Seventh Sunday of Easter May 29, 2022
Rev. Menke
John
17:21 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.
The problem isn’t that we are divided. We really aren’t that divided. The problem is that we are decimated and atomized. We make far too much out of individualism. The result is that we really don’t know how to work together or to have solidarity. Instead it is every man for himself.
I take my kids to school in the morning. What do you think I say to them most mornings? I say to them “I love you.” It is important to say that. That’s good. Do you know else I say most of the time? “Have a good day!” “Have a good day!” It’s not a bad thing to say. Well I said this to my son Paxton down at Badly View Elementary where he goes to Spanish Kindergarten. As I am walking back to my car, there is another day saying goodbye to his children. He says, “Take care of each other. Look out for one another, and take care of your friends.” They nodded and said, “Yes father.” And I thought to myself, “I’ve got to step up my saying goodby game!” That was some solid fatherly advice. And it was focused on the togetherness that we must do, if we want to survive.
Jesus says, “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.” John 17:21.
Imagine you were standing there by Jesus, and you asked, “Is the Father in me, and am I in the Father?” What would Jesus say? “Nope. Sorry. Not you, you’re not worthy.” Have you ever stopped to think about the incarnation implying that each of us, togher, will be one? This gets back to last week when Jesus cautions the disciples against making big religious spectacles for their love and faith in him. Rather, he said, just do what I asked you to do. To love one another. So now here Jesus, rather than demand dramatic adoration, encourages whoever would hear him, to consider that they are just as close to God as was Jesus himself.
We are not as divided as we think. There are people who share most of your same concerns close at hand. What we’ve got to do is have faith. Faith is believing that we are one, even when that seems very difficult to accomplish. Faith is taking peaceful action for that unity to occur. So what can we do to achieve this unity? We can study Paul as an example.
Acts 16:16-34
16:16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.
The slave girl was enslaved twice: first by a demon, and then by the “owners.” Slavery is wrong, and their wealth wasn’t legitimate
16:17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”
Her divination is correct: Paul and the others were slaves of God Most High, and he did come to proclaim a way of salvation. It is ironic that the slave girl calls out Paul to be a slave. And the title that she uses is auspicious, “Most High God,” was the same name for God that Melchizadek used in Genesis where Abram gives a tithe. Paul will not only proclaim a way of salvation to those listening, but also to the slave-girl herself.
16:18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
This is funny. Paul doesn’t heal her because he is empathetic, but because he is annoyed. This is an example of how pastors and Christians aren’t perfect. Paul should have healed this young woman already, if he had that ability. This is similar to the syrophoenician woman whose daughter was healed by Jesus. She is persistent.
16:19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.
The owners are enslaved to money, and now exert dominance over Paul in place of the young woman who has been liberated. Isn’t it interesting how a love for money can degenerate a person’s behavior?
16:20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews
16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”
From what we know, this is pretty much how it happened for the early church. The authorities weren’t out to get Christians at first, but if charges were made against a Christian, they were pretty much toast, because once captured they wouldn’t worship the Caesar as they were supposed to. Why didn’t they? Because worshiping Caesar rips people apart, whereas followers of Jesus orient their lives toward fellowship and being together.
16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
16:23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
16:24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
It was a travesty of justice, and an example of corruption.
16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
16:26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.
16:28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
16:29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
16:30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The jailer was going to kill himself. Why? Because he didn’t want to face the embarrassment and punishment of having let the prisoner escape. But the prisoners had not escaped. Why not? Because the followers of Jesus aren’t about saving themselves individualistically, they are about fellowship, and so they wait to save the jailer too.
What you need to realize is that by not running away, Paul is still not going to leave things as they are.
16:31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
16:33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
16:34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
Paul shares the good news: you are saved by grace through faith, and not by works. Ironically Paul frees the jailer, but notice that the jailer frees Paul and the others. There are a lot similarities between this story and Jesus’ death and resurrection story. When Jesus is crucified it is the centurion who comes to believe: in this case it is the jailer.
When religious leaders minister to government officials there is a word for that: it is called chaplaincy. A chaplain is a non-combatant. They are understood to be unarmed, and to accompany agents of the state. As we think about what kind of action we can do to make the world a safer less violent place, accompaniment is a worthy action to consider.
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
22:12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.
22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.
None of us ever knows when it will be time to meet our maker. But no matter when that time comes, it will be a blessing to be found doing the right thing. Washing our robes in the blood means getting involved even if we have to sacrifice something. Maybe it’s time to think about what are you willing sacrifice? Jesus gave his life for us? What are we willing to give for the lives of children? What are they worth to us?
It’s gotten to this point. Now that the number one cause of death for children is gun violence we each need to think about how we would use our bodies and work together to protect the children. There is strength in numbers. We have to have faith in fellowship in sticking together. That we would be one. Just as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. So we are. One body.
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