Today in the Spirit: Easter 7A (Sunday After Ascension)
The Sunday after Ascension Day is the seventh Sunday of the Easter season (just as Pentecost Sunday is the eighth Sunday of Easter). Titling the Sunday as such in the BCP 2019 is a return to the tradition of earlier Anglican Prayer Books, which distinguished Ascensiontide (the ten-day period from Ascension Day to Pentecost) from the earlier part of the Easter season focused on Jesus’ resurrection appearances on earth.
The Gospel narratives concerning Jesus’ ascension are assigned on Ascension Day (the previous Thursday), so the Gospel readings appointed on the Sunday after Ascension Day across the three-year schedule are from successive sections of Jesus’ so-called high priestly prayer recorded in John 17. In Year A, we hear John 17:1-11, which covers the beginning of the prayer (1-5) in which Jesus asks the Father to “glorify your Son” (1), referring to the manifestation of the holiness of the Son to be revealed in his death, resurrection, and ascension altogether. The reading continues into the second part of the prayer for his disciples, where our Lord asks in particular for protection from the world, which might cause division between them: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (11).
The preferred first reading for this Sunday is Acts 1:(1-5) 6-14, Luke’s introduction to his second volume and the narration of our Lord’s final words to his disciples before his ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (8).
The alternative first reading from Ezekiel 39:21-29 is a section in the middle of an oracle from YHWH through the prophet, giving assurance to the Israelites returning to Judah from exile. On this Sunday, the reference to God’s glory among the nations offers us, as worshipers, a more expansive vision of the ascension of Jesus. The reading ends with an explicit promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which we will receive in anticipation of Pentecost Sunday: “‘And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God’” (29).
Psalm 68 and the alternative Psalm 47 are the appointed psalms for this Sunday each year. Both carry a message of victory in God’s rising up, similar to that of the Ezekiel passage: “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! (68:1). Or, “God has gone up with a shout of triumph, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet (47:5).
Our Year A series of readings in Peter’s first epistle ends this Sunday with the appointed text 1 Peter 4:12-19. Here, the apostle encourages Christians in northern Asia Minor (now northern Turkey) to be prepared for suffering for the gospel of Christ. The passage ends with the exhortation, “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (19).
The Collect this week with the petition “Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit” invites us to take up in our worship the experience of the first disciples who, according to Luke, watched Jesus ascend but then returned to Jerusalem to wait to be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
The Collect
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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It Is Not for You to Know…But (Acts 1:(1-5) 6-14)
[1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”] 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Acts 1:1-14
In New Testament narratives, when we read phrases such as “they said to him” or “they asked him” (6), we are to suppose that the statement or question represents a group sentiment held by everyone present, maybe even with audible grumbling (see Jn. 6:60ff). Most often, the group is stuck on an issue, often tangential, that is preventing further understanding.
In this Acts reading, Luke appears to be recalling the meeting Jesus had with the eleven apostles soon after his resurrection (see Lk. 24:454ff), but now with additional dialogue. Here we read that after our Lord had given them instructions to return to Jerusalem, “they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’” (5). They are paralyzed at this point by an issue the Lord has covered with them time and time again, so he reminds them, “‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…’”(7-8). Apparently, it is only then, hearing these words and witnessing the ascension that they “returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Lk. 24:52).
Devotionally, the story should alert us to the fact that it is all too easy to become preoccupied with concerns beyond our need to know. Jesus’ response is in effect: “Stop dwelling on the things you cannot know and concentrate instead on what your job will be—being “my witnesses” in the world.” The privilege we have of walking with God and receiving special revelation in the Scriptures carries with it a high potential for dreamily pondering the mysteries and becoming stuck there at the expense of carrying out gospel service directly in front of us.
Much has been revealed: we can ask God about it, and so we do, just like the eleven in this passage. But beware of becoming paralyzed by matters too great, becoming convinced that resolving every mystery is our duty before God. Some in that situation have even fallen away from the faith because they did not receive the answers they thought they deserved.
