Unhappy Divisions

Lectionary reflections for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)

By Leon Spencer

Readings for Easter 5, Year C, May 9, 2004

Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35

The Church of the Brethren has a bumper sticker that reads, “When Jesus said love your enemies, I think he probably meant don't kill them.”

“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus tells his disciples in this week's gospel reading, “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.”

Arguably Jesus was talking about two different constituencies here. When he taught as the Brethren quote, I imagine he was presuming that there are “enemies” out there, not among his disciples, and he was teaching what we were to do with them. When he taught as this Sunday's lectionary from John reveals, he was recognizing that the community of faith can sometimes show such unredeeming qualities of being human that it needs the admonition to love as well. At least in the latter case, though, you'd have thought that we shouldn't be worried about the disciples killing one another.

Of course we have ample evidence, historically, that we people of faith have had trouble loving one another and loving our enemies. These days it seems we've blurred the difference even more: “one another” often equates with “enemies.” It's Pogo [the old comics character] all over again.

[T]he Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda responded to something I had written by equating the struggles going on within the Episcopal Church with the Rwandan genocide. . . [he] made the connection between the two “love” teachings – not only that the enemy is among us, but that the way the “true” community is treated is likened to “killing.”

A few years ago, Emmanuel Kolini, the Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda, responded to something I had written by equating the struggles going on within the Episcopal Church with the Rwandan genocide. I found it a bit of a stretch to suggest that a divisive debate about human sexuality that left many feeling alienated from the church resembled the tragic murder of up to a million people. I still do. But the point here is that Bishop Kolini made the connection between the two “love” teachings – not only that the enemy is among us, but that the way the “true” community is treated is likened to “killing.” And from what I read these days, I have no doubt that he is not alone.

One of my themes in speaking of our present “unhappy divisions” has to do with biblical interpretation – the conundrum of how we can discuss with one another our varied interpretations of scripture when one part of the community denies that they are even engaged in interpretation. The bumper sticker mentality, “The Bible Says It, I Believe It, and That Ends It,” really isn't all that helpful for community discernment, no matter what the issue may be.

But a second theme presents itself with this passage from John: defining who “one another” is. That's the other great conundrum in our “unhappy divisions,” that those of us committed to Jesus' prayer that “we may be one” seek to include all, including those who wish to exclude. It's a real test of loving one another to affirm the place within the community of faith of those who are so ready to declare that we are not part of it. Maybe we should work at it more.

In the meantime, we need to confront the notion that any of us can define the Body of Christ by where one stands on a contemporary issue, whatever the “justice” qualities of that issue might be. I'd love to yield to the temptation to declare that those who in the name of a just war theology embrace a war of aggression founded upon lies, deception and deceit, are not a part of “my” community of faith. And yet I don't. How convenient it is or would be, for all of us, to cope with the challenges of the commandment that we love one another by defining “one another” as narrowly as possible. Takes the work out of it, doesn't it?

I am struck, as I look once again at Jesus' “new commandment,” at how repetitious it is – “love one another” makes it into three straight sentences. There seems little doubt that he wanted them – us – to hear it, to hear it again and again.

And we will . . . hear it again, that is, in thousands of parishes this Sunday. We might even feel loving toward one another, at least for the moment. I'm just not optimistic. If everyone is to know that we are his disciples, I suspect they'll have to learn that these days in ways other than by seeing that we have love for one another.

The Rev. Leon Spencer is the executive director of the Washington Office on Africa (WOA). An Episcopal priest, he has served in ministry in various parts of the African continent. His regular writings for the WOA include a bimonthly theological reflection. That excellent resource and much more can be obtained by emailing Leon at woa@igc.org .