,
which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of
the world.
25
"Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you;
and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to
them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have
loved me may be in them, and I in them."*
The
last words of a person often reveal a great deal about that
individual. Beethoven, stone deaf in his later years, was rumored to
say: “I shall hear in heaven.” The 18th
century economist, Adam Smith said: “I believe we must adjourn
this meeting to some other place.’ A few weeks before the
composer Ralph Vaughan Williams died, Sylvia Townsend Warner engaged
him in a brief conversation. She said: “If I were
reincarnated, I think would like to be a landscape painter. What
about you? Williams replied: “Music, music. But in the next
world I shan’t be doing music, with all the striving and
disappointments. I shall be being it.”
William
Shakespeare in Richard II wrote:
O,
but they say the tongues of dying men
Enforce
attention like deep harmony.
Where
words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain,
For
they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
Among
Jesus final words in the presence of his disciples were: “That
they may be one.” This was a prayer that Jesus offered to God
on behalf of his disciples, those who would believe in him later,
(the church) and also for the world. Of all the things that Christ
might have prayed for, why this unity? Why did he pray “that
they may be completely one?” At the heart of this prayer is
his wish that we, the ones who follow Christ as his disciples, may
experience the unity that Christ experienced in fellowship with God.
This is a unity that is bound together with love. “That we may
be one… completely one.”
This prayer of Jesus addresses three things: 1. The reality that the followers of Christ are not united as one. 2. That although Christians are different and reflect different experiences, nations and ideologies, there is something that transcends all the differences that exist between followers of Christ. 3. Christ desired unity not merely for us, he wanted unity for the world.
I
The followers of Christ are not one. One of the holiest places for Christians is the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The church is believed by most Christians to be located on the grounds of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. Some believe that it is also the place where Christ was buried, hence the name. Since the fourth century it has been a place where Christians have made pilgrimage. Ironically, today it serves as the headquarters of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Roman Catholic Archpriest of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.
A little history is in order: The Orthodox church split from the Western church in the eleventh century over theological issues. One would think that this holy site would symbolize a unity that transcends these historic differences and that Eastern and Western Christians could somehow occupy the same space in the spirit of Christ. Alas.. it doesn’t happen. These two groups have been squabbling over who owns it and who is the custodian of it. Throughout its history, there have been violent clashes between these two groups of Christians. In 1852 an agreement was reached defining the status quo of the property and establishing a way that the Orthodox and Western Christians could exist together. But it doesn’t always work. In July of 2002, Christianity Today reported the following:
Last Monday, chairs, iron bars,
and fists flew on the roof of one of the most revered sites in
Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. When the
dust cleared, seven Ethiopian Orthodox monks and four Egyptian
(Coptic) monks had been injured. The fight started when an Egyptian
monk decided to move his chair into the shade—technically,
argued the Ethiopians, encroaching on the latter's jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction? Did we miss
something?
The argument these monks are
making refers to an Ottoman Turkish edict issued by the Sultan in
1752 and reaffirmed in 1852. Still in force today, this edict defines
exactly which parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belong to
each of six Christian groups: the Latins (Roman Catholics), Greek
Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, and Ethiopians.
Christianity Today, July 1, 2002
There is further irony to this
situation: None of these Christian communities controls the main
entrance. In 1192, Saladin assigned responsibility for it to two
neighboring Muslim families. The Joudeh were entrusted with the key,
and the Nuseibeh were given the task of keeping the door. This
arrangement has persisted into modern times. Twice each day, a Joudeh
family member brings the key to the door, which is locked and
unlocked by a Nuseibeh. “Oh these Christians, how they love
one another!” Whose Church is it? It is Christ’s
Church!
The prayer of our founder, Jesus Christ, is that we might be completely one. I don’t think that he meant that we should be the same, that we should think the same, that we should even be completely similar in our doctrine… But he didn’t mean this sorry state of affairs either.
II
There is something greater than our differences. What did Christ mean when he prayed to God that his followers might be “completely one?” He was speaking about a unity that transcends our differences. In other words there is something greater than us that binds us together. On Friday evening, I, with many of you, attended the concert here. There were approximately 40 voices singing and at least that number playing a variety of different instruments. The voices were male and female, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass. They did not sing the same notes, nor did they sing at the same time. The instruments all have different sounds. Some are sharp, others soft… the drum reverberates in your gut.. the flute dances in the air near your ears. All of these different instruments were doing their thing.. and yet they were bound together as one, by the composer’s music and the conductor’s baton. To be at a concert like that is to hear eighty different people as one. When I think that the world is falling apart, that there is no order in anything… (When Jean Paul Sartre starts making a lot of sense!) I will often listen to Bach organ fugues. Somehow, in that music, all the elements of difference and dissonance are united seamlessly, and the world seems ordered again.
The divine symphony transcends our differences and binds us together. This past week, the Reverend Jerry Falwell died. I must confess that there are very few things that I have in common with him. His theology, his politics, his personality are very different than mine. But I remember saying to a shocked colleague a while ago, that our common confession of Jesus Christ ultimately transcended even these differences. Before the cross of Jesus, we all stand on common ground.
III
Unity is not merely Christ’s wish for his disciples. It is for the world. There is a world out there that longs for hope. There is a world out there that is sick and tired of the fighting and the pain that we inflict upon one another…. There is a world out there that wants this all to stop, but does not know how. Jesus knew the world and the world’s need and desire to hear a word of hope and good news. He used these words: “so that the world may know”
What are we telling the world in
the Middle East when two groups of Christians can’t even get
the front door of the church open, but need to give the key to an
Islamic family so that there can be some peace in that sacred place?
What are we telling the world every time we threaten to divide up?
What are we telling the world when we mistreat one another? Our
actions, I fear proclaim that our differences are more important than
the unity for which Christ prayed.
The world wants to know that there is a better way. This world, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, is weary of the conflicts and the destruction that we visit upon each other and also upon creation. Perhaps 2000 years after Jesus offered this prayer to God, our actions might complete those words and thus be the final Amen.
*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.
Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania, www.apcusa.org
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