Today, with the Spirit’s help, allow yourself where necessary to be shaken out of a stupor and redirected to take your part in the gospel enterprise.
They Shall Forget Their Shame (Ezekiel 39:21-29)
21 “And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. 23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt so treacherously with me that I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them. 25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, 27 when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. 29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
Ezekiel 39:21-29
Or, “They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid” (26, NET). I’m guessing that the translation “bear their shame” as opposed to “forget their shame” is intended to communicate more clearly that, while the outward circumstances of the exiles will have changed, the guilt for their past iniquity still remains. The sting of God’s indictment of Israel for disobedience to YHWH before the exile may be borne tolerably (or even “forgotten” in the sense that a mother may hardly remember the pain of childbirth after the delivery of a child), but it is not erased. The exiles’ external situation will have improved, but their hearts remain unclean.
Friends, we need to be clear: it is only the saving ministry of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, that makes the heart fit and free before God, so as to bring about change in the inner person. This passage promises better relations between the nations and the returnees, but it offers no promise of peace. Centuries later, Jesus claims: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). That is a whole new level of fellowship with God that comes only as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul writes: For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do:
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The pouring out of the Spirit this passage refers to will not happen with the return of the exiles but later, when Jesus has finished his saving work and ascended to the Father.
Today, Holy Spirit, we ask for faith to believe in Jesus and receive the full benefits of your coming into our hearts.
And Pours His Benefits upon Us (Psalm 68:1-20 or Psalm 47)
1 Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; *
Psalm 68:1-20, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
let those who hate him also flee before him.
2 As the smoke vanishes, so shall you drive them away; *
and as wax melts before the fire, so let the ungodly perish before the presence of God.
3 But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; *
let them also be merry and joyful.
4 O sing unto God, and sing praises unto his Name; magnify him who rides upon the heavens. * The LORD is his Name; rejoice before him.
5 He is a father of the fatherless and defends the cause of the widows, *
God in his holy habitation.
6 He is the God who gives the solitary a home, and brings the prisoners out of captivity, *
but lets the rebellious dwell in a desert land.
7 O God, when you went forth before the people, *
when you went through the wilderness,
8 The earth shook, and the heavens poured forth rain at the presence of God,*
even as Sinai also was moved at the presence of God, who is the God of Israel.
9 You, O God, sent a gracious rain upon your inheritance *
and refreshed the land when it was weary.
10 Your congregation found a dwelling there, *
for you, O God, of your goodness have provided for the poor.
11 The Lord gave the word; *
great was the company of those who proclaimed the tidings.
12 Kings with their armies fled, they fled, *
and the women at home divided the spoil.
13 Though you have lain among the sheepfolds, *
yet shall you be like the wings of a dove that are covered with silver, and whose feathers shine like gold.
14 When the Almighty scattered kings, *
it was as if it snowed in Zalmon.
15 As the hill of Bashan, so is God’s hill, *
even a high hill, as the hill of Bashan.
16 Why look with envy, you high hills? This is God’s hill, on which it pleases him to dwell; *
surely, the Lord will abide on it for ever.
17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, *
and the Lord has come from Sinai into the holy place.
18 You have gone up on high; you have led captivity captive, and received gifts from men, * even from your enemies, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
19 Praised be the LORD daily, *
even the God who helps us and pours his benefits upon us.
20 He is our God, the God from whom salvation comes; *
God is the Lord, by whom we escape death.
If Psalm 68 is the one chosen for your Sunday worship, you may note the up and down movements in the language of “David”: The Lord goes “up on high” (18), and “the heavens poured forth rain at the presence of God” (8). Paul takes note of it in Ephesians, citing this psalm with reference to the ascension of Jesus and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men’” (4:7-8).
This vertical two-way motion makes this psalm a fitting choice for the interim period between Ascension Day and the Day of Pentecost. By it, we discern something of a cosmic transaction taking place between earth and heaven: the rendering up of the glorified Son of God in exchange for the outpouring of God the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the community of saints.
