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'The
glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be
one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may
become completely one'
Unity
or Oneness is a constantly recurring theme in the New Testament and
it is especially emphasised in John's Gospel and most especially in
the passage we heard today from John 17. Jesus desires and asks of
his father that all may be one. For Jesus the goal is one of ultimate
reconcilliation when all are united through participation in the
divine Unity of God. Despite the misguided behaviour of so many of
his followers then and now who seek to divide the World on the basis
of those who are in and those who are out Jesus is conversely about
drawing people together, creating a unity of diversity and also
revealing the fundamental unity of the whole of Creation.
We
have a long way to go to achieve that unity when we look at the state
of our World today – The Ukraine is an obvious example where one
side has denied any sense of common human identity or unity by the
most terrible and gatuitous acts of murder which ignore the humanity
of those they kill.
So
too is the Texas school massacre of last Tuesday. We have seen
displayed here once again the fundamental disunity in a nation which
is at war with itself over its historic love affair with guns – And
this is rooted in a mindset where the individuals right to bear arms
trumps all other rights and responsibilities.
The
tragic results of this and so many mass shootings before this is the
most obvious demonstration of how exercising our rights with no
regard for others or for any sense of unity can have very destructive
consequences.
It
is of course an extreme example and we rightly condemn it but it is
not unrelated to the philosophy which underpins most western society
which is the cult of the individual or in some cases one group of
individuals over and against another group of individuals. Unity is
not high on our agenda. We see that ironically as much as anywhere
else in church circles where certain groups are more concerned about
being doctrinally right than being in right relationship with others
– we see it in our increasingly disfunctional and broken politics
which is so often single issue driven and takes no account of other
issues or people for that matter - we see it in the failure to
respect the rest of Creation in the way we live on this planet and
are now reaping the consequences in terms of global warming and
climate change - we live in a world of THEM AND US and for many
people that is not a problem – they see no issue with it – For me
to succeed somebody else has to fail – Unity is not the goal but
rather my personal realisation of my goals and God help anyone who
gets in the way!
And
that is the kind of world in which such tragedies as the Texas
massacre will continue to take place – a world where my individual
rights are both the route and destination of life – and this is the
predominant philosophy in our world today and it is antithetical to
any possibility of unity, reconcilliation or healing.
Where
did this come from? Ironically Christianity had a large part to play
in this and it goes right back to the events of that 1st Easter.
As
you know this is the Sunday after the Ascension and the Ascension
like many other events in Jesus life is depicted very clearly in art
and iconography deriving from the Gospel stories – Indeed right
through from the Annunciation to the Ascension all the key moments in
Jesus life and ministry are recorded in the Gospels and by extension
in art and iconography with the exception of one event which is not
described in the Gospels but only its aftermath and that is of course
Easter – the single most important event in the life of Jesus and
the calendar of the Church.
However
as the New Testament theologians John Dominic Crossan and his wife
Sarah Sexton Crossan, in their book Resurrecting Easter, have
observed it was inevitable that in the absence of any direct record
of the Ressurection the Christian imagination eventually created a
direct image of Christ's Ressurrection............In fact 2, one in
AD 400 and the other around AD 700 but they were very different. The
first focuses on Christ alone and is based on the empty tomb and is
seen as part of the individual ressurrection tradition whereas the
second is part of the universal Resurrection tradition because in it
Jesus raises all of humanity with him. In it (and here I quote):
'he
reaches out towards Adam and Eve, the biblical parents and symbols
for humanity itself, raises them up, and leads them out of Hades.'
Although
the universal image appears initially to be a later one, the Crossans
also note that this universal concept was in circulation at the time
of the earlier individual image as demonstrated in the writings of
St Ambrose of Milan - this next extract written on the death of his
brother in 379 - ' If
Christ did not rise for us, then he did not rise at all, since he had
no need of it just for himself. In him the world arose, in him heaven
arose, in him the earth arose. For there will be a new heaven and a
new earth'
..............and
later they quote the Gospel of Nicodemus which is one of the Gospels
that did not make it into the canon of scriptures: 'Why
then do you marvel at the Ressurection of Jesus? What is marvellous
is not that he arose but that he did not arise alone, that he raised
many other dead ones who appeared to many in Jerusalem'
While
some might dismiss this because it is not included in the canon of
Scripture its basis is absolutely concrete and is found in two New
Testament verses about which very little is ever said:
Matthew
27:52-53: The
tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised. After
his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city
and appeared to many.
