John 17:1-11
There is a cartoon of a man being rescued from a desert island that shows his rescuers asking the man about two buildings on the small island.
- “Oh” …he says…pointing to one building… “this’s my church.”
- “And” …he continues…a little sheepishly … “the other building is the church I used to attend.”
So…in the scripture passage we read today we heard that Jesus’ followers “will be one.”
- But then…just think of how divided Christianity is worldwide.
- People who keep track of these things say there are about 2.6 billion Christians in the world.
- If we look closer…we find Christians separated into Catholics…Protestants and Orthodox.
- But those divisions do not include everyone who identifies as Christian.
- And they do not begin to describe the loss of credibility in the institutional church.
For instance…Baylor University…a Baptist institution…tells us that Baptists divide up into 22 different denominational identities.
- And that’s just in the United States.
- There are more than 30 different Methodist branches just in North America.
- With the new Global Methodist Church added last year as a break-away denomination from the United Methodist Church…
- Because of that large denomination’s most recent schism.
- Lutherans? Well…about 150 separate Lutheran bodies globally.
- I could spend the rest of this homily listing hundreds of other branches and divisions within Christianity.
- I do wonder whether all that division breaks the heart of Jesus.
- Today…let’s take a few minutes to think about what Jesus meant when he asked his disciples…and his eventual followers…to “be one.”
It is my opinion that Jesus did not have in mind a single institutional church at all.
- Rather…he wanted his followers…to pay attention to his words and his mission and the meaning of his life and death.
- This is because Jesus knew that his own first followers were not all alike.
- Yes…his 12 disciples were all Jewish males.
- But Peter was not a duplicate of Nathaniel and Nathaniel was not a carbon copy of Matthew…
- Who was quite different from brothers John and James…the sturdy sons of Zebedee.
Jesus even had a follower who felt free enough to express grave doubts about Jesus’ resurrection…a man we call Thomas.
- Beyond that…Jesus had plenty of female followers.
- Many of whom exercised leadership roles.
So…can we find a way for all of us Christians to “be one” …
- Without being locked into a kind of soul-crushing sameness of worship style or institutional makeup?
- Yes…we can find such a way.
- We can hold to the center of our faith simply by recognizing the sacrificial way God graciously loves us.
- And by responding to that love in praise and gratitude.
As the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
- There are different gifts of the Holy Spirit…and we should respond to the gifts the Spirit gives us.
- Paul emphasized unity in Christ in his letter to the Philippians:
- “Let each of you look not to your own interests…but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
- In the prayer we read from the Gospel of John today…Jesus asks… “that they will be one…as we are one.”
- In that phrase…just “as we are one” …Jesus is not saying that he is an exact replica of the God we call Creator or Father.
- Rather…he is saying they are one in purpose…one in spirit…one in love.
That is the beauty of true pluralism.
- Pluralism is a conscious…built-in decision and celebration of the benefits that come from having people together who are different.
- Diversity…by contrast…happens by chance.
- Pluralism happens on purpose.
- And it engages us in a deliberate recognition that strength for good can come out of differences.
OK then…Jesus wanted his followers united.
- Not in the language used to create dogmatic statements.
- Not in this or that architectural approach to church design.
- Not in worship style.
- But rather united in allegiance to Jesus the Christ…the savior.
- But rather united in allegiance to the good news.
- But rather united in allegiance to the loving God of all creation.
I will end with this:
A man was walking across a bridge one day and saw another man standing on the edge…about to jump.
- The first man ran over to him and said: “Stop. Don’t do it.”
- “Why shouldn’t I?” he asked.
- “Well…” the first man said… “there’s so much to live for.”
- “Like what?” was the response.
- “Well” …the first man said… “are you religious?”
- He said: “Yes.”
- “Me too” …the questioner said. “Are you Christian or Buddhist?”
- “Christian.”
- “Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?”
- “Protestant.”
- “Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?”
- “Baptist.”
- “Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?
- “Baptist Church of God.”
- “Amazing. Me too. Are you Original Baptist Church of God…or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?”
- “Reformed Baptist Church of God.”
- “Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God…Reformation of 1879…or Reformed Baptist Church of God…Reformation of 1915?”
- The potential jumper replied:
- “Reformed Baptist Church of God…Reformation of 1915.”
- Which caused the first man to say: “Die…you heretic” and he pushed him off the bridge.
Oh yah…humor hits us where it hurts.
- Because…at times…we have not understood the pain and anguish Jesus was in when…
- Right before he was hauled away to be crucified…
- He prayed that all his followers might be one.
He was not asking us to wear standard uniforms.
- Or to understand his multi-layered parables in only one approved way.
- Or to base our social witness to the world on some political party’s platform…
- Instead of on Christ’s own teaching.
No…he was asking us to be one in spirit.
- He was asking us to be one in spirit to love one another as he loved us.
- He was asking us to be one in spirit to the joy of sharing Christ to a wounded world in need of such wonderful…good news.