May 4th, 2008
From SermonWiki
Lectionary Devotions by Stephen McCutchan
Sunday, May 4 7th Sunday of Easter
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Contents |
Acts 1:6-14
He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
This is Luke/Acts version of the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20). It came in response to a question about the timing of God. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” As Jesus had said before, and as many seem unable to understand, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority …” It is difficult for humans to resist the temptation to want to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). In essence, even if we would acknowledge that we are not God, we at least want to be included in the secret of how God will complete the creation. As it was in the Garden of Eden, so here the question is one of obedience. Jesus gave his disciples their marching orders. They were to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The task of the church is not to serve itself but to serve the world. In preparation for that task, the disciples were to return to Jerusalem and await the coming of the Holy Spirit. So that there would be no question that this responsibility rested on the entire church, we are told that included in those who were in Jerusalem awaiting the Holy Spirit were “certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.” Acts began to tell the story of the unfolding of the mission of the church accompanied by the Holy Spirit. It was made clear from the beginning of the life of the church that we are not to spend our time gazing into the heavens seeking signs of Jesus’ return but are to be about the work of Christ as guided by the Holy Spirit here on earth.
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land.
The context from which you listen to a psalm can completely alter your response to it. If you hear this psalm from a position of comfort in the world, there seems to be a certain vindictiveness to its celebration. “As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy.” If you hear this psalm from a condition of poverty and powerlessness, having felt the sting of injustice many times, there is an anticipation of a reversal in fortune that has scarcely been dreamed of. “God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land.” This image of God who caused a reversal of fortunes in the world was consistent with Israel’s memory of how they began as a people when they were slaves in Egypt. At that time God met every enemy and protected his people. “O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel … your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.” For Christians, this psalm recalls the Magnificat in which Mary welcomed the coming birth of Jesus. “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” Perhaps both passages remind us that God is not pleased with the way the world deals with the needy and that we endanger our soul when we become too comfortable with the way things are.
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.
While 1 Peter had made a lot of references to suffering and facing hostility, in this passage it would seem as if he was concerned less with physical suffering than he was with spiritual suffering. The author in 1 Peter had used the image of the congregation being like a flock of sheep under the care of a shepherd (2:25). In 5:2 he has exhorted the elders to tend the flock of God. Further he warns that this must be done with a sense of humility (5:5). ‘’Then he warned that the devil was like a roaring lion that prowled around looking for someone to devour.” One of the roles of shepherds was to keep the flock together because a single sheep that wandered from the flock was an easy prey for the predators. While the leaders in a Christian community need to lead with humility, the entire congregation needs to understand that they need each other if they are going to resist the temptations that seek to seduce them into wandering from the faith. In an expansion of that image, First Peter also reminded the faithful of their connection with Christians all around the world. “Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” This was an appeal to the solidarity of the community of faith for the resisting of the distorting influences of the culture around them. “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul (2:11). In our culture that celebrates individualism in a way that is destructive to the building of community, it is important to be reminded of the necessity of communal support if one is going to be able to alter practices that are present in the surrounding community. Many of the disciplines of Christianity run counter to the selfishness of our culture. When the surrounding community supports the practice of protecting yourself first, even at the expense of your wounded neighbor, it takes the support of a community to resist such fear. Imagine the strength we could develop if we felt connected to the worldwide community of Christ that was seeking to support each other in loving our neighbor and forgiving those who mistreat us.
John 17:1-11
I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.
Jesus knew that he would soon be leaving his disciples. In preparation for his departure, Jesus prayed for his disciples. He prayed for those whom God had given him. The implication was that there were others whom God had not given to the name of Jesus. The ones given to Jesus were called Christians. Jesus’ prayer for Christians was that they “may be one even as we are one.” The prayer of Jesus was that Christians might have the same intimate relationship with each other that God had with Jesus. While in the historical sense there is a differentiation between Jesus and God, at a deeper level, there is an identification. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). If God answered Jesus’ prayer, then, though in a historical sense there were differences between one Christian and another in the church, at a deeper level, we are one. Therefore when we argue with one another, we are arguing with ourselves. If we separate from or reject another Christian, we are wounding ourselves. We are not permitted the luxury of demonizing those with whom we disagree in the church. If they claim Christ, then they are part of us. It makes a difference in how we debate the issues in the church if we recognize that we are debating with ourselves.