So
it is clear that this much more unified and universal vision of
Salvation is a genuine part of the Biblical and early Christian
understanding of what happened at the Resurrection and the fact that
the narrower concept of individual Ressurection and Salvation held
sway in the Western Church had huge implications not only for our
theology but for the whole of our Western society in its emphasis on
individualism. It is important to note that the opposite is the case
in the Eastern Orthodox tradition which is very much in the universal
tradition.
And
yet despite the triumph of this narrow view of salvation there is so
much in the New Testament that points towards a more generous view
and dare I say it and as the Crossans suggest in their writings a
view that is closer to what Jesus intended and pointed.
In
his recent book 'The Universal Christ' Fr Richard Rohr, who is I
think perhaps the most insightful theologian at this time, has dealt
with this very
issue and I find his thinking exciting and compelling:
His
treatment of Paul and his writings is especially helpful. Referring
to Paul's conversion he says:
'The
deep and abiding significance of Saul's encounter is that he hears
Jesus speak as if theres a moral equivalence between Jesus and the
people Saul is persecuting. The voice twice calls the people
“me”! From that day forward , this astounding reversal of
perspective became the foundation for Paul's evolving worldview and
his exciting discovery of “the Christ”. This fundamental
awakening moved Saul from his beloved, but ethnic bound religion of
Judaism towards a universal view of religion, so much so that he
changed his Hebrew name to its Latin form 'Paul'
Richard
Rohr notes that the key phrase in Paul's writings is 'In
Christ'
which he uses more than any other in his letters, 164 times in total
and Rohr summarises the meaning of this phrase: 'Humanity
has never been seperate from God – unless and except by its own
negative choice. All of us without exception are living inside a
cosmic identity, already in place, that is driving and guiding us
forward. We are all [in Christ], willingly or unwillingly, happily or
unhappily, consciously or unconsciously.
Paul
seemed to understand that the lone individual was far too small
insecure and short lived to bear either the weight of glory or the
burden of sin. Only the whole [Body] could carry such a cosmic
mystery of constant loss and renewal. Paul's knowledge of 'in Christ'
allowed him to give God's universal story a name, a focus, a love,
and a certain victorious direction so that coming generations could
trustingly jump on this cosmic and collective ride.
I
don't know about you but the first time I read that it changed my
whole perspective on Paul and his writings.
And
its not just in Paul that we find this broader wider vision of
fundamental unity. In St Mark's Gospel Jesus tells the disciples to
proclaim the good news to “all creation” or “every creature”
(not just humans) and Rohr notes that Paul takes this up in
Colossians 1:23:
'if
you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move
from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you
heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven,
and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
'
However we have sadly lost so much of this Biblical tradition – Richard
Rohr comments that 'Paul's
brilliant understanding of a Corporate Christ, and thus our cosmic
identity , was soon lost as early Christians focussed more and more
on Jesus alone and even apart from the eternal flow of the Trinity,
which is finally theologically unworkable. Christ forever keeps Jesus
firmly inside the Trinity, not a mere later add on or a somewhat
arbritary incarnation. Trinitarianism keeps God as Relationship
Itself from the very beginning, and not a mere monarch.
Rohr
also places St Augustine within this more universal tradition which
might horrify those who revel in his other legacy of the theology of
Original Sin! In his 'Retractions' Augustine said this:
For
what is now called the Christian religion existed even among the
ancients and was not lacking from the beginning of the human race”
Any
reading of the prologue to St John's Gospel tells us that Augustine
was right:
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through him, and without him not one thing
came into being.
In
support of Augustine Rohr asks rhetorically:
'[Were]
native peoples on all continents and isolated islands for millenia
just throwaways or dress rehearsals for us? Is God really that
ineffective boring and stingy? Does the Almighty one operate from a
scarsity model of love and forgiveness? Did the Divinity need to wait
for Ethnic Orthodox, Roman Catholics, European Protestants and
American Evangelicals to appear before the divine love affair could
begin? I cannot imagine! ....................Authentic God experience
always expands your seeing and never constricts it.... in God you do
not include less and less; you always see and love more and more.'
And
so we come back to today's Gospel and that prayer of Jesus which I
think speaks emphatically of a God of all things and all peoples, a
Universal Christ who calls each one of us to live in the Unity that
is already and always was a reality and so bring healing and
reconcilliation to a World that is already in Christ.
‘Righteous
Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know
that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I
will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may
be in them, and I in them.’
And
finally today's collect for the Ascension reminds us that we are
forever in Christ:
Mercifully
give us faith to know
that, as he promised,
he abides with us
on earth to the end of time;
How
different would our World look if we lived this reality that Christ
is all in all and we are all one in Christ? – That is our calling
and it is never to late to start! Amen.
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