I.Theme – Forging the glorious unity of God’s people.
" Christ the Redeemer Statue, Rio de Janeiro" – Paul Landowski, 1931
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Acts 16:16-34
Psalm – Psalm 97
Epistle – Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21
Gospel – John 17:20-26
We were in the middle between Ascension, last Thursday and Easter 7 which looks a week ahead to Pentecost. Easter 7 is a Sunday of Christian unity in the face of the disciples in their uncertainty. This is a result of the events of the recent past, the Resurrection and Ascension.
After his resurrection 40+ days ago, Jesus has appeared to three followers on the road to Emmaus, to Peter, and to those gathered in Jerusalem. When they have thought that they were seeing a ghost, he has invited them to touch his wounds and eats in their presence. The community is not sure of the outcome of all this. Will he stay ? They feel terrified both as to their own safety.
Today’s readings give us a sense of comfort. In today’s readings, we catch a glimpse of the glorious unity of God’s people. Paul and Silas show their concern even for their Gentile jailer, who becomes a believer through their example. John, in his Revelation, describes the believers’ urgent longing for final union with Jesus. In the gospel, Jesus prays for us, who have come to faith and unity in him through the testimony of the disciples
On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus interceded for His Church — for His apostles and all who believe in Him through their word — that all of His disciples “may become perfectly one” in the Father and the Son (John 17:21–23). For Jesus became flesh and dwells among us in order to reveal the Father and His name, to share with us the glory of His righteousness, and to bring us to the Father in Himself. As the Father loved the Son from “before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24), so He loves the whole world (John 17:23, 26). Through the apostolic witness to the baptism, cross and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 1:21–22), the Lord gathers His disciples throughout the world “with one accord,” as one body in Christ (Acts 1:14). And so with one voice and by one Spirit, His Bride prays, “Come!” (Rev. 22:17). And He comes to us. He gives us“the water of life without price” to wash our robes and quench our thirst (Rev. 22:17); and He feeds us from “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit” (Rev. 22:2).
This Sunday, we are reminded that the world-view we hold now is not the same as the ancient Israelites, nor is it the same as the people of Jesus’ day and of the first century, nor will it be the same in the future. We must be prepared for new understandings and insights, new ways of thinking about and understanding God and God’s works in the world
II. Summary
First Reading – Acts 16:16-34
The Acts of the Apostles were written to introduce Gentile converts to the Jewish roots of their new religion, and to explain Christianity’s rupture with Judaism. The story of the deacon Stephen’s teaching and martyrdom highlights those issues.
Through the exorcism of a slave girl, Paul announces the message of “salvation,” the deliverance from subjection by evil spirits that Greeks sought through their mystery cults. But motivated by fear of the gospel’s threat to property rights, the girl’s owners charge that Paul and Silas have violated the law that forbade Jews to proselytize Romans. Paul and Silas are stripped, beaten and thrown into jail
After an earthquake, all the doors are opened and the chains are broken Paul and Silas are freed. After this event, the jailer is ready to end his life, having assumed that his prisoners, Paul and Silas, have escaped. Paul and Silas don’t run away, He is so amazed by Paul and Silas’ faith that he desires God’s salvation as well. “What must I do to be saved? He implores his prisoners. Their response is simple: believe in Jesus Christ. The jailer and his entire family are baptized immediately. It is Paul and Silas’ act of courage to stay rather than run—their act of showing faithfulness even in the midst of injustice that convinces the jailer to change his life.
Belief in Christ is a matter of trust in God’s saving power and presence in our lives. Though affirmations and propositions play a role in saving faith, ultimately saving faith is grounded in the trust that in life and in death, we are in God’s care. Saving faith reflects our openness to the many dimensions of God’s grace moving through ordinary life and moments of exceptional challenge and invitation.
We are reminded of those who are arrested for nonviolent protests, who refuse to commit crimes but stand on their principles of justice and peace, and the witness they share of God’s love and justice and mercy, standing in the line of Paul and Silas, standing up for justice.
