Living in ‘in-between’ times is always tough. And we’re going through it right now waiting for the outcome of our governments negotiations with the European Union: should we, will we, stay in the Custom’s Union, the Single Market even? Certainly not if Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox
have anything to do with it! Our Prime Minister has said it clearly: we are not remaining in any Custom’s Union – but is it going to happen in some subtle way behind our backs? Some of us may be hoping so. And then, what is going to happen to Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller? Will he or won’t he call the President to answer questions directly – before that is, he is fired by that same President?
Indeed, no matter the historic meeting lined up with President Kim of North Korea, will President Trump be impeached? America, as the UK over Europe, is divided over the future. How will we manage our very different competing standpoints?
Today is the Sunday after Ascension – and one Sunday before the Day of Pentecost. An inbetween time. That strange time of waiting with all its uncertainties. Those who have followed Jesus to Jerusalem, a hundred and twenty believers we are told, are gathered together to consider what they will do next. Jesus had chosen twelve senior disciples from among his followers, twelve representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Judas has betrayed him – and hung himself. They must choose another to complete again the symbolic Twelve. As they wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit Jesus promised at his ascension they fall back on an old, tried and tested method of the Hebrew people for the discerning of God’s will: prayer and the casting of lots. In a time of waiting this will do.
The lot falls on Matthias – whose feast in the Common Worship calendar is tomorrow. A resolution then to the immediate problem of that first Christian community. A restoration of the symbolism of the Twelve. The mantle of Israel, her mission to bring God’s light to the world is passed to the Christian community – and right here in Jerusalem. Traditionally, John the Evangelist is one of the Twelve,
and taken to have written both the gospel and the epistles given his name. Probably written in Ephesus between the years 90 and 100, John’s gospel is strongly influenced by Greek thinking,
and in particular that of Plato’s theory of ideal ‘Forms’. A theory of everything where what we conceptualise on earth is an inferior replica, a shadow, of its transcendent Ideal.
From which thinking came the idea of an absolute separation between that which is divine and that which is of the earth. A notion which would have a major influence on the development of Christian thinking and doctrine. Thus in John’s gospel Jesus is definitively divine, his humanity restrained. Sinless, he is not actually baptised, neither does he go through the agony of Gethsemane. Jesus’ teaching is sublime, not to say otherworldly – and esoteric.
The letters of John while still sublime are more practical. They address a growing church – but a church that has experienced schism. A church where some have chosen darkness rather than light,
have indeed become, according to the epistle, anti-Christs. This letter is a profound plea to walk in the light of love. We do not know exactly what the rift was about, but it would seem that it relates to that understanding of the relationship between Christ’s divinity and his humanity: while Jesus appeared to be human, was this merely an illusion? In his divinity was he truly human or really a divine spirit manifest on earth.
These differences in perception posed a dilemma and an important question: how were those early Christians to discern who were faithful teachers – and who were not. What should they believe, and what not? For the writer of John’s epistle, the answer lies in the quality of love evinced in our daily living. By their fruit you shall know them. By the calibre of the light in which they walk
you may know the truth of what they say.
The early Church was in a time of waiting, a time of expectantly waiting for the second coming of Christ, the advent of the new heavens and the new earth – at any moment. And still they are waiting ….
In such times minds wander to new ideas, new solutions. People begin to gather around new thinking – and the seeds of faction are sown. What is true? The epistle’s answer: we may know what is true in the light of love. We are then to discern truth in the fruit of our actions, as Jesus famously prays for us to ‘be one’. As we all know, a task more easily called for than accomplished. What does it mean ‘to be one’? It cannot mean that all Christians should think and believe in exactly the same way as each other – for this would preclude Jesus’ teaching that the Spirit will lead us into all Truth – that is,
we are always growing in understanding. Such as we see in Peter’s astonishing conversion
where through repeated dreams, the Holy Spirit forcibly reveals to him that the Gentiles are not impure. They are equally loved by God, embraced by Christ. Unity is not to be found in being the same as each other, our unity is found in our shared relationship with Christ, in our mutual following of his Way. Which is not, and never will be, uniform.
Of course this does not mean ‘anything goes’. As repeatedly emphasised in the First Epistle of John,
the measure of Truth is love in action, we walk in the light when we truly love one another.
Though neither is this simple yardstick straight forward. Five hundred years ago those who burnt
their fellow men and women at the stake believed it to be a loving action to save their souls.
As likewise those who insist that heterosexual marriage is the only basis for intimate relationship,
no matter this condemns a significant number of their fellow men and women to isolation and life-long loneliness.
So how do we work through in love our profound differences of understanding within the Church?
We have long since come to see that different thinking about what happens at the Eucharist
is not something that should divide us – though tragically this is a matter for which many did give up their lives.
Mostly the certainties of opposing viewpoints are based on fierce beliefs about matters of metaphysics, what happens beyond this life, yet matters concerning which we can never have conclusive proof.
I wonder if you remember the now not much used phrase ‘Pie in the sky when you die.’ A parody of Victorian morals promising the rewards of heaven to down-trodden and abused workers, if only they would be meek, mild and obedient in the here and now. After all the Bible says: ‘Slaves – servants, obey your masters for the sake of eternal salvation’. Well, doesn’t it? At the exquisitely beautiful church, All Saints on Putney Common, where I was fortunate to be priest for a while, this gem of a church proclaimed such a message from its William Morris stained glass and its stunning spangled roof. Thankfully, inspired by the Spirit there were Christians in the Victorian church, notably Lord Shaftesbury and William Wilberforce MP, who looked again and began to see things differently.
And Christian Aid, whose fund-raising week begins today, has turned such thinking upside down with their caption: ‘We believe in life before death.’
The rich variety of our God-given temperaments, and our experience of life, our unique personalities
will always mean that within the Church there will be a rich variety in expressions of worship, emphases in spirituality, approaches to reading and understanding Scripture.
It is vital we do our thinking about what is loving and truthful not a future life beyond our ken,
appropriating to ourselves, a judgement which is God’s, rather on the basis of the here and now,
on that which constitutes justice and compassion in our daily life today. On this basis my guess is most Christians could indeed ‘be one’ in our mutual choosing to follow Jesus!
In the years ahead of us we have work to do to remain united in love with those with whom we profoundly disagree on the life-changing politics of our day.
And, as we await the coming of the Holy Spirit, united on the hope of the gospel we seek to share with God’s world in word and deed. Amen.
Jan Rushton