It’s the sixth Sunday of Easter and it’s Memorial Day weekend. This morning, we consider things known and unknown; things seen as well as unseen.
Certainly, something seen and known recently has been violent weather that has been very deadly and has left many people without homes and in need of mercy and charitable love. We’ll come back to this in our morning announcements.
In case your mind tends to wander during sermons, I’ll state up-front some themes to ponder this week in the Spirit: sacrifice, service/servant leadership, freedom, advocate/comforter, and following Christ’s example of helping God be seen and known through our love and care of each other.
Let’s look at two of today’s lectionary readings, from Acts and from the Gospel attributed to John. In Acts, we’re told that Paul has stood before an altar to an unknown god and is then compelled before thinkers in Athens to proclaim that the deity they wonder about is indeed known. Tomorrow, here in our country, some will participate in rituals of reverance before tombs to soldiers unknown. In both cases, something unseen is still very much perceived and acted upon by believers: the Holy Spirit that Jesus speaks about in John – a comforting and compelling presence that works with us to carry out Christ’s commandments.
As we come before this altar here this morning – a surface on which some might claim nothing much can be seen, and about which others might say nothing much can be known for sure, what is it, who is it, that you see and known? What difference does this perception and knowledge make in your life? What has Christ commanded us to do with what you now see and know?
MEMORIAL DAY
First observed as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation in the latter part of the 19th Century to honor fallen Confederate and Union soldiers following the Civil War, it was originally known as Decoration Day. By the late 1960’s it had become a federal holiday and within a few years it was officially set to be honored nationally every final Monday of May. For many people now it’s simply become a marker of the ending of the academic term, the unofficial beginning of summer, a day off, a weekend of car races and family vacations. For others, however, it will always represent something more deeply personal and challenging – a memory and reality of mixed emotions of honor, grief, pride, shame, horror, safety, war, and peace.
Often, remembrances on Memorial Day will include visits to cemeteries and sites of ‘supreme’ sacrifice. One such site, amid burial ground in our nation’s capital, is the Tomb of the Unknowns (a.k.a., Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers).
TOMB OF THE UNKNOWNS
Established in 1921 with the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I, the ground on which the large sarcophagus rests now also contains crypts for unidentified remains from World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Solemn ceremonies have been performed on this site 24/7 since 1930 by an elite, specially selected and trained honor guard of the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard). The sentinels who enact the carefully choreographed precision movements all day and all night, in any weather, do so out of a high sense of honor and with the intent of keeping alive symbolic memory on behalf of all that their unidentified dead comrades represent. When they’re not meticulously marching or “Changing of the Guard” in shifts, these impeccably uniformed women and men continue to study the stories of this cemetery and the soldiers it holds and convey these memories to visitors who have come to pay their respects. On the Arlington Cemetery website it says, “The Guards of Honor at the Tomb of the Unknowns are highly motivated and are proud to honor all American service members who are "Known But to God."”
Sculpted into the tomb’s east panel, which faces Washington, D.C., are three Greek figures representing Peace, Victory, and Valor.
While holding in our mind’s eye this tomb of unknowns in Arlington, VA, let’s travel back to ancient Greece to consider the altar to an unknown God, continuing to contemplate sacrifice, victory and peace.
ACTS 17:22-31
Paul had been traveling throughout the Mediterranean preaching – sharing the Good News – and compelling fellow Jews, prominent woman, and God-fearing Greeks, to become followers of Christ. Because he and his followers were stirring up new hope and inspiration, Paul and his followers were not well liked by some of the ‘establishment’ and he/they were run out of town after town. Paul ends up in Athens, the seat of learning and influence on the Greek world, ‘deeply distressed’ by the worship of false idols there by intelligent and influential, yet apparently ignorant, philosophers of the day who he probably believed ought to wiser. Paul preached in the public marketplaces often. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate him. Eventually, all this fuss caused Paul to be taken before the council of elders who functioned like a judiciary body for hearings and appeals.
