Taking It To The Next Level

John 17: 1-11

Roger Lynn

May 14, 2017

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

John’s Gospel is notoriously difficult to follow sometimes. The language seems to fold back in on itself. There are times when I’m reading passages from this Gospel and I find myself staring at the page, saying “huh?” It is easy to get lost in the details. But if you take a step back, relax and try to get a sense of the bigger picture, some powerful images pop out.

In Jesus’ prayer from our reading for this morning, what we find is a desire for unity among those who are seeking after God. “God, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:11) Protection is needed because we seem to be very good at finding ways to foster separation instead of unity. All too often “us and them” seems to come more naturally than simply “us.” And so Jesus prays that we might all be one – not sameness, not uniformity, but community, connection, relationship. At the time John’s Gospel was written, late in the first century, there was a sense that this unity was limited to Christians. And maybe at the time that made sense, at least in terms of a starting place, because there was no unity even within the early church. Following Christ did not guarantee getting along with each other.  We understand about that. 2,000 years later there are still times when it seems as if we have elevated inter-church fighting to an art form. The prayer that we might all be one, even if only limited to Christians, still has not been realized. It’s still not a bad place to begin.

At the same time, however, we can no longer even pretend to have the luxury of limiting such a vision simply to other Christians. The need for a unity which includes all of humanity, and, indeed, all of creation, has never been more apparent. And such a dream is, in fact, rooted in Jesus’ prayer in John’s Gospel. At the beginning of the prayer, before the part about all being made one, there is a statement about the universal, all-inclusive nature of Jesus’ mission. It’s not just about his disciples, or even those who have somehow heard about Jesus. The reality of God is that everyone everywhere is included in the abundant life to which Jesus is pointing us. The unity for which Jesus prays is a universal unity – a unity where we recognize, honor and celebrate our connection with each other. It is not easy. It is not sappy and sentimental. It is not superficial. It requires consistent, long-term effort. It requires risk. And it will always be a process rather than a destination. Because just when we get one frontier figured out, we become aware of another. Whenever and wherever we become aware of “us and them” thinking we are confronted with another area where we need to work on dismantling the roadblocks which keep us separated from each other. 

Martin Bell once wrote a story about this quest for unity, and the difficulty of reaching that goal, and the patience of God in the process. It was written almost 50 years ago, so the imagery for God is very male-oriented. But Bell’s point is powerfully hopeful nonetheless.

I think God must be very old and very tired. Maybe he used to look splendid and fine in his general’s uniform, but no more. He’s been on the march a long time, you know. And look at his rag-tag little army! All he has for soldiers are you and me. Dumb little army. Listen! The drum beat isn’t even regular. Everyone is out of step. And there! You see? God keeps stopping along the way to pick up one of the tinier soldiers who decided to wander off and play with a frog, or run in a field, or whose foot got tangled in the underbrush. God will never get anywhere that way. And yet, the march goes on.

Do you see how the marchers have broken up into little groups? Look at that group up near the front. Now, there’s a snappy outfit. They all look pretty much alike – at least they’re in step with each other. That’s something! Only their not wearing their shoes. They’re carrying them in their hands. Silly little band. They won’t get far before God will have to stop again.

Or how about that other group over there? They’re all holding hands as they march. The only trouble with this is the ones on each end of the line. Pretty soon they realize that one of their hands isn’t holding on to anything – one hand is reaching, empty, alone. And so they hold hands with each other, and everybody marches around in circles. The more people holding hands, the bigger the circle. And, of course, the bigger circle is deceptive because as we march along it looks like we’re going someplace, but we’re not. And so God must stop again. You see what I mean? God will never get anywhere that way!

If God were more sensible he’d take this little army and shape them up. Why, whoever heard of a soldier stopping to romp in a field? It’s ridiculous. But even more absurd is a general who will stop the march of eternity to go and bring the silly soldier back. But that’s God for you. There will be no endless, empty marching. God is going somewhere. God’s steps are deliberate and purposive. God may be old, and tired. But God knows where he is going. And he means to take every last one of his tiny soldiers with him. Only there aren’t going to be any forced marches. And, after all, there are frogs and flowers, and thorns and underbrush along the way. And we are only human. And most of us are afraid and lonely and would like to hold hands or cry or run away. And we don’t know where we are going, and we can’t seem to trust God – especially when it’s dark out and we can’t see him! And God won’t go on without us. And that’s why it’s taking so long.

Listen! The drum beat isn’t even regular. Everyone is out of step. And there! You see? God keeps stopping along the way to pick up one of the tinier soldiers who decided to wander off and play with a frog, or run in a field, or whose foot got tangled in the underbrush. God will never get anywhere that way!

And yet, the march goes on. . .

(“Ragtag Army”, The Way of the Wolf, by Martin Bell)

Artist Brian Andreas put it more succinctly in one of his StoryPeople creations which he titled “Connection.” “there came a moment in the middle of the song when he suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that he never forgot he was part of something much bigger” (click here to see the original artwork)

Who is God calling you to reach out and embrace? What roadblocks and distractions are you being challenged to overcome? I invite you to be on the lookout. Together may we ever more fully live into Jesus’ prayer “that they may be one.”