May 4, 2008 – The Seventh Sunday in Easter
Acts 1:6-11 & John 17:1-10
Grace and peace to you from God, the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
It might we appear that we are “Time Traveling” – following the bouncing ball from our First Lesson, which details the events that we mark on Ascension Day (40 days after Easter;) to the Gospel from John, which has Jesus praying for his disciples at the Last Supper on Thursday of Holy Week, to today, the 7th and last Sunday of Easter. Add to that confusion Thursday’s National Day of Prayer, and you find a hodge-podge of time and stories that would confuse even the most flexible Christian!
So let’s begin with last Thursday. We really should make more of Ascension Day, but it’s no wonder we don’t, first because it marks 40 days within the 50 days of Easter, and always lands on a Thursday rather than a Sunday. It is also often overlooked because it is hard to celebrate a day that reminds us of God’s absence – this sort of “Farewell & Godspeed” for Jesus. Any of you who have been here when we have marked someone leaving this community know that it is bittersweet, saying goodbye to someone who has been part of the family, and is now moving on to a different family, a different place.
But that celebration is only one that falls within our cultural “celebration season.” It is Spring, and we are in the midst of weddings, showers and anniversaries; we brought two little boys into God’s kingdom last week through Baptism, and today we bless our Graduates. Add in to the mix our children’s choir, Alabare’ and a new liturgical dance ministry premiering today, with tornados and memorials and we are reminded yet again that all our human life is full of “Hellos and Goodbyes.” None of those are without sadness and anticipation, and we often find ourselves asking the very human question, “Where do I fit in all of this?”
It was the same for the disciples, who took the opportunity before Jesus ascended to ask, “Lord, is THIS the time when you will restore Israel?” Is this the time when you will prove you are the Messiah we had been expecting? Is this the time you will overthrow Rome? Is this the time when we finally get what WE want? But those questions were not to be answered for them, because this transition is a goodbye, and Jesus is returning home to the Father, leaving behind not exactly what they wanted, but definitely what they needed - two heavenly messengers with a forever promise -“Jesus will come again.”
Can you hear the “echoes” of Easter in this message? As I was reading the Ascension story this week from the 1st chapter of Acts, it struck me how like the Easter story it is. So, since Acts is actually Luke’s Book II, I flipped back to look again at Luke’s account of Easter morning. Here I found an absolutely striking parallel:
Luke’s Easter Story:
Luke 24:4 “Suddenly two men in dazzling clothes”
24:5a - Addressing the terrified women
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?
24:5b - He is not here, but has risen!
Acts Ascension Story:
Acts 1:10 “Suddenly two men in white robes”
1.11a – (Speaking to) “Men of Galilee”
“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
1:11b Jesus (taken up to heaven) will come again!
I find these parallels fascinating, and, indeed, as clues to our faith journeys. We seem to be destined to be looking for God and yet we seem almost as destined to look in the wrong places: for many of us the search takes place, here, among the dead, which is often used to describe the things of this world. Or, if we have already discovered that we cannot find God in the pursuits of this world, we may very well find ourselves staring up toward the heavens, waiting for God to give us a sign or send us the answer to our “why?” or reveal his perfect plan for our lives. All of this looking for God, when we should be simply focusing on Jesus, the one in whom God is revealed, the One who brought God to us, the One who is “God with us.”
And in this revealed God, we are given two gifts before he departs this human flesh: a prayer and a promise. The Prayer, comes directly from Jesus’ own lips to our ears, as he prays to God for us, telling us that we will glorify/honor God as he has done – by doing God’s work…and asks for God’s protection.
Then, Jesus makes a Promise – “You will receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” If Christians ever needed a mission statement here is a great one: You will be my witnesses. That means just what it says, “you will be my witnesses – to what you have seen.” So if you haven’t seen God in this world, then you do not need to witness! But I know most of you pretty well, and I’ve heard the stories of God’s work in your lives, in your families and friends, in this community and our world. You are witnesses to that. Not to what you don’t know, or what you haven’t learned, but only to what you have seen. And for that witness in the world, God offers protection, and the Holy Spirit offers power.
We ALL struggle with changes in our life, the ups and downs and cycles and seasons, and mostly, I think, the changes that WE author: we spend a good deal of time, energy and care on our children, so that they can “fly”- yet when they do, we find our nests are empty. We work long and hard for that promotion, and then, finally, the new job is offered! But it means we must move away. Our bodies harbor diseases, we age, our health diminishes, and we learn about surrender, and patience and peace. We finally retire; but in doing so, we lose our identity. Every change (chosen or not) brings sadness. The Question is: Can a loss ever contribute to making life better than before? Making us stronger than we were? Drawing us closer to God than before? Remember the old saying, “The heat that hardens the clay also melts the wax – each of us continues to become, emerge and change.” Before Easter dawns, there is Good Friday, and in the face of death, God brings forth new life.
You know, the best proof of Easter and the Resurrection is the change in the disciples once Jesus went home to God. No one would have guessed what could happen when they stopped looking into the sky and started looking at each other instead. But those eleven abandoned disciples with nothing to show for their following, had a story to tell – a story full of sadness, a story full of joy. A story given with a promise and a prayer - a story received such that:
+ followers became leaders
+ listeners became preachers
+ converts became missionaries
+ healed became healers
+ and disciples became apostles: witnesses of the Risen Christ.
As we pause one more time and point our eyes to the empty tomb…a place of grief, and a place of great joy…let us give thanks to God that our changes, our hellos and goodbyes, our very lives are rooted in this one simple fact in which we echo Easter: Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia. Amen.
Resources: Barbara Brown Taylor – Gospel Medicine; and W. Wayne Price - “In Transition”
