Texts (Daily Office Year 2): Psalm 128, 1John 5: 1-12, and Gospel of John 11:45-54

May the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

My first seminary visit was to General for Visitor's Weekend. For myself and others this was our first real chance to spend time with others in the process. One evening a small group of us walked through the snow to the corner bistro for a glass of wine and dessert. Our conversation was lively. It was great to be with others who "understood." As you might expect, a question arose about something in the Book of Common Prayer, and someone whipped out a palm pilot to look it up. Your typical would-be seminarian gathering. Then the conversation turned to what it was like to be at that point in the process. We were in agreement. It was a little scary. Pursuing ordained ministry and the responsibility that comes with it, the microscope known as the process, choosing a seminary, returning to school, being in transition, the unknown. Yep. It was a bit scary. Then a guy at the table blurted out,
"Well yeah it's scary. We're following a guy who got nailed to a friggin' tree."

There was beat of stunned silence as we each processed it. What? Did he just say, "We're following a guy who got nailed to a friggin' tree???"

Then… we all burst out into laughter. We didn't mean irreverence. It wasn't that we found Jesus' crucifixion funny. It was the tone of voice and brutal honesty that brought us up short. It was an Ah-Ha moment. We realized we had slipped into thinking being Christian, living out the Baptismal Covenant and the Mission of the Church were supposed to be easy or comfortable. This guy called us on it. Our laughter was a way of saying, "Oh yeah, we forgot, how silly of us." Christ was crucified and from the disciples onward there have been his followers who have been martyred. Why should we expect anything different than those who have gone before us? We were all reminded in that moment in the bistro that if we are serious about following Him, serious about our ministry, then we need to accept it may not always be easy, it may not always feel safe, there may be some risk involved.

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

Let's turn for a moment to the Gospel that was at the root of this conversation in the Bistro.

First, I have to share a little secret with you. I love to do research. Oh… I haven't kept that under wraps? It's true. I'm an information gatherer. I'm rarely at a loss for references, and when searching for something, I can be like a bloodhound on the scent of a trail. Just ask Robin who I sent more website links about Guatemala than she ever needed.

So it was ironic that it was what I found, but what I didn't find that first struck me about today's Gospel. Wouldn't you know the Gospel assigned for my Senior Sermon doesn't appear in our Sunday Lectionary. We have the verses right before. The verses after. But conveniently skip this part of the story. There are people wanting to arrest, kill, or stone Jesus in chapters 5, 7, 8, and 10, but these are skipped too. So today's gospel reading is not the first time we encounter people wanting to put Jesus to death, but it is the climax of the ongoing conflict with the religious leaders. The decision has been made, things are set in motion.

Why are we skipping these texts? Most of us know there is an issue with the use of the term "the Jews" in John's gospel. Jesus and the disciples were Jewish and the term isn't referring to all Jewish people. "The Jews" is used several ways, but often refers to those with religious or political power. There is a second layer to the text because the Gospel also reflects conflict between synagogue authorities and the Jewish Christian community of the author.

I believe today's reading was left out of the Lectionary to reduce anti-Semitism and avoid contributing to racism. But I wonder, is ignoring it really the best way to handle it? Another approach would be to acknowledge the readings so we can talk about them. The intent may be to be sensitive to possible misuse of these texts, but I think skipping over parts of the gospel also speaks to the human tendency to avoid difficult or controversial subjects.

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

So Jesus and the disciples were Jews and, Caiaphas and the Chief Priests were Jews. Why then are they planning Jesus' death? I think we demonize Caiaphas and the Chief Priests. "How could they?" But they had a valid concern, and they are after all, human. As Jesus teaches and heals, word spreads. There is talk he is the Messiah, which was see as both a religious and political figure. They fear the raising of Lazarus has increased the number of people who see Jesus as the Messiah, and that it will lead to a revolt resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem. They are leaders who prefer conventional wisdom and the status quo, set in their ways, a bit prideful, anxious, fearful. Aren't they us?

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

Caiaphas and the chief priests planned to put Jesus to death, but aren't we killing the Body of Christ?

Aren't we the dispersed children of God Jesus is gathering into one? We are the Body of Christ, Jesus is the head. Paul tells us the one body is diverse, but we have allowed tensions and conflicts to build in our Church and the Body of Christ is being pulled apart. As children of God, we call each other brother and sister in Christ, but if we are the Body of Christ, we are part of the same organism. We need each other, and the Body needs us in order to have life.

The mission of the church is reconciliation, to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Who wants to be drawn to God or to Church if all they see is conflict? How are we going to reconcile others to God when we can't reconcile among ourselves?

When a parish leaves the Church, when we distance ourselves and stop the dialogue, we are slowly killing the body of Christ. Each time a student doesn't speak up for fear of holding a minority position, every time a classmate is unwilling to share their thoughts with another, or if they do the other person only pretends to listen because they have erected an internal wall… we are cutting ourselves off from other parts of the Body. There goes a lung… there goes an eye… there goes the heart… The Body suffers.

If Paul's vision of diversity in the Body is correct, the problem isn't our differences, but how we are dealing with them. We're intolerant of difference and we want a quick solution but we need to have patience, we need to show love, we need to stay in conversation.

This kind of conversation was modeled at my diocesan convention. My Bishop and the Bishop of Rio Grande were ordained close together. They have different theological positions, and each had a friend on the short list for Bishop in the other diocese, they hoped would be elected. When bishops are ordained they go on a retreat. On retreat they began form a friendship. One day one admitted, "you know… I really didn't want to like you". The other answered, "you know… I really didn't want to like you either". Because each has dioceses that are split and full of tension, they decided to collaborate, to help each other see the other side. On Saturday morning they modeled what it might be like to have a discussion about the Windsor Report while being open and really listening. It was great. I think when two bishops with different theological outlooks can work together and form a friendship, there is hope.

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

Jesus said follow me, but he didn't say being the Body of Christ would be easy. It may be a little scary. It may mean we need to make ourselves vulnerable saying, "I really didn't want to like you," and being willing to listen to those who are different. We have a choice in how we live out our ministry. Are we going to do what's easy, or are we going to do the hard work of love and reconciliation to keep the Body of Christ alive?

A final story.

Have you ever been in a service where there was no doubt that God was present because it was tangible? It was like that at the Eucharist at my diocesan convention. We were the Body of Christ. A diverse group of people come together to worship, inviting God in, singing together as one. It was powerful. As I served the chalice I was overwhelmed by it.

It left me thinking what if this was the reality? What would it look like if every day in the Church was like this?

Refrain: Caiaphas prophesied that "Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God."

Amen.