The uniting power of the cross. A talk for the week of prayer for Christian Unity
John 12:31-37
It is good to meet together, especially as we disagree on many things
We disagree on where authority ultimately lies, on how to balance faithfulness and inclusion, on the sanctity of life – both at the beginning and end, gay sex, on the nature and priorities of the church, on war and peace, on the Kingdom of God and the relation between the now and then, on migration and where boundaries are drawn, gender roles, the number of sacraments and what happens at baptism and communion, on whether everyone will be saved, on music, councils, liturgy and style of worship. I could go on.
And yet, despite the differences, we have much in common.
It is good to meet together, especially as we disagree on many things
We disagree on where authority ultimately lies, on how to balance faithfulness and inclusion, on the sanctity of life – both at the beginning and end, gay sex, on the nature and priorities of the church, on war and peace, on the Kingdom of God and the relation between the now and then, on migration and where boundaries are drawn, gender roles, the number of sacraments and what happens at baptism and communion, on whether everyone will be saved, on music, councils, liturgy and style of worship. I could go on.
And yet, despite the differences, we have much in common.
An audio of this talk can be found here
When I worked in St Andrews Anglican Church in Moscow, I was invited to speak with some students at the Tikhon Orthodox university about the differences between Anglicanism and Orthodoxy. But I asked if instead I could speak on similarities. Because while the differences are very obvious, what we have in common is so much deeper.
We have the scriptures, we have the Lord’s Prayer, we have the creeds.
And we have Jesus, crucified, risen and exalted.
A diplomat in Moscow was speaking with me about the fierce persecution that the Jehovah’s Witnesses suffer in Russia. And then they said something like, ‘But they are pretty crazy’. To which I replied, ‘But then I am a person who believes that a Jewish peasant who lived 2000 years ago was the eternal Son of God come to earth as a human being, that he was crucified, that he rose from the dead, that he reigns now and one day will return. Now that really is crazy.’
It is crazy, but it is our conviction, and it is fundamentally what we have in common.
Last November I went on a conference organised by the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative. The initiative facilitates conversation between Orthodox Christians and Evangelicals. And the theme for the conference was the Nicene creed: the creed that is said most weeks in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican churches, is authorised in the Methodist church, and is also treated as an authoritative summary of faith by many evangelical and independent churches. Fundamentally it is a declaration of trust (when we say ‘I believe’, we are saying not only ‘This is my knowledge conviction’, but ‘this is my heart conviction’ – and is what I am prepared to stake my life on) in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But the main reason that the Council was called in 325 and the subsequent Council of Constantinople 50 years later, was so that the Church could come to a common mind on who Jesus is.
And at the heart of what it is that we have in common is our conviction and trust that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Lord.
Jesus says, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’. He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (John 12:32-33)
It is all about Jesus. It is the death of the Son of God on the cross for us which brings us, with all our differences, together.
It is the death of Jesus on the cross that shows us the immense love of God the Father for each one of us. He does not create someone who would then die for the rest of the created order, but he gives us his own eternally begotten son, who has been part of God from eternity.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ..” (John 3:16)
And if I see the one who was from before the beginning, who created and sustains this world, and who so loves me that he died for me, I will be drawn to him; and if you see the one who was from before the beginning, who created and sustains this world, and who so loves you that he died for you, you will be drawn to him – and we are gathered together.
And we are brought together at the foot of the cross. We look at the cross and we see evil. We see rebellion against God and rejection of the Son of God. We see fear and envy and anger and hatred and cruelty. We see it in others, and we see it in ourselves. We see our lostness, our need for a Saviour, for forgiveness and for someone who can help us to change. And when I am kneeling at the foot of the cross, thirsting for God, hungering for forgiveness, for washing, for his word and the power to change, who am I to then look over at you and say, ‘but of course I’m better than them’.
And we are drawn together to Jesus at the cross when we see the victory of the cross.
‘Now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out’ (John 12:31)
It seemed that the world was judging Jesus, but in passing judgement on Jesus we passed judgement on ourselves.
When I worked in St Andrews Anglican Church in Moscow, I was invited to speak with some students at the Tikhon Orthodox university about the differences between Anglicanism and Orthodoxy. But I asked if instead I could speak on similarities. Because while the differences are very obvious, what we have in common is so much deeper.
We have the scriptures, we have the Lord’s Prayer, we have the creeds.
And we have Jesus, crucified, risen and exalted.
A diplomat in Moscow was speaking with me about the fierce persecution that the Jehovah’s Witnesses suffer in Russia. And then they said something like, ‘But they are pretty crazy’. To which I replied, ‘But then I am a person who believes that a Jewish peasant who lived 2000 years ago was the eternal Son of God come to earth as a human being, that he was crucified, that he rose from the dead, that he reigns now and one day will return. Now that really is crazy.’
