Lectionary blog for May 13
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1;
1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
“… so that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17:11).
The words “atone” and “atonement” have an interesting linguistic history in English.
We generally speak of “atoning for our sins” by doing something to earn God’s forgiveness, performing some act of penance or restitution to make up for the bad that we have done.
We also use the word “atonement” to talk about Jesus dying upon the cross, where he is said to have “atoned” for our sins.
The interesting linguistic history is that the English root word doesn’t really mean that, at least not that directly; it’s more complicated than that.
William Tyndale has often been credited with inventing the word, which is doubtful, but it is certain that he was the first to use it in an English translation of the Bible, his 1526 New Testament. He was looking for a word that would render the subtleties of the Greek word “kattallage” and the related terms “kattallasso.” Both of which have to do with the restoring of a broken relationship to wholeness, with becoming reconciled. He settled upon “at-one-ment”—being made one. It was derived from the Middle English “atonen” and the French “at on” i.e. “at one,” “in harmony” (Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, p.56).
“… so that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17:11).
How is this oneness, harmony, this unity, this reconciliation, to be achieved? Our language about “atoning for our sins” indicates that we often think it’s something we do. The efforts we make to “be good,” and more particularly, the efforts some of us make to force others to be good in the way we think they should, imply a belief that God will only love and bless us if we’re either good or if we act to make up for our faults and failures.
But the consistent witness of the Scriptures is that atonement is something God in Christ did for us and the world and something God continues to do in and for us.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus prayed that his followers, his disciples, might be one. Then he went out and did something about it. He reconciled, he harmonized, he “at-oned” us. On the cross, Christ made us one with God and one another.
But the consistent witness of the Scriptures is that atonement is something God in Christ did for us and the world and something God continues to do in and for us.
Dr. J. Benjamin “Benny” Bedenbaugh taught the New Testament for many years at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C. He memorably referred to God’s act upon the cross, God’s act of reconciliation, as “God hugging the world to himself in an embrace of love” (classroom lecture, spring 1983). I am always reminded of Benny’s words when I hear the Eucharistic Prayer that says, “In great love you sent to us Jesus, who reached out to heal the sick and suffering, who preached good news to the poor, and who, on the cross, opened his arms to all” (Thanksgiving at Table V, p. 65, ELW).
God in Christ has made peace with us and between us. Through the “finished work of the cross,” we are one with God, and we are one with each other. But as we are all too often aware, it seldom feels like it.
Everywhere we look there is conflict. When our families, churches, schools and governments are full of turmoil, when our days are regularly punctuated with the pointing of fingers and angry shouting, we are made to wonder—where is this unity, this reconciliation, this “oneness,” that Jesus prayed for, and the church so confidently proclaims?
The work is finished, but it is not complete. We live in the “already but not yet” kingdom of God. Jesus also prayed, “‘As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world’” (John 17:18).
Jesus finished the work of reconciliation upon the cross; we are sent out to tell the world the wonderful good news of what God has done for us and for them.
We are invited to be agents of at-one-ness. The more we realize what God has done for us, the more we understand how much God has forgiven us, the closer we feel to God—and the more we are able to turn in the direction of our families, churches, workplaces and communities, reaching out with love, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.
Week after week, we pray for unity and peace; we eat together in communion, “one-ness,” with God and each other. Then we walk out the doors and into the world, with open hearts and open arms, hugging the world with love of God in Christ.
Amen and amen.
