C Easter 7 2010                                                           Christ Church , York

There is a cross on a barren hillside, the very sign of an ignominious death, which becomes a symbol of triumph! There is the mighty Lord of all, creator of the universe, God from very God Himself, being born of a woman in a stable! There are the outcasts of society – tax collectors, sinners and even women of ill repute, who are touched by Jesus and included in His kingdom. And there are all those sayings that “Unless a man dies, he shall not live” or that “The lowly will be lifted up and the mighty cast down.” These are just some of the contradictions and reversals which abound in our faith. Contradictions - where things are never quite as they seem and reversals - where what you expect is not what you get – these make up the story of our faith, a faith filled with such reversals and contradictions.

Yet of all such reversals, those we find in our readings this morning are among the most startling and unexpected beginning with the story we heard in the Acts of the Apostles. As the story twists and turns, we discover that those who seem to be enslaved and imprisoned – the poor girl, Paul and Silas – are in fact, free. And those who think that they are free – the girl’s owners, the judges and the jailer – are actually in bondage.

And we surely expect that whenever someone is healed of a terrible affliction, people would rejoice. Yet when an unclean spirit is cast out of this girl, not everyone thinks it is a wonderful thing. Indeed the girl’s owners see this event as disabling, for now she will no longer be a profitable fortune-teller - not that they cared about the girl but only how she could help their bottom line. Outraged at the loss of income, the owners conspire with the authorities to have Paul and Silas, who after all have only done a charitable act, beaten and thrown into prison.

And normally, when someone gets thrown into jail, you would expect them to devastated and distraught, plotting and planning ways in which they could quickly get out of that place. But instead the contradictions hold true as both Paul and Silas spend their time in praying and in singing hymns to God, as though this were the best thing ever to happen to them, while the rest of the prisoners, whom you might expect to laugh or jeer or make fun of them, actually end up listening to Paul and Silas as they bear their witness.

And there is yet more. An earthquake shakes the foundations of the prison. Cell doors are opened, chains are unfastened and it would seem that a jail break is about to take place. The jailer is in a panic for he knows what happens to jailers whose prisoners escape, knows that he will be held personally responsible, even though it seemed to be an act of nature, knows that he may well find himself thrown into jail, into those same cells that his escaped prisoners once occupied. And surely Paul and Silas so wrongly accused and blatantly misused by the legal system, will take this opportunity to escape. But they do not, for they have a freedom which is more powerful than any jail cell which can restrain.

When he sees this action by Paul and Silas, the jailer understands that it is his prisoners who are in fact free, while he is the one living in bondage. And so asks the pivotal question “What must I do to be saved?” Hearing the word of God from Paul and Silas, the jailer responds by washing their wounds, being baptized and taking them to his home for a festive meal. Set free from his own imprisonment to sin, the jailer discovers that the water of baptism is the source of real life, new life, free life. Recognizing his own thirst for the living water, he enters into the freedom of God’s reign through that same baptism.

And as if these reversals and contradictions are not enough, Jesus Himself gets into the act by praying these words from the Gospel which asks that they “may be one.” Notice that Jesus does not pray that they will be the same, for that would not help the Church or the mission to which He has called it. Rather Jesus prays for unity, a unity which the disciples will embody and reflect in their own lives, the Trinitarian unity into which they were baptized, for the witness of the Church and the ability of the world to recognize the God who sent Jesus in order to show His love to that world, depends on nothing less than this unity.

We confess to believe in the One Holy Church - yet we remain a divided church – divided into various denominations – at last count more than 22,000 of them world wide - each one claiming the truth. We are further divided within the individual church bodies, so that within Lutheranism there are now more than 22 recognized Lutheran bodies in the United States alone – divided by fine theological points, divided by cultural and social issues; divided even by our interpretations of Scripture and the Confessions which are supposed to be our very symbol of unity! Racial and ethnic divisions also exist and it remains true that the most racially segregated time in our nation is on Sunday morning – and if you don’t believe me just look around you! Such divisions are no less scandalous just because they have become familiar and accepted. But surely, surely a movement that can embrace and empower a wealthy women like Lydia whom we heard about last week and a slave girl whom we read about today and which can become a home to a Philippian jailer and a converted Jew such as Paul, surely such a movement should testify to the unity we all share in Christ Jesus Our Lord and to the Trinitarian unity of God’s Kingdom.

So why do we still lack such unity among us? Is it that we do not seek unity because we are still imprisoned by our own desire for power or economic advantage and that we fear we will be weakened if we let others in? Or is it that we fail to seek unity in our world because that would mean freeing ourselves from ancient ideas that we are right and everybody else is wrong? Do we not seek unity within the Church because that would mean freeing ourselves from ancient prejudices that we hold about other faith traditions or, worse still, from the deadly belief that what we do is right because we have always done it this way? Indeed, because of our divisions are we ready, as we read in the Book of Revelation this morning, to wash our robes so that we will have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the open gate?

What are we to make of these contradictions and reversals? What are we to do in the face of these divisions? Well we can only watch and wait and pray – watch and wait for the coming of the Lord at that end of time and pray for the final great reversal – that time when Jesus will put an end to these divisions, put an end to these contradictions, put an end to all that binds us and constrains us in this life. And when will that be? When Jesus comes again! Regularly in our Eucharistic prayers we proclaim, although we ought to be shouting it out “Come Lord Jesus!” These are the words from Revelation today, a hope and a prayer for the coming of the Lord once again us. It is an urgent cry which goes up from the people of God. It is a hopeful cry that the One who has ascended into the heavens will once again among us; that He will come to bring His kingdom to its promised fulfillment and come to complete His new creation. Echoing those words from Revelation, the people and the Church cry out Come Lord Jesus, come.

Some of you may remember a man by the name of Alan Boesak who was one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa . Boesak was jailed a number of times by the white authorities but while in jail he wrote regularly about that gift of Christ’s freedom which could not be bound by iron bars. For Boesak had tasted of the living water in baptism and he longed for that day when all who were thirsty, black or white, rich or poor, native or immigrant, would be able to come to that same water and drink from it as a gift. And to hasten that day and pray for that time, Boesak wrote a wonderful prayer which proclaims God’s reign, a prayer which reflects so well the themes of today’s lesson and a prayer which is most fitting when we have celebrated Christ’s Ascension and now wait for His return once again. Boesak prays “For the pain and the tears and the anguish must end…Come Lord Jesus! For the comfort of this world is no comfort at all…Come Lord Jesus! For there must be an end to the struggle when the unnecessary dying is over…Come Lord Jesus! For the patterns of this world must change…Come Lord Jesus! For hate must turn to love and fear to must turn to joy…Come Lord Jesus! For wars must cease and love must reign…Come Lord Jesus! For the Spirit and the Bride cry out…Come! Our faith is filled with contradictions and reversals, some of which I do not understand, many of which I take on faith. But I believe that there will come a time when all such contradictions will be resolved and when all such reversals will be brought to fruition. I believe that the dead will live! I believe that the crucified One will reign as King and Lord! I believe that the poor will be made rich and the hungry will be fed beyond their wildest dreams! I believe that one day the One Holy Church will be just that…One! I believe that, even though it has been more than 2,000 years, Christ will come again! So with Boesak and the Church I pray “Come Lord Jesus. Come and free us. Come and liberate us. Come and make us one with you. Come Lord Jesus. Come! Amen