"One" - 7th Sunday of Easter 2019

2 June 2019

Ephesians 4:1-13; John 17:20-26

Years ago, before I even thought about becoming a preacher, there was a young man, a college student in Conway, who took exception to my viewpoint and questioned my sense of unity in the “United” Methodist Church.  The discussion went back and forth, but essentially he maintained that for unity to prevail in the UMC, I must agree with his viewpoints.  To be fair, I said the same thing …

Over time, I’ve come to know even conservative Christians don’t always agree on every single point even though we may consider ourselves “like-minded”.  The only real consensus we Christians have is Jesus, but is that enough?  I’ve shared before that believing Jesus existed and having the faith to follow Him are two entirely different things.  And that may well be the basis of Jesus’ prayer!

Who gets to define unity?  Do we even know what it means to be “one”, as in Jesus’ fervent prayer?  When St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he encouraged the Church to “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:1-3).

With so much talk about schism within the United Methodist Church, there are many who believe not only is a separation imminent, it has in fact already happened – in spirit, at the very least.  That one, single “issue” has come to define the whole of the United Methodist Church to the point of distraction; and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure who is entirely to blame.

This “side” accuses that “side” of bigotry and hatred, and that “side” accuses this “side” of faithlessness.  Our bishop has consistently encouraged and called us to pray for revival (not “a” revival as an event but for revival of the Spirit in the Church), but there is no evidence of fervent prayer or revival.  It might make one wonder if prayer works … or if the Spirit has turned His back on the UMC … or if, in our prayer, we simply expect The Lord to do a miracle with no effort on our part.

So it is not so simple to read Jesus’ prayer to the Father for the unity of the Church – because the sense of unity, of “oneness” as Jesus is to the Father is not to be understood strictly on human terms.  We have to dig a little deeper, think more clearly, and gain – or regain – a profound sense of humility in coming to know our own sense of unity may not be at all what Jesus was praying for – the kind of humility that makes us teachable, leadable; the kind of humility in which Jesus has the answers rather than ourselves.

Our understanding of Jesus’ prayer must also take into account what He had said before about His entire purpose in being on the earth: “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.  I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). 

In a way, Jesus sounds like He has only come to stir the pot and deliberately create dissension among families and communities, but the core of what is being taught, of what is being said, is not about a deliberate effort to cause division.  Instead, it seems to be that Jesus is actually teaching us about the real way, the only way, we can avoid division.

First He instructs His disciples, as He is preparing to send them out with power to heal and authority to cast out demons (Matthew 10:1), that when they are invited into a home, “let your peace come upon that home” … but if that peace is rejected, “shake the dust from your feet as you leave that house” (Matthew 10:14). 

Even though that “home” may be unified in and of itself, there is a point at which disagreement and dissension will come: the Word which requires a much higher level of unity beyond that home, beyond that family, beyond that community.  “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up the Cross and follow Me is not worth of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38).

The unity of that home, that family, that community is entirely subjective.  Each believes what it chooses to believe, what it has been taught to believe, and each will have an influence beyond itself; but when that home, that family, that community comes into contact with another home, another family, another community that is not like-minded and does not share a common culture and background, there will be clashes, there will be division, there will be dissension because each home, each family, each community has its own subjective standard, its own rules, its own way of believing and doing and interacting.

This is not necessarily a bad thing and it does not condemn one over another; but when Christ and The Word become the standard – and that Word is rejected because of an already-established way of thinking and doing to the exclusion of others - sin becomes the standard, and division is imminent.

This reality is no less so today, certainly in the United States and perhaps especially in the United Methodist Church.  In the wake of the 2019 Special Called Session of General Conference and in preparations for the 2020 General Conference, each “side” is preparing for battle.  Each “side” is determined to win, but I wonder if either side is fully prepared for whatever “prize” may await us … because the greater sin is not found in our determination of which “side” is more right or more wrong; it is found in our denial of Jesus’ ultimate prayer for unity. 

We hear the prayer, we read the prayer, but we don’t really take it to heart precisely because we have chosen “sides” and are determined to win regardless of what it may cost us in the end.  We are unwilling to “patiently bear with one another in love” because we have not only lost all patience with one another – we have also lost all sense of humility.

Jesus’ prayer, however, stands as a Perpetual Promise to those who continually strive for unity, who continually seek The Way as we consistently seek to admit our own faults even as we admonish those whom we are willing to love as Christ has loved us – sacrificing everything for the sake of another, including those who will persecute us, mistreat us, turn on us.  Judas and the others did as much, and Jesus still did what He needed to do for ALL.

I think I’m right about certain things just as you do, but our opinions do not make us righteous.  Righteousness comes only to those who do the will of The Father; and what does The Father require of us?  “To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8). 

Let us begin here; for if we are so willing to “walk humbly with God”, He will take us where He needs us to be.  As One.  Amen.