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| Paul preaching at the Areopagus, attributed to Raphael |
In addressing this symbol they’ve erected, Paul honors their curiosity about the divine, explaining that their hunger to know their divine source is built in to our very being. He explains that the deity they wonder about can in fact be known and is close at hand: “…so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed God is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’….” (Acts 17:27-28)
Then he proclaims the truth that God, out of love for us as beloved creations, has bridged the gap between the divine and human in a way that can be seem and known – Jesus Christ. Paul’s proclamation is not yet another option to be considered among their polytheisitic pantheon. Paul unapologetically proclaims a syncretistic theology about the singular God of all who is uniquely present in the incarnation of Christ… and he says this God commands their repentance – that they turn around in order to see more clearly and that they change their direction of thinking in order to better know God: “While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent…” (Acts 17:30)
Are we not like the intelligentsia of Greece in some ways today? All the way back to Eden, we’ve proven to be knowledge-hungry and arrogant enough to sometimes believe that truth is of our own making as we explore a plurality of divinities and philosophies – like choosing treats from a line of religious vending machines - picking carefully what to consume in order to satisfy our restlessness and fill a deeper void we feel (see Paul’s words about being, by divine design, made to long/grope for God) without accepting any potential restrictions on our freedom of choice or having to commit to any one school of thought.
Paul, however, reminds us that a greater, more ultimately nourishing meal is set before us, of which we are invited – even commanded - to feast. And in his other writings, he is quick to assure us that there is ultimate freedom in surrendering ourselves to the body, blood, and commands of Christ. Through Christ’s ultimate sacrifice for us, we have been freed from life-restricting sin… liberated from death itself. Through following his commands, though our bodies might be seen to die, we know that we endure in resurrected life with Christ.
As we’ve heard before this Easter season, as it says in the Gospel according to John, “God so loved us that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).
JOHN 14:15-21
In quoting from John, this brings us to today’s Gospel lesson, the context for which is what we know of as the Last Supper. Jesus is preparing his apostles for living with/in him even after they can no longer see him. He wants them to know that they will always been known to him, even if their bodies end up buried among the unidentified: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.”… “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you (among you).” (John 14:19-20)
Jesus assures them that even after he can no longer be seen, they will know he’s with them through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Although this Spirit might not been seen by some people, believers will know that this paraclete is forever with them as an advocate, counselor, helper, and comforter: “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you (among you).” (John 14:16-17)
What Jesus expects of them – of us – in response to this gift is obedience in love for his commandments: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”… “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14:15, 21)
MY COMMANDMENTS
And just what are Christ’s commandments?
You might remember that when asked what commandments are the greatest, in the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke), Jesus is consistent in quoting from Deuteronomy (6:5) and Leviticus (19:18) with these two answers: 1) Love God with all of who you are, and 2) Love your neighbor (each other) as yourself.
In our sacred stories, we’re told that Jesus continually demonstrated living according to these commands, particularly focusing his loving justice, compassion, mercy, healing, and liberation toward the “the least” of those he encountered.
In the same Gospel according to John, Jesus adds a new commandment, notably after having ‘lowered himself’ to wash the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)
Jesus, through his actions toward others, demonstrates how we are to care for and love each other. Though Jesus is no longer seen with our mortal eyes, through the Spirit, he continues to loves us as we love him, revealing himself and making God known in and through the love and mercy that we show each other in His name.
CONCLUSION
Why do you continue to come before this altar? Even though there’s not much to be seen here with mortal eyes, what is it that you perceive? What and who is known to us in this place?
As loved ones gather at sites of sacred memory this week, what is it that God wants us to remember? As we honor those who have died, what is it that Christ wants us to keep alive in His name?
Through hearing the Word and the breaking of bread each week, what are we called to remember about Jesus who was sacrificed for us? In the feasting on him in our minds and hearts, how does Christ continue to live in and through us? When we walk out of these doors together, what is the Holy Spirit compelling us to do in this name?
Sometimes, we can be overwhelmed by the horrible endurance of war and violence in our world. We don’t have the power to bring the dead back to life and we can sometimes get lost in our grief.
However, with the Holy Spirit that has been given to us, we now live a resurrected life in God’s love. We are commanded to act on that profound security.
I began this sermon by stating some themes to ponder this week in the Spirit: sacrifice, service/servant leadership, freedom, advocate/comforter, and following Christ’s example of helping God be seen and known through our love and care of each other.
Every week, but particularly this Memorial Day week, we are to follow Christ’s example – seeking out those people who are otherwise unseen and unknown to popular and dominant culture. Show them that they have not been forgotten – that they are known and blessed.
Reach out to those who are hungry, searching for stability, certainty, reconciliation, and hope. Make God visible to them in acts of mercy and charitable love.
Boldly proclaim, through your actions more than your words, what you know of our loving and living God. Invite ‘the least of these’ to His meal. Show the world how we feed and nourish each other in Christ’s name.
“…They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." (John 14:21)
You have been given “another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth…. You know him, because he abides with you, and he [is] in you.” (John 14:16-17)
AMEN.
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