Our Unity Is Our Witness

John 17:20-26

Have you ever experienced a holiday that felt the same as always, with the same traditions and customs, and yet so very different – maybe it was the first year for a new member of the family or likely the last for a matriarch or patriarch of the family. John is telling us about their last Passover together. When Jesus and the disciples gathered for the Passover Meal, it was the same, yet so very different. Jesus washed their feet. When he broke the bread of affliction, he told them to remember him. As they ate together, they poured out the four traditional cups of wine and drank – remembering Exodus 6:6-7: “I will bring you out … deliver you … redeem you … and will take you to Me for a people.” Then, after the supper, Jesus poured another cup – a new covenant – poured out in his blood.

He began to talk of leaving and preparing a place for them, of sending God’s Spirit to be with them, and offering a blessing of peace. He describes himself as the vine and them as the branches, and promises that their grief will turn to joy. Then Jesus prays: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Then, he prays for the disciples and for us, for believers in all times and places to be united, that they all may be one.

Jesus is praying to God, out loud. Jesus is not praying so that God will take over and force the disciples and all believers after them to be one. Jesus is praying so that God’s Holy Spirit will work in and through and in cooperation with the disciples who are hearing and all believers after them who hear this prayer when they are tempted by division.

What should we do, when we are wrestling and really want to just part ways, to give up, struggling, to be one? In the early 1600’s an English theologian, Thomas Goodwin, shared what I think is a helpful metaphor for us as we try to cooperate with God in bringing Jesus’ prayer for unity to fruition. Jesus prayed, “Father, just as you 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.” Thomas Goodwin wrote that this prayer is for us to be united with the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – because the bi-product of us being united with the Trinity is unity with one another. This was his metaphor: When the light of the sun reaches earth, the light of its rays are diffuse and spread out. But, if we could each hop on and follow one those beams of light back to the source, back to the orb of the sun itself. On the way, the intensity of the light would be brighter and brighter, and we would automatically be closer and closer to one another and ultimately reach full unity when we reached the sun itself. The same is true as we move closer to God: God’s glory becomes more and more intense and concentrated as we get closer and closer together, moving toward God.

Following the example, the teaching, the way of Jesus is our guide, our beam of light. The unity for which Jesus prayed is not some hope for the future that we chose whether or not to strive for. It is a reality that we choose whether or not to participate in, will we or won’t we move follow the way of Jesus and move closer to God? Will we or won’t we recognize that we are part of a greater whole – it’s won’t always be neat and pretty – there will be intense disagreements and passionate arguments – but at a deep, core level, will we or won’t we recognize that in the message of resurrection is God’s love for all, hope for all, invitation to all …to draw close to God.
It’s not a choice to make so that you have harmony in your life and warm fuzzy feelings. Jesus had a purpose in praying for our unity. “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Our unity is our witness. It is our witness to the world that God loves us, in the same way that God loves Jesus.

You don’t have to be a church historian to know that the temptation to divide has caused the light of Christ and the church’s witness to become diffuse in the world. Even now, as denominations divide, resources once used to heal hurts and meet needs get redirected to duplicate overhead expenses. But, that is not the worst cost. The world sees. The world sees when we are no different from other affinity organizations and groups – happy together when we all get along and willing to split when we don’t. But we are not a fraternity, sorority, club or crewe; we are the Body of Christ. Division means amputation, permanently hindering the Body’s health and ability to live abundantly and function in the world.

When we come to this Table, the Body is reunited – Christ hosts all people in all times and places, our divisions are healed, and we are made One by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the joyful feast of the people of God. The disciples celebrated it with Jesus at their last Passover together, the apostles were devoted to celebrating it, the church through the ages has debated what it means and how it should be celebrated, but throughout it all, we have broken bread and poured out the cup and remembered the love of Jesus.

Jesus prayed, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me….Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Next Sunday is a holiday – Pentecost. We will observe many of the traditions of Pentecost, and in some ways it will feel the same as always, or it could feel very different as we celebrate Farmington’s 50th Anniversary. How will we participate in what God has done, is doing, and will do in the world? How will God’s glory be seen through us?