It is crazy, but it is our conviction, and it is fundamentally what we have in common.
Last November I went on a conference organised by the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative. The initiative facilitates conversation between Orthodox Christians and Evangelicals. And the theme for the conference was the Nicene creed: the creed that is said most weeks in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican churches, is authorised in the Methodist church, and is also treated as an authoritative summary of faith by many evangelical and independent churches. Fundamentally it is a declaration of trust (when we say ‘I believe’, we are saying not only ‘This is my knowledge conviction’, but ‘this is my heart conviction’ – and is what I am prepared to stake my life on) in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But the main reason that the Council was called in 325 and the subsequent Council of Constantinople 50 years later, was so that the Church could come to a common mind on who Jesus is.
And at the heart of what it is that we have in common is our conviction and trust that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Lord.
Jesus says, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’. He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (John 12:32-33)
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| The cross that draws all people to Jesus. A mosaic jewelled cross in the apse over the altar of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare, just outside Ravenna. c549AD. It is a depiction of the transfiguration of Christ. |
It is all about Jesus. It is the death of the Son of God on the cross for us which brings us, with all our differences, together.
It is the death of Jesus on the cross that shows us the immense love of God the Father for each one of us. He does not create someone who would then die for the rest of the created order, but he gives us his own eternally begotten son, who has been part of God from eternity.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son ..” (John 3:16)
And if I see the one who was from before the beginning, who created and sustains this world, and who so loves me that he died for me, I will be drawn to him; and if you see the one who was from before the beginning, who created and sustains this world, and who so loves you that he died for you, you will be drawn to him – and we are gathered together.
And we are brought together at the foot of the cross. We look at the cross and we see evil. We see rebellion against God and rejection of the Son of God. We see fear and envy and anger and hatred and cruelty. We see it in others, and we see it in ourselves. We see our lostness, our need for a Saviour, for forgiveness and for someone who can help us to change. And when I am kneeling at the foot of the cross, thirsting for God, hungering for forgiveness, for washing, for his word and the power to change, who am I to then look over at you and say, ‘but of course I’m better than them’.
And we are drawn together to Jesus at the cross when we see the victory of the cross.
‘Now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out’ (John 12:31)
It seemed that the world was judging Jesus, but in passing judgement on Jesus we passed judgement on ourselves.
We threw everything we could at Jesus. We mocked him, we brought the whole force of what we call law against him, we nailed him to a piece of wood, we thrust a spear in his side so that we knew he really was dead, and we sealed him in a tomb with a stone. And the devil and the demons danced. Evil and death in this world will always win.
But we are drawn to the cross of Jesus, because it shows us that evil and death do not win.
Maybe some of you have a crucifix, with Jesus on the cross. That reminds us that evil and death do not win. Satan did everything he could to stop Jesus going to the cross – but Jesus focussed on his Father and was obedient ‘even unto death’. It tells us that love wins.
And some of you may have a simple cross. That reminds us that evil and death do not win. The cross is empty, because three days later Jesus rose from the dead. It reminds us that life wins.
And we are drawn together to Jesus on the cross because we see light coming from the cross. We walk by the light of the cross.
We live by trust in God who loves us. And if God loves us, what do we ultimately have to prove or to fear?
We live by trust that we are forgiven and washed clean.
We live by trust that that the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, of love, of obedience, of humility, of putting others before ourselves is the way of life. That, however foolish it seems, the meek will inherit the earth.
‘While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light’.
It is inevitable that we will disagree. And we will disagree on things that matter. But in our disagreements, I pray that we do not lose sight of the bigger picture, of what we have in common and fundamentally of the one who we have in common.
‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’.
But we are drawn to the cross of Jesus, because it shows us that evil and death do not win.
Maybe some of you have a crucifix, with Jesus on the cross. That reminds us that evil and death do not win. Satan did everything he could to stop Jesus going to the cross – but Jesus focussed on his Father and was obedient ‘even unto death’. It tells us that love wins.
And some of you may have a simple cross. That reminds us that evil and death do not win. The cross is empty, because three days later Jesus rose from the dead. It reminds us that life wins.
And we are drawn together to Jesus on the cross because we see light coming from the cross. We walk by the light of the cross.
We live by trust in God who loves us. And if God loves us, what do we ultimately have to prove or to fear?
We live by trust that we are forgiven and washed clean.
We live by trust that that the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, of love, of obedience, of humility, of putting others before ourselves is the way of life. That, however foolish it seems, the meek will inherit the earth.
‘While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light’.
It is inevitable that we will disagree. And we will disagree on things that matter. But in our disagreements, I pray that we do not lose sight of the bigger picture, of what we have in common and fundamentally of the one who we have in common.
‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’.
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