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Sermon
By The Rev.
Ruth Eller The Seventh Sunday of Easter
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St. John’s Episcopal Church, Logan –7the Sunday of Easter (5/04/08)
The Sunday after the Ascension - Homily by Ruth Eller
[Before he ascended, Jesus said:] "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." (Acts 1:7-8)
[At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed:]
“And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am
coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one, as we are one.”
(John 17: 11)
Prayer precedes power.
I usually don’t give my homilies or sermons a title, but if I did, that would be it for today: Prayer precedes power.
The Book of Acts tells the story of what we call the Ascension. Forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus is lifted from Mount Olivet into a cloud. The disciples are paralyzed with awe--until two men in white break their trance.
Sometimes when I read this passage I jump to the conclusion that the angels are telling the disciples to snap out of it and get to work.
The
disciples don’t do that, though. They are more obedient, and wiser, than I.
They just do what Jesus told them to do. They go back to Jerusalem to wait for
the promised gift of the Holy Spirit: When they had entered the city, they
went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James,
and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting
themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of
Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Prayer precedes power.
As disciples ourselves, we should take to heart what Luke is saying. Sometimes we just need to rest in the mystery. Right now the Church Year gives us that opportunity. We have witnessed the tremendous events of Holy Week. In sorrow and awe we wondered what we could possibly do to respond to the love of Christ crucified. Then on Easter, and for weeks afterward, we rejoiced in the Resurrection. We recognized Christ’s presence with us in the gathered church and in the breaking of bread. And now we stand looking upward, puzzling over his strange disappearance. What does it all mean? What are we supposed to do now?
Like the first disciples, we want to hurry things along: Will the kingdom come soon, Jesus? We’re anxious; we want something to happen.
Jesus
tells us not to stress about the schedule. He would agree with the First Letter
of Peter: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that
he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares
for you.
Sometimes we just need to wait. To give our anxiety over to God and rest in the mystery. To gather with our fellow disciples--Christ’s family--just the way his friends and family came together in the upper room. And pray. Open ourselves to God and listen for the whisper of the Spirit. Be ready. Because who knows when that whisper will become a rushing wind, blowing us who knows where?
Prayer precedes power.
In the Book of Acts, Luke gives us a good model. Sometimes what disciples need to do is let mystery be mystery. The time for answers will come when it comes. As will the time for action. Until then--wait, and pray.
But there’s another kind of prayer coming before power. And we need that kind, too. That is not our own prayer, but the prayer of those who pray for us. At the beginning of our Vestry meetings, we always check in with one another to say what we bring to the table that night. Then we do Bible study. And then, going around the table, one by one we pray for the person next to us, and promise to pray for that person until we meet again. We speak of each other by name—like that list of the disciples in Acts.
It is humbling and awe-inspiring to think that someone else is praying for us. We are unworthy of this. And yet--and yet--who was it that first prayed for us disciples? and who is it that brought that prayer up with him into God’s heart? who with the Father and the Spirit continues to breathe power into us every moment of every day? When we pray for one another, and know we are held in prayer, we are one with Christ, praying with him, being held in prayer by him.
Prayer precedes power.
Today’s gospel takes us back to the night of the Last Supper. Raising his eyes to heaven, Jesus prays for himself and for his disciples. He speaks to the One he calls Father, the One from whom he came and to whom he will shortly return. In his words and in his actions, Jesus has glorified--has raised up--the Father. He has shown what God is like, in all God’s glory. This glory is not blinding light and unimaginable power. It is rather light and power expressed through love: the love that opens the way to abundant life for everyone who wants it.
And now, Jesus says, it is his turn to be glorified. But when Jesus says “glorified” he is speaking of the crucifixion--that moment when Christ is “lifted up”, and we know just how much God loves us.
Then Jesus prays for his disciples. He is on the threshold of another dimension, and he must let his friends go, entrusting them to God--with whom, after all, he will soon be reunited: “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father; protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”
“In your name that you have given me”: the name is the essence of God, the power that made and drives the universe, the power expressed through the words and deeds of the earthly Jesus. And now that same power will continue to protect them--it will be shared with them, uniting them to one another and to God.
But this is not yet fully accomplished. First must come the Cross. Then the Resurrection. Then the reunion with the Father and the gift of the Spirit. After that--and only after that--comes power to the disciples to move out and change the world.
The
message for us here today? The same as it was for Peter and James and Mary and
the rest. There are times when disciples must rest in the mystery. This may be
one of them. Do not be anxious. Pray. And remember that Christ prays for us,
always, there in the heart of God. The time for action will come, and we will
be given the strength and the vision we need. But prayer precedes power. And
God gives us both.