Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on May 20, 2007
(Year C, Seventh Sunday of Easter, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 68:1-20
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20
John 17:20-26

I have always liked puzzles. My earliest puzzles were made of fiberboard and were hand painted consisting of five or six pieces and I was so proud when I fit all of the shapes together. As I grew older the pieces became smaller and the number of them became larger, and the overall picture became more intricate. I think the largest one I have ever done is 5000 pieces. In between jigsaws I dabbled in three-dimensional puzzles like the Soma cube or the crystal egg, and any number of home-made wooden shapes. The only puzzle that has completely baffled me is the Rubik's Cube. I know there is a trick to it but I just haven’t had the time or the inclination to figure it out.

I suppose that it has been my fascination with puzzles that has always caused me to wonder why things are the way they are. Almost like reverse puzzles. Taking things apart to see how they are constructed or how they operate. For example, the other day I helped someone with their garage door. Now in the trucking business we dealt with overhead doors all the time, either on the dock or on the trailers. Usually we were in a hurry so we fixed them with a very large hammer, brute force, and colorful language. On this occasion, I tried force and it didn’t work. But I was able to repair the door by studying it and disassembling it, and then putting back together.

When I am preparing for sermons, there are many times when I have to ask why the organizers of the lectionary chose a particular reading for that particular day. From a puzzle perspective, I ask why this piece of reading fits when it appears not to. From a mechanical perspective, I ask why does this particular reading work with the other readings or why does it work on this particular day?

Today’s Gospel is one of those readings. Why, on this seventh Sunday of Easter, forty-three days since the resurrection of our Lord, are we reading a portion of the Gospel that occurred in the middle of the night three days before his crucifixion? There has to be a logical reason.

This section of the Gospel of John is part of what is known as the high priestly prayer of Jesus. First he prays for himself, then he prays for his disciples, and now today in verses 20-26 he is praying us. Now isn’t that interesting? Two thousand years ago, just mere days before his passion on the cross, Jesus was praying for you and me: the church. And what is he praying for? He says, “Father, not only am I praying for my disciples today but on behalf of all of those who in the future will believe in me through the words of these disciples. I am praying for those countless millions of people across time, until I return again, that they will listen to the preaching and the teaching of those whom I have taught and sent forth to preach and teach in my name. And what I am asking for specifically is that they all will be one. That they all will be one just as you, Father, and I are one, and that they will be one within us in order that the world will see this unity as an example and then maybe they too, will believe in me.” That is a powerful prayer. So powerful that he actually asks for it a second time. Now, if you look around today, you might wonder if the Father even heard Jesus’ prayer. With all of the discord in the Church, and with all of the different denominations that have broken away from the Church, and with all of the different forms of worship, and ritual and traditions, you have to seriously ask, “Where is the unity?” But maybe unity has a different shape? We tend to think in human terms that unity is all about everybody believing the same thing at the same time. And don’t get me wrong; I believe that is partly what Jesus is truly praying for. But he knows we can’t do this on our own. Before we get there we have to start with the basics which is to be at oneness with each other, and we can only be at oneness with each other when we are at oneness with the Father and the Son. How do we do that?

Remember last week, we heard the same Gospel lesson as we did on Maundy Thursday, just moments before today’s Gospel. And Jesus gave his disciples the Mandatum Novum: the New Commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. How does the old camp song go? “They will know we are Christians by our love.” It is this love that creates the oneness. It is the love of the Father and the Son, and the love of the Son and those who believe in him, and the love of the Father and the Son with all of those who believe that is the example for the rest of the world of Christian unity. Yes, we have different ways of viewing things, and different ways of worship, and different interpretations of the scripture but unfortunately that is an emphasis of that which divides us. But it is the love of God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son that unites us; that makes us one with them and with each other.

Now at this time, one may ask, “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?” If you thought of this question, I would suggest that we are getting closer to putting the puzzle together. Let’s look at what we have before us.

Last week we heard about the promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had to leave in order for the Paraclete to come. We heard that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Comforter, the Advocate, and the One who speaks on our behalf. We heard that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach us and will always remind us of everything that Jesus has taught us. We also know that the Holy Spirit is equated with Wisdom. We also know that each week in the recitation of the Nicene Creed that we call the Holy Spirit the Lord and Giver of Life who proceeds from the Father and from the Son.

Now I don’t want to restrict the power of the Holy Spirit nor do I want to put God in a box but I am going to suggest, with the backing of many of the Church Fathers, that the love that Jesus has commanded us to have and that the oneness that he has prayed for is the same thing as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Love of God Almighty, is the glue, if you will, that causes the Father and the Son to be one. But the Holy Spirit is not just a substance but part and parcel of the whole because the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and together all three form the Holy Trinity, the Three in One that makes up the fullness of God Almighty. And it is the cohesive power of that Love which unites us to Christ and affords us the opportunity to be one with the Father through him, and further more enables us to love one another as fellow Christians regardless of all of the things that divide us.

This week Jesus is praying for that oneness, that unity, the power of that cohesiveness. In short, he is asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples and to all who will listen to the disciples after he has returned to his former Glory in heaven.

Last Thursday was the Day of Ascension. It was the day that our Lord and Savior, the resurrected Jesus was bodily taken back into the heavens to return to his former Glory in the unity of the godhead.

And today, we are waiting. We are waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. We are waiting for Jesus’ prayer to be answered. We are waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit. If you are in doubt, look at today’s collect. In the collect we prayed that God, who exalted his only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph into the kingdom of heaven, which is to say that Jesus has been lifted up, ascended into heaven; we prayed that He would not leave us comfortless. We need the Comforter that Jesus promised us. We need the Holy Spirit in order to strengthen us. We need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Love of God; so that we can be at one with God and be at one with one another because we know that we are incapable of doing it without the example and power of God’s Love. And further more we ask for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because we need the power of God’s Love so that one day we may also be lifted up to that place where our Lord is and where he said he would meet us and where he is preparing a place for us. We know that there is nothing that we can do on our own to accomplish this act. It can only come through God’s Love for us. God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So for me and I hope for you, today’s Gospel is no longer a puzzle. The answer to the question is that this Gospel is used today to focus our attention on the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we will celebrate next week on the Day of Pentecost. As promised, Jesus has ascended and the Holy Spirit is coming to teach us and guide us and comfort us until that time when Jesus returns again. Let us wait together in joyful anticipation and in the unity of God’s Love.

Gloria Patri