Dropping the kids off at their school this week should have been unremarkable. And, it was unremarkable. It was the same as it has been for the entire year. But, it was not the same. It was not the same for those families who could not drop off their children, who lost their young ones to incomprehensible violence in Texas this week, and because of that reality, it was not the same for most other parents either. Fear usually does not play a role during school drop-offs. It did this week.
As details of that day emerge, all too familiar solutions and arguments over solutions start to heat up our commonly breathed air. Already, just days after the tragedy, divisions between people are surfacing once again, just like they did last time, and the time before that, and the time before that…there are just too many times before…there should not be that many times before. But, the scripture for today stops us dead in our tracks. It stops us because we catch sight of Jesus praying intensely and purely for us all to be one. Jesus prays to God the Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one…”
And, so I think, “Maybe, instead of dividing again, we should at least try to be one. Maybe, our problems lie in our completely and utter inability to be one.”
After-all, God the Father and Jesus are in complete harmony with one another because they are one with another. God the Father dwells in Jesus and Jesus dwells in God the Father. The love that God the Father has is the same love that Jesus has. And, that love is the same love that Jesus gives to us. It is a love that seeks to make us one. In Christ Jesus we are one.
How many children would still be running and singing and playing and laughing if only the one who took their lives saw himself in their eyes? If only he felt as if he and they were one.
But, oneness is hard.
There is a common experiment that teachers do with their students all over the country. It is a simple experiment. The teacher firsts asks the children, “Who likes dogs the best?” Some of the children raise their hands. Then the teacher asks, “Who likes cats the best?” Some other children raise their hands. Then the teacher asks the key question, “Why is a dog better than a cat, or a cat better than a dog?”
It does not take a stretch of the imagination to figure out what happens next. The classroom devolves into chaotic arguments over which animal is smarter and which one listens better, and that quickly devolves into name calling and heated words. But, Jesus prays that we be one.
This same sort of childish division is common in the political world; in fact the political world thrives on division and hate. Nothing draws in campaign funds better than division and hate, and we all fall for it, all the time. But, the disheartening thing is that this sort of division even creeps into the church, into the followers of Jesus Christ. It infiltrates us from the outsides world.
Did you know that there are over 40 Lutheran/Presbyterian denominations just in the United States alone? This means that there is a significant amount of faithful people who agree on a lot of stuff, but just cannot seem to agree on a little bit of stuff, and the division caused by that little bit of stuff causes them to not even want to sit in the same pew. But, Jesus prays that we be one.
And, I cannot tell you the amount of times that people have left the church because they could not get along with someone else in the church. Sitting across the building from the other person was not enough.
Somehow splitting from the church seems to be the only option when divisions arise. But, Jesus prays that we be one.
You might be wondering what me refusing to forgive my neighbor has to do with the horrendous and tragic things that happen in the world, and my answer is that Jesus believes it has everything to do with it!
As Jesus faces the cross and faces the world’s rejection of him, Jesus does not pray in the gospel of John to be delivered from it all. Instead, Jesus chooses to use some of his last prayer time on earth to pray for us. He prays that we be one. He prays that we might have the same love between one another as Jesus has with his Father.
And, that leads us to think about Jesus’ prayers and teachings in other places in the Bible. He prays that we might love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus prays that the thief on the cross next to him be delivered into the kingdom. Jesus prays that we be one.
And, that causes me to think about something that the German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer said:
“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.”
I do not know if you caught just how shocking what Dietrich had to say about this really is, but he is saying that what makes us Christians is our ability and willingness to love our enemies. In fact, this forgiving sort of love is what draws us to Jesus Christ. It is what draws us together in Jesus Christ. And, if we cannot sit in the same pew with our enemies, then we cannot consider ourselves Christians at all. Dietrich took this oneness stuff quite seriously because Jesus took it quite seriously. Jesus prayed about it at great length. And, maybe, just maybe the Christian’s ability to love the enemy and reach out to them is the very thing that is needed to derail the horrors of Texas and Buffalo and elsewhere.
“Be kind to unkind people, they need it the most,” is a quote that is floating around these last few days, and it holds the weight of Jesus’ most deep desire for us as God’s people: that we be one. Even in our differences, we are one in Christ. Even in our disagreements, we are one in Christ. Even in our sinfulness and weirdness and social awkwardness we are one in Christ, because Christ chooses to make us one in his love.
This world desperately needs the people of Jesus Christ to be the people of Jesus Christ. This world desperately needs us to be one. This world desperately needs us to love the unlovable and reach out to the outcast and scorned. Because, a lost soul is just that: a lost soul. They are a soul that can become so lost that they lose any sense of value placed upon life. “Be kind to unkind people, they need it the most.” “The more bitter our enemies hatred, the greater his need of love.” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “Be one, as we are one.”
Do you know what I love about children? They give gifts, even to people with whom they are having problems. There is never a lack of loving artwork gifted to you when you are around a child. There is always a drawing of love to go along with the apology. There is always a gift that can be given, especially to the unkind person, after-all they are the ones who need it the most. And, that is what makes Texas so tragic, had they known, those children would have used their God given gifts of love to heal that young man with crayon drawn images of caring and love.
It is time to start taking Jesus seriously. It is time to start loving the same way he loved us. It is time to give an unexpected gift of grace and love to an enemy. It is time to sit together despite our differences. It is time to be one, because with the power and grace of Jesus Christ, is does make a difference.
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