What is it all about?

Diocese of East Tennessee: Sunday Lectionary Readings:

"Today’s readings examine the role of an apostle of Jesus Christ. In Acts, the eleven remaining apostles welcome Matthias as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. The author of 1 John asserts that those who acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God will abide in God and God in them. In today’s gospel, Jesus prays for his followers’ sanctification in the truth of God’s word."

How about unity? In the gospel it is clear Jesus' main concern is unity. I've always thought the passion of his prayer in "Jesus Christ Superstar" is closer to the truth than the calm prayer used in the great passion plays down by Branson MO.

He is concerned that his friends live out what he's been living and teaching infront of them, especially in the farewell discourse of the past few weeks.

Judas is a character central to Jesus Christ Superstar. He is the contrast to the unity Jesus prayed for. What an instrument of God - damned for the plan of God. Will the body be able to survive the betrayal? How many times do we face the story again and again in the church? I'm not sure such betrayals continue to be the will of God, or simply a fact of life, but we deal with them weekly it seems. In Acts the body is continuing on in unity. It is interesting that this buisness precedes the Gift of the Father. Perhaps it is not as mundane as it seems on the surface, the unity of the 12 must be restored for them to be in "one accord." The Spirit is involved and trusted in the casting of the Lot. Oh, that church politics were left to God so simply now.

John writes about the unity of our witness in his epistle. In it he echos the Psalmist. "Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son," he says. The Psalmist tells us,

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.

John says it this way, "And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."