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Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 14
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”


It used to be a celebration of Britishness and Empire.

And if—like me—you were born in Canada before 1977, you still have a tenuous connection to the original May 24 holiday meaning, having been born a British Subject. It didn’t mean much, it conferred no rights, and those after ’77 were designated Commonwealth Citizens. Again, nice for Victoria Day, something to ponder at the cottage (unless you’re flooded out) but more symbolic than anything else.

Now, those who are truly British can tune out for a minute for two, as I attempt to explain to a room of mostly British Subjects and Commonwealth Citizens what British means. Or perhaps listen to see if I get it right, and chide me later in the most politely British way possible.

Imagine some circles, starting with an inner circle that contains England and Wales. Both describe themselves as countries, but they are not. Ask me later. Draw a circle around the first circle and add Scotland to the outer circle and you have Great Britain. Still, not a country, but an Olympic Team. Now, ignore the first circle in a circle and create another circle beside it called Ireland. Inside the circle add Ireland (the country) and Northern Ireland (which has been described as a country, a province, a region or just part of the UK). Basically, you have two separate circles, and if you draw a larger circle that contains the Great Britain circle and half of the Ireland circle, you have the United Kingdom. That’s a country. By the way, if you draw a circle around everything, and throw in the Isle of Man, you have the British Isles, but not the Channel Islands.

In some churches they have PowerPoint, while we have imaginations. Pity those poor other churches.

What we created, the moment we started making imaginary circles, was a Venn diagram. See we’re moving from incomprehensible geography to the new math—isn’t long weekend preaching fun. The Venn diagram is something kids and grandkids seem to know about, but is mostly new to the rest of us. It’s basically a set of overlapping circles, describing the relationship between things. The moment we drew a circle around Great Britain and through half of Ireland, we made a Venn diagram.

Another example might be two circles, one for Halloween and one for Thanksgiving. If you list—within each circle—what makes these celebrations (candy and costumes in one, turkey and funny hats in the other) you will have a section that overlaps around pumpkin. The overlap is the point of the Venn diagram, finding the common element.*

Now how about our reading? Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” It’s a Venn diagram! One circle is God, the other circle is you and me, and where the circles overlap is Jesus. “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

There is actually another Venn diagram in the passage, which is really a whole other sermon, but worth mentioning nonetheless—”The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” In one circle is the world, the other Jesus, and where they overlap is you. “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

Over lunch you might say, “I think he thought that after 27 years it was time for a math sermon.” And you might be right. But mostly I want to explore the overlap, because I think that while God is everywhere, we are more likely to find God in the overlap. So, for example, if one circle is God and the other circle is you, where they overlap might be the vulnerable. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek,” it was a blessing on the overlap between God’s heart and a hurting world.

Now, at the risk of taxing your imagination, there is yet another Venn diagram in the passage. Listen to verse 21: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” In other words, the overlap between loving Jesus and being loved by God in Jesus is keeping his commandments. Whenever we love the Lord our God and love our neighbour we are in the overlap that allows us to see Jesus, just as he promised when he said “I will love them and show myself to them.”

This might be the moment to step back and ponder this suddenly very introspective Jesus—introspective and somewhat mathematical at the same time. What’s happening that we suddenly have all this overlapping concern for life and life in the God? In the context of John’s Gospel, the passion has begun.

Two chapters earlier, Jesus is anointed by Mary at Bethany and he triumphantly enters the Holy City. One chapter earlier, he washes the feet of his disciples and gives them a new commandment to love one another. And beginning in chapter 14 we enter what scholars call the “farewell discourse,” as Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, describes the challenges ahead, and prays for his disciples. His arrest will follow.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit and describes the challenges ahead, but he also want to locate us in the overlap between God’s gift of Jesus and the world that is largely indifferent to the gift. The passage from triumphant entry to death on a cross is about the world’s disappointment that this is not the strongman the world expected. God was not going to overthrow the kingdoms of this world and assume some sort of direct control.

So between God’s gift and the world’s disappointment is the cross, the overlap (more like a collision) between God’s desire to lead and our very human desire to be ruled. We wanted God to resume direct control over human affairs, but God already give us free will, the ability to choose our own path. God did not leave us without a roadmap—giving us the law and a gospel and God’s own presence in Jesus—but we turned away.

Still, in the cold light of that first morning, memories began to form, and thoughts appeared, and soon the disciples realized that all that introspection and that prayer in the days leading up Good Friday were gift. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

If you think you’re seeing yet another Venn diagram in the eye-of-your-mind, you’re right. So, if one circle is the world and the other circle is Jesus, the overlap is you and me, because “the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.” Again, God is in the overlap with us, as we are busy keeping commandments and caring for the most vulnerable, God is there.

And, of course, it would be unfair to fail to point out one final diagram, one last place in seven short verses that we find God in the overlap. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live.” If the first circle is the death of Jesus, and the second circle in our own death, the overlap is life eternal: “Because I live, you also will live.”

“In life, in death, in life beyond death” is the creedal statement of the same image, God’s desire to be with us through the most vulnerable moment of all, the moment of death. The cross is the end of death, and the promise is new life with God. It is a gift freely given, since God is always present in the overlap between our need and God’s desire to save, our mortality and God’s eternity.

May we continue to live in the overlap, with poor in spirit, and the meek, and everyone who shares this life. Amen.


*http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.ca/2011/11/two-in-tow-using-venn-diagram.html

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 6:15 AM