O what a blessed transaction for the church, beloved. We benefit doubly: first, by the return of the King Jesus to his rightful place on the throne of glory, there alongside the Father God to exert his sovereign will over the increase of the kingdom on earth, and there to oversee the destruction his foes, sin and Satan, in their throes of death: “Let God arise and his enemies be scattered” (1).
Second, by the exchange of the ascended Jesus for the Holy Spirit, the church gains an intimacy with God that could never be achieved by the Son of God in the flesh. In our birth and in our death, in our waking and in our sleeping, in our contentment and in our suffering, Jesus is with us by his Spirit. Because of the Holy Spirit, from the moment we call on the name of the Lord for salvation and ever after, there is not a breath we take outside the accompaniment of the triune God. This is why Jesus assures his disciples when he teaches them, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you” (Jn. 16:7).
Today, meditating on this psalm in our worship, with our hearts made ready for the holy exchange between the ascended Son and the descending Spirit, we cry out with David: “Praised be the LORD daily, even the God who helps us and pours his benefits upon us” (19).
Do Not Be Surprised (1 Peter 4:12-19)
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
1 Peter 4:12-19
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
It is striking to me that almost every word in this passage, both in tone and content, seems directed to an audience of people who are not expecting to suffer for their faith. So it begins: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you” (12). At the time Peter writes this letter, the birth pangs of widespread Christian persecution in areas outside Jerusalem and Rome were only beginning to be felt. Christians in Asia Minor may indeed be “surprised” to hear of it.
If we look at some of the earlier NT letters of Paul, say 1 Thessalonians or Galatians, there is nothing of this kind of verbal hand-holding. Those churches were born (through Paul) with persecution from the womb. Has a spirit of accommodation already so permeated the generation of the “elect” (1:1) to whom Peter is writing that he needs to prepare them for adversity?
Devotionally, to many of us, the term “suffering” is even more foreign to us than it would have been to Peter’s original audience. We might do better to hear the same message with words like “hardship” or “adversity” instead. Why? Because, though we may not be open to the threat of much direct persecution, we know what it is to have to choose between Christ’s calling on our lives, which is invariably hard, and another path of lesser resistance.
Culturally, our natural inclination is to avoid trouble, and we have at our disposal the technology and services to stay on the easiest road possible: Shall I start that Bible study in my home, giving up one night a week and working with people who are difficult, or just stay home? Shall I take responsibility for teaching that Sunday school class, or just keep enjoying worship in the pew? It is in these matters that Peter’s encouraging words about extra blessings that come from God when we are made uncomfortable speak clearly to us. Try this on for size: “If you are [inconvenienced] for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (14).
In The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis reflects on the benefits of suffering for Christ this way:
The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.
Today, Holy Spirit, hearing Peter’s words, make us less “surprised” by the adversity we can expect as Christians and more aware of the benefits: that, when called to do so, we may refrain from choosing the path of less resistance every time.
Glorify Your Son (John 17:1-11)
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
The idea of linear time–past, present, future in order–is muddled in this passage, as it often is when the Scriptures are addressing matters of heaven and eternity. Along that line, it is striking to hear Jesus say at this point, before his crucifixion, that he has “accomplished the work you [Father God] gave me to do” (4). Has he? He has not died or risen yet. And Jesus prays, “Glorify your Son” (1), as if by his own understanding it is his death, resurrection, resurrection appearances, and ascension that bring him glory. Is the Son of God ever lacking glory?
Devotionally, overhearing Jesus’ prayer in these terms places everything about Jesus’ ministry on a much larger scale. His death and resurrection are not just serving the purpose of saving people in the world but of “glorifying” (that is, making holiness manifest) himself and the Father in heaven and on earth. Somehow, of all people, it is that Roman centurion who grasps the larger vision when he exclaims after the death of Jesus, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mt. 27:54).
Paul seems to think that our understanding of the larger picture of glorification is critical for perseverance in service to Christ: “So we do not lose heart…For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Today, in the Spirit, even as we struggle to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ saving work and his glory, we press on, that God may, as the Collect says, “exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before.”
Today in the Spirit
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