W hat comes to mind for me is another clever person communicating after being arrested, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King offers a twist to this notion of oneness not as a desire but as a usually unrecognized fact: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Acts 22:30; 23:6-11
Psalm 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

J ohn 17:20-26 "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, (21) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that  you have sent me. (22) The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, (23) I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as  you have loved me. (24) Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world. (25) O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you; and these know that you have sent me. (26) I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."


Meditation by Ken Reed-Bouley

“Paul was aware that some were Sadducees and some Pharisees, so he called out before the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.” When he said this, a dispute broke between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the group became divided.”

Why did the group divide and argue? Because the Pharisees believed in resurrection whereas Sadducees did not. Paul knew his audience and cleverly, even easily, got them to fight amongst themselves.

This bold move by Paul was no random exercise. Paul had been arrested and was in the midst of being beaten. He was at risk of being murdered by the group assembled. But Paul was smarter than his persecutors and figured out a way nonviolently to “divide and conquer,” if only to earn himself a reprieve.

Interestingly the Gospel reading from John reads like a poetic treatise not on division but on oneness. John quotes Jesus as praying about oneness in God: “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

What comes to mind for me is another clever person communicating after being arrested, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King offers a twist to this notion of oneness not as a desire but as a usually unrecognized fact: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Ultimately I believe St. Paul, Jesus, and Dr. King are all expressing similar truths and needs but with different emphases. Inviting our persecutors to argue with each other rather than unite against us, praying for deeper oneness in God and Jesus, and recognizing the inextricable connections among us all (human beings and God included): clever all three.




Supplementary Reading
Plug in to the Light

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5