Tools

Charlotte Collins Reed

Christ Church Episcopal

May 21, 2017

6 Easter A

When I was a little girl, my sister and a friend and I had a clubhouse in a closet under the stairs at my grandparents’ house.  The three of us were the only ones allowed in the clubhouse other than the dog, an elderly boxer who made a pretty good mascot.  On the one hand, the point of the club was to be helpful to our grandmother.  We cleaned and rearranged her kitchen so many times that she never knew where anything was, which didn’t matter since she had very little use for a kitchen any way.  On the other hand, the point of the club was to exclude our brother and the boy next door.  This club was strictly for girls regardless of any good works the boys could think up to help our grandmother.  We had great fun in our clubhouse and enjoyed our own company immensely.  As we grew older, we wearied of the cramped quarters, each other, and the novelty of rearranging the kitchen began to wear off.  Plus, the boys did not seem the least bit perturbed that they were excluded, and in fact, they were outside doing far more exciting things than sitting in a closet feeling superior.  So, eventually our little club disbanded and, much to our grandmother’s relief, we left her kitchen alone and went outside to play.

This morning we hear Jesus speak to the 11 remaining disciples in the context of his last supper with them, and Jesus’ words can easily sound like a tight knit insular club is being formed.  Jesus tells the disciples that if they love him, they will keep his commandments, and he will give them the Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive.  Then he tells them that when the Spirit of Truth arrives, they will know that Jesus is in his Father, the disciples are in Jesus, and Jesus is in them.  That sounds about as close knit and as exclusive as three little girls in club house closet under the stairs with their very own mascot!

What is this commandment that Jesus keeps referring to?  Just a few verses earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus has said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Then, a few verses later, Jesus repeats his commandment and says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  The disciples are to love each other, but not just for their mutual comfort and support. They are to love each other so that the world will know the love of God.  And, in another few chapters, on Easter night when the disciples do receive the gift of the Spirit, Jesus will say to them “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” 

Being sent is all well and good, but what are the disciples to do as ones who are sent?  What are we to do as ones who are sent?  The apostle Paul gives us an example of how to be one who is sent when he stands before the Areopagus this morning.  Paul is brilliant in this passage from Acts.  First, rather than condemn the Athenians for their multitude of Gods, Paul commends them for being so religious in every way.  Paul recognizes their devotion to something beyond themselves.  Secondly, Paul meets the Athenians where they are.  The Athenians are so religious, that they have an altar to an unknown god, just in case they have left out a god in the desire to worship all gods. Paul picks up on that and tells them that the god they already worship as unknown is actually the creator of all things.  Thirdly, Paul tells them the story from creation through Jesus in a way that they can understand to show them that they, too, are the offspring of the Creator of all things.  If we read just a few more verses, we hear that some people scoffed at what Paul had to say, others wanted to hear more, and some became believers. That’s not exactly a 100% success rate, but Jesus is clear in the gospels that not everyone will hear and believe.

As followers of Jesus, we, too, are sent ones. We might not be sent quite as far afield as Paul was, but the Holy Spirit does send us from this beautiful space where we do love each other, out into the world to share that love.  How are we to share that love?  In the reading from Acts, Paul gives us three tools that we can use to show the world the love of God. The first tool is engagement.  Paul engaged the people of Athens in conversation.  Actually, the verses prior to our reading this morning tell us that Paul argued with the devout Jews in the synagogues, and debated the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.  Perhaps arguing and debating are most aggressive than many of us would care to be, but the point is that he engaged them in conversation and heard what they had to say. 

The second tool is connection.  Paul connected with the Athenians by recognizing the altar to an unknown God.  Rather than dismiss the Athenian religion, he used that altar to make a point of connection with his own faith.  Thirdly, Paul was able to tell the story from creation to Jesus in a way the people could understand.  In order to do that, he had to know the story.  Tool number three is knowledge: knowing the story of our faith so that we can share it with others. 

Far from setting up an exclusive club whose members love each other and do some good works as my sister, our friend, and I did from our clubhouse under the stairs, Jesus calls us to love each other with a love that propels us out into the world.  Jesus sends us out with the tools Paul used this morning: engagement, connection, and knowledge.  And when we protest that we are not Paul and we do not have Paul’s skills or his knowledge, Jesus reminds us that we are not sent alone.  We have been given each other and the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, to guide us.

                                                                   Amen.