The Seventh Sunday after Easter
May 20, 2007
“Jesus Prays for Our Oneness!”
John
17:20-26
Preached at
By Pastor Dennis R. King
The Grace and Mercy of the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you all.
Comedian Steve Allen describes a
hypothetical scene at an ecumenical gathering, when someone rushes in,
shouting, “The building is on fire!” what happens?
The Methodists gather in a corner at once and start praying.
The Baptists cry, “ Everybody into the water!”
The Congregationalist shout, “Every man for
himself!”
The Seventh-Day Adventist proclaim, “It’s the
vengeance of an angry God!”
The Christian Scientists agree among themselves that there really isn’t
a fire.
The Presbyterians appoint a chairperson, who is to appoint a committee
to look into the matter and make a written report to the next session.
The Episcopalians form a procession and march out in good order.
The Roman Catholics hold a Bingo game to cover the damages.
And the Lutherans post a 95-point notice on the door condemning fire as
a tool of the devil.
Allen’s humorous portrayal reminds
us of some of the differences that distinguish the denominations in the church.
On the more serious side, some denominations have used Scripture to justify their
own position while condemning the others – and most are guilty of a
competitiveness in which the goal is to gain the most members. Those who
understand the theological differences argue them out , and those who don’t,
shrug their shoulders in confusion and join whatever local church they feel
like joining, without much regard any more for the traditions of their parents
and grandparents. Meanwhile, the poor and the oppressed, who
are the objects of the church’s mission, look on with bewilderment, wondering
why there are so many groups calling themselves “Christians” but fighting among
themselves for turf and converts.
The division of Christ’s church
truly is a scandal. Scripture proclaims that we are all one body, with Christ
as the head; but the evidence suggests that we are in fact many bodies, with
who knows how many heads. In response to this problem, mainline branches of
historic Christianity have begun to ponder seriously how we might witness to
the world that we are indeed one church and the Christ is our head.
In the gospel reading for today,
Jesus prays, “That they all may be one.”
In response to this passage, mainstream denominations have for over
forty years dialogued about recovering the “oneness” our Lord claims for us. As
a result, we Lutherans and three other churches of the reformed tradition have
declared themselves to be in Full communion. The dialogues continue even today.
Many Christians on the other hand
have wondered whether this kind of unity with other denominations is really a worthwhile
goal. Is a bigger church a better church? Will we all have to worship in the
same way? Be governed I the same way? Aren’t some of the unique differences
between us really good and helpful?
The prayer Jesus prays in John 17 is
known as His “high priestly prayer”, a passionate prayer that He offers in the
full knowledge of His imminent suffering and death. His prayer is modeled after
the prayers of the Jewish priests. The first part is a prayer for Himself, that the Father will glorify the Son. The second
part is a prayer for His disciples, those special followers chosen by the
Father to believe in the Son of God and to go on witnessing about Jesus after
the Resurrection. The third part, beginning at verse 20, is a prayer for those
who will come to believe because of the witness
of the disciples. And that, my friends, includes you and me: we believe because
someone has told us, and they believed because someone told them, and so on…
all the way back to those first eye-witnesses who knew Jesus Christ in the
flesh. But there is more. The prayer does not stop being effective in our
generation. Not only does Jesus pray for us to believe because we have heard,
but he also prays that we may be one.
Jesus prays for unity of purpose so
that the world might see in us the love of God and experience the Word. “God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”
This unity of purpose comes together
in the presence of God. For unless we are empowered by God,
we will fail. They will know that we are Christians by our love. “No one
has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” Jesus
gave His life so that we might live in peace and so that we might be one with
God and others.
Jesus desires oneness of all
believers. We are grateful that we do
have people that we feel unity with in faith…yet we know among Christians there
continues to be division. We are forever
faced with issues that divide us. Yet
Jesus prays for our oneness. He is quite
emphatic about this oneness. The reason
for his passion for oneness is (as he states it in verse 23)… “...so that the
world may know that you have sent me and have loved them (the disciples) even
as you have loved me.”
There was a story of some rescuers
who found a man alone on a deserted island. But his rescuers were confused by
something they saw. They saw three huts. So they asked the man about the three
huts. He explained, “One was for me to live in. And I’m a religious man, so I
built a church. The rescuers were still confused why there should be a third
hut. About the third hut, who lives there? The man replied nobody – there was a
split in my church.
Thomas Jefferson said, “An
association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has
never existed.”
William Wallace, the leading
character in the Academy-award winning movie, “Braveheart”
chastised his fellow Scots for allowing minor issues, internal strife, and
power struggles to stand in the way of their fight for independence from the
English: “We have beaten the English but they are back because you won’t stand
together.
Jesus prayers, that we might be one.
We all desire oneness…yet we want oneness on our terms. We can get along with other Christians if
they agree with us. We can get along with our spouse if he or she sees things
our way…and so it goes. Of course there
are some standards that need to be set. Jesus prays. It gets complicated…this
unity thing.
When we think of all the difficult
tasks in the world…oneness, unity, has to be right up there at the top. There can be so much that separates
nations…and faiths…and denominations…and spouses…and families.
Why do we feel so
close to some people and so separated from others? Even those we feel close to can sometimes
push us away with a word that feels hurtful.
We need to say that unity does not
mean we will always see things from the same perspective. It does not mean there will never be
tension. And we need to say that Jesus
is speaking here of Christian unity. He desires that individual
Christians promote unity in their lives and congregations.
Our Gospel lesson from John 17 does
offer a great deal of insight on unity that can be helpful to families and
congregations.
We are encouraged to embrace each
other and to do so prayerfully. Each of
us, at times, gives others reasons to separate from us. We can use poor judgment. We can say harsh words. We can take stands without regard for the
experience or feelings of others. We can
always want the last word on all things.
Jesus prayed that the disciples would be one…and they were. They were united in their belief that Jesus
was resurrected. They were united in
their passion to share that word with others.
They must have been encouraged in their oneness by their knowledge of
Jesus’ desire that they be one.
On I-30 between
Jesus prayed to give us hope. There
is hope that we can be united. How wonderful it is to be prayed for by someone.
How much more wonderful and how much more assurance we have when that one is
Jesus. Jesus prays for us and He prays that we might be one.