Greeneville, TN
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 17, 2026
Today, the Church is in a tween space. We are in that in-between place where the Feast of the Ascension has just passed (we celebrated on Thursday) and the Feast of Pentecost has not yet arrived. And so we find ourselves right where the disciples once stood... looking upward in wonder, somewhat bewildered, waiting in uncertainty… We're trying to figure out what faithfulness looks like when Jesus is no longer standing right in front of us.
In our Gospel lesson today, we go back in time a bit. Back to the time before Jesus' arrest and crucifixion… to the end of the farewell discourse when Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure.
In this passage, Jesus is praying for his disciples. He's not teaching a parable. He's not performing a miracle. And he's not debating the religious authorities. He is praying. And what he prays for is the interesting part.
He's not praying for success…or power. He's not even praying for safety. He is praying for UNITY that they may be one... Unfortunately, the Church has yet to figure out what that means.
Jesus' prayer for unity feels foreign to the reality we see around us. Because Christianity today is deeply fragmented. There are countless denominations, movements, opinions, and ideologies. Christians divide over theology, politics, worship styles, social issues, and even interpretations and translations of scripture. Sometimes it seems as though every little disagreement creates another separation.
And the fractures go way beyond the Church… the world itself feels fractured. Nations are at war. Communities are polarized. Families sit at tables where people don't know how to speak to one another. Many folks feel isolated, anxious, suspicious, and exhausted.
Into all of that noise… Into all of that stress and division, Jesus still prays, "That they may all be one." But what does that actually mean? What does it mean to be one in Christ Jesus? Surely Jesus is not praying that everyone become identical. That would be silly… He is not asking us to think the same thoughts, or vote the same way, or agree on every question.
Unity is not uniformity. God did not create human beings to be xerox copies of one another. I think that the greatest beauty of creation can be found in its diversity. Different voices… Different gifts… Different cultures... and Different stories. The Body of Christ has many members, so Christian unity cannot mean sameness.
Instead, the unity Jesus is talking about is about something much deeper. It's a unity, rooted in relationship, in belonging, and in love. It's the recognition that even when we disagree, we still belong to one another because, together, we belong to Christ.
And that is where the Feast of the Ascension, the Feast that the Church celebrated just this past Thursday, where Jesus was raised up into the heavens right in front of his disciples, becomes so important for us today.
Sometimes people hear the story of the Ascension and imagine it simply as Jesus leaving. I even heard a joke that started during the pandemic… saying the Ascension was when Jesus finally got to work from home… Some folks treat the Ascension as just another happening in the calendar… knowing it's there, but not really understanding it...
Maybe thinking something like, Easter is over, and the work is finished, and Jesus has left... He's gone somewhere far away. But the Ascension is not about Christ abandoning the world. It is about Christ filling all things. The risen Jesus does not disappear from creation; he draws creation (all life) into the life of God.
In the Ascension, humanity itself is lifted into the heart and life of God. Jesus carries our humanity… all of it… our wounds, our joys, our fears, our lives into the divine life of the Godhead. Which means that our life, our human life, matters eternally to God. It also means that Christ is no longer confined to one place, time, or people. Through the Ascension, Christ becomes present to us everywhere.
Present with the suffering. Present with those who are lonely. Present with the grossly fragmented Church scattered across the earth. Present with us now. The Ascension reminds us that Jesus is still Lord... not Caesar, not an empire, not fear, not violence, and not division.
That's important because we live in a world that is constantly trying to convince us that anger is strength, that domination is power, that division is inevitable... and that other people, the other, just because they're different, are supposed to be considered threats to be feared rather than neighbors to be loved.
But the ascended Christ reigns differently. His Body is still marked by scars that we caused. His authority still looks like self-giving love. And his glory is revealed through his mercy. It's from that place that Jesus continues praying for us. That we may be one. Not because unity is easy. Not because conflict disappears. But, because love is stronger than separation.
The disciples themselves struggled with this. They misunderstood one another. They argued with one another. And yet Jesus still gathered them together. He still called them his Body, and he still entrusted them with the Gospel. That's what gives me hope for the Church.
Because Christian unity has never depended on our perfection… It depends on Christ. And perhaps unity doesn't begin with big declarations, but in small acts of grace. I think it starts with listening before judging, choosing compassion over contempt, and refusing to dehumanize those we disagree with. Making room at the table for everyone... Being there for one another and bearing each other's burdens, and remaining in relationship even when it is difficult.
That kind of unity is hard work, it's Holy work. And it's work we will engage in all our lives. And the great part is, we don't do it alone. We do it with the help Jesus promised us.
This Sunday stands between Ascension and Pentecost for a reason. The Church stands waiting for the arrival of the comforter and guide that was promised to us… We are waiting for the Holy Spirit that will descend on the followers of Jesus at Pentecost. Because we cannot become the Body of Christ through our own strength alone. The Spirit must teach us and correct us... comfort us, form us, and transform us.
The Spirit is what makes unity possible without erasing our differences.
And so today, we wait with the disciples... And we pray with the disciples in hope… trusting that the ascended Christ has not left us orphaned. Trusting that he continues to hold the world in love. Trusting that even now, amid all our divisions and failures, God is still drawing humanity toward communion, reconciliation, and peace.
Christ has gone ahead of us into the fullness of God so that the whole world might one day be drawn together in him. But until that day comes, the Church is called to live as a sign of that coming unity… a broken people being together, learning to love one another in the light of Christ.
May the ascended Lord continue to gather us, hold us, and make us one.
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