Psalm – Psalm 97
This psalm is one of a group (Psalms 93, 95–99) that celebrate the kingship of the lord. Psalm 97 is the third psalm that portrays God as a king, and this time it is a warrior king, a king who is to be feared, a king who conquers. This king protects the faithful, the one true king. The last line of this psalm reminds the people to rejoice that this king is their God
Many scholars believe that there was a yearly ceremony commemorating the enthronement of Yahweh, a ‘feast of the epiphany of Yahweh’. The lord’s appearance is described in terms that recall both God’s manifestation at Sinai and on the coming day of the lord. Then the psalmist describes the implications of the lord’s kingship over the world: all creation reveals God so that those who worship idols have no excuse
The image is that God sits amongst all the gods and rules over them. Similar themes around found in Job and other psalms. The question then might be, is this the repetition of an older attitude, or is it the prevailing attitude. In Psalm 96, the psalmist acknowledges the celestial court, but calls them “ungods”. This psalmist does the same in verse 7 where this translation calls them “false gods”. The gods that this psalmist describes are not worthy of worship.
Of special interest is verse 11 (Light has sprung up for the righteous), whose beauty is a bit dulled by the translation of the Hebrew, which has an agricultural sense to it. “Light is sown for the just.” The fire that goes before God in verse 3 has now become the fruit-light of God’s justice. God is great, the whole universe emerges through God’s wise creativity; but God’s power is not random or dominating but characterized by justice and righteousness. Every act of God reflects power, but this power is shaped by justice, beauty, and love.
Epistle – Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21
The first readers of this book were facing life-and-death struggles with persecutors. Revelation tries to encourage them and to convince them that the stakes are as high as they can be. Revelation is a summing up, in which we are encouraged to look not backward but forward
This final reading from Revelation sums up Jesus’ titles and promises. He shares the Father’s title of Alpha and Omega, first and last. He is both root and offspring of David and the “morning star” identified with the Messiah. He brings to those who deserve it the reward of access to the holy city.
The last of the seven blessings is pronounced upon those who, not only in the end-time but as an ongoing process, “wash their robes,” maintaining the purity of their baptismal promises. The final coming of Christ should be constantly anticipated in the individual and corporate crises of life. The repeated divine affirmation “I am coming soon” is answered by the human response, “Come, lord Jesus!”
Note the promised "right to the tree of life." This refers to Genesis 3:21-24. There God ruminates about "the man" having snatched forbidden fruit from one tree, and decides to expel him from the garden, because "he must not be allowed to stretch forth his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." John is telling us that in Jesus, the ancient prohibition of eternal life has been lifted. Christ’s followers receive the rights to that tree. The earliest drama in the Bible has been brought to completion on this, the Bible’s last page.
The words from Revelation describe the world-transforming coming of Christ. God is trustworthy and will have the final word in our lives. Christ’s return is invitational in nature: “Come to the waters,” God calls. God will nurture us, responding to our deepest needs. You just need to reach out to claim God’s abundant life. Yet, divine power does not undermine our agency; we can choose to follow God or turn away, and our choices have consequences. Our response to God shapes God’s response to us: God’s grace is prevenient and comes before we have achieved anything. God’s grace is relational, moving through our decisions, which can enhance or minimize God’s presence in our lives.
Gospel – John 17:20-26
Chapter 17 is often called the “high-priestly prayer” of Jesus in the sense that, like a priest, he offers intercession on behalf of his people. This underscores the role of mission for the people of God.
The prayer describes the union between the Father and the Son, given to the disciples so that they may share that union. It is therefore revelation as well as intercession. Jesus prays for himself, for the disciples and for future believers.
For these believers, as for the disciples, Jesus prays for a unity and indwelling of divine presence that will challenge the world to belief. He does not pray directly for the world, but asks that the unity of believers will witness to the Father’s love for the world. Their unity is based not upon their own effort but upon the act of God, who loves them as God loves the Son
Jesus seems to know that even his disciples will scatter, will divide and separate, but Jesus prays that they may all be one. Just as Jesus and the father are one, so Jesus prays that we will also be one with Jesus, and with each other. This oneness comes through love. When we love one another as Jesus loved us, we are sharing God’s love. John’s Gospel makes this point many times throughout the Gospel of John—that Jesus and God the Father are one, and so we are one in him through God’s love. We ought to love one another because God first loved us. We ought to love one another as if it was God loving them, for we ought to be one with God.
This unity in Christ does not require uniformity of ethnicity, sexuality, theology, politics, or personality type. Oneness in Christ reflects the diversity of creation and God’s own delight in diversity. Still, this generous diversity is balanced by the quest for common cause among those who call themselves Jesus’ followers – this common cause is our prayer in our quest to heal the Earth, bring joy to little children, insure adequate food, housing, and healthcare for all persons, uplift and welcome vulnerable and marginalized persons, and explore ways to grow together, rather than apart, in our pluralistic age.