Sermon on Easter 7A: Are we just standing around?
Acts 1:6-14
First Peter 4:12-24, 5:6-11
John 17: 1-11
The scriptures today gives us Jesus’s last words, twice. First, in the gospel are Jesus’s last words to his disciples the day before his crucifixion. It is in the form of a prayer, but clearly intended for the audience of the disciples, not God. If Jesus wanted God to hear it, he could have prayed silently and in private, like he advises people to do, as any of us could do. Instead he is giving his disciples one last message before his death.
What does he say? First of all, Jesus is giving eternal life to all his followers. This eternal life is from God, to glorify God, and to glorify the Son. Then he describes the relationship between him and his disciples, and especially that he had told them (and they have understood) all they need to know. Finally, because he will no longer be in the world, Jesus asks God to protect and bring together believers and God.
You might notice Jesus uses the word “glory or glorify” quite a bit in this prayer. The Greek original is one of those words that has no simple direct translation into English. It can mean to admire, to esteem, to honor, to respect, to recognize as special, and a combination of any or all of those terms. Something special is going on here.
The second set of Jesus’s last words, in the first reading, are those to his disciples before his ascension, forty days after his resurrection. His apostles asked him about the Kingdom of Israel being fixed, now. That was their narrow, ignorant, concern. But Jesus replied, they will not know God’s time. Instead, it is their mission, to be witnesses (the Greek word martyrs) not just in Israel, but all around the world.
Also, he mentions the undoubted arrival of the Holy Spirit, which, we know, is celebrated next week, at Pentecost, fifty days after his resurrection. You can see how theologians begin to develop the idea of the Trinity.
But for all the complexity of that issue, now that Jesus is gone, should we be just standing around? The two men who came to the disciples staring dumbly up at heaven told them to get moving. The next thing they did was pray, that’s a good start. But the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, from which this scripture comes, is about acting, taking the initiative, getting moving, getting things done in the world around us.
We gather this morning, even if online, and pray together like the apostles. We are somewhat hemmed in on our actions at this moment, as the apostles were as well, out of fear and ordeal as expressed in the Epistle of First Peter. But even in our confinement, and especially afterward, we can act on what Jesus has told us. We are confident in the resurrection. We know we are to preach and try to achieve peace and love to the whole world. We need to glorify.
Written for the parish of St. James & St. George 2020 May 23
URL: <http://therev.brianpavlac.org/srms/20200523.html