Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Robert Sevensky, OHC
Seventh Sunday of Easter- Sunday, May 13, 2018
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| Br. Robert Sevensky |
I found particularly exciting Bp. Seraphim's reference to the passage of St. John's Gospel, Chapter 16, that we heard at today's Eucharist. It is a portion of Jesus' Farewell Prayer for himself and his disciples placed immediately before his betrayal and death.
Indeed, the whole set of chapters in John's Gospel beginning at Chapter 13 and known as Jesus' “farewell discourse” has long fascinated me, and if I had to spend my time on a desert island with only a few pages of Scripture, these chapters would be among the few I would choose. I love the noble language and the complex imagery. I love the transcendent feel of them. I love the pathos and the longing and the hope and the deep unity that they express.
But the thing is, I don't think I understand them in the least. I feel like the disciples who, in the middle of the discourse in Chapter 16 say, “We do not know what he is talking about.” So at least I'm in good company.
Bp. Seraphim sees in these lofty words prayed by Jesus an expression of sobornost, that profound unity of all believers and indeed of all creation. And he goes on to describe these words, this prayer, as the completion of the initiation of Jesus' apostles and all “those who believe through their word.” Which is to say, the initiation of us all (p. 43).
Initiation rituals are present, of course, in every human society. They generally mark and effect the passage from one stage of life to another, most dramatically in the passage from childhood to adulthood, from partial membership to full belonging, from virginity to fertility. They are generally
characterized by social isolation, physical and emotional challenges, and by secret knowledge or power passed down to the initiate who is then expected to take up a new role in the community or tribe.
Bp. Seraphim points out two distinct characteristics of Jesus' initiation of the apostles and of us as given us in John's gospel. First, the initiation is given not to an individual but to a whole group, precisely because the mystery into which they (and we) are being initiated is that of community itself, and specifically the church as the image and foretaste of a redeemed and reconciled humanity. Jesus introduces this at the outset by washing the disciples' feet and showing, through symbolic action as much by words, that it is in mutual, even sacrificial, service that we find the beating heart of a new life.
And secondly, Jesus' initiation of his friends is not primarily by means of or in service of power or knowledge, important as these might be. Rather it is an initiation into love and for love, as we have been hearing so often these past weeks. Jesus prays that God's love may be in us and he in us and we in him. And in today's passage, Jesus prays for his disciples: “protect them from the evil one, protect them in your name...that they may all be one.”
Jesus still prays that for us, whispering in the Father's ear the deepest desires of our human hearts and minds, desires, and longings that we, by and large, have yet to recognize or name in ourselves, either individually or corporately. Jesus whispers them so that God may protect and purify and deepen them and at last reveal them to us. This is what the glorified Jesus does. This is the work of our ascended Lord.
Which is why I love Ascensiontide. Far from being a useless metaphor held captive by an archaic and outmoded triple-Decker view of the universe, the Ascension speaks to us of the ultimate fruits of Christ's Resurrection: our human nature and the whole created order raised up close, close to the heart of God, never again to be separated from Divinity. We have there the One who pleads for us, speaks to us, and works with us through his promised Spirit right now, today...urging us onward to take the next right step. Directing us in ways large and small. And surprising us daily.
Bp. Seraphim concludes his consideration of sobornost, of Christian community and coinherence, by likening it to Indra's net. Admittedly I know next to nothing about Indra or his net. He is an Indian deity who story has many layers and a complex history and various levels of meaning. So let me quote the good bishop:
“...in the wonderful net of that old Indian god, there is a gem at each intersection and in each gem the reflection of every other.”This image of the fishing net made of gems bound together by lines of mutual reflection has enjoyed a certain popularity in the last 40 years or so in the new physics or cosmology as a symbol of the intimate and eternal inter-relationship and mutual dependency of all things: people, planet, cosmos, everything. As such it is a rich and tantalizing visual. I am put in mind of Thomas Merton's vision that we are each of us points of light shining like the sun and reflecting all others in that web that constitutes the Real.
But, according to Bp. Seraphim,
“...we see in John 17 that the lines that join the gems of Indra's net are not merely lines of mutual reflection but rather lines of love by which each sustains and creates each in the diagram of the Glory (to use John's word here for “Spirit”), and all are created, sustained, and completed in one.” (pp. 45-46)Imagine that: a universe in the truest sense of the term...cosmic unity in diversity, complexity interrelated and codependent...created and connected and nurtured and sustained:
in love
by love
for love.
To echo Br. Aidan's Easter sermon: Now that's an Ascension worth celebrating.
So, brothers and sisters, let us keep the feast.
"And now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due, all might, majesty, power and dominion, world without end."
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