Today in the Spirit: Easter 7C (The Sunday After Ascension)
Ascension Day will have passed, and because it is always celebrated on a Thursday, too few of us will have taken notice. For that reason, the BCP 2019 has restored the practice of titling this Sunday the “Sunday After Ascension Day,” suggesting, of course, that some attention will be given to the ascension of Christ in the propers for this Sunday.
The appointed Gospel readings for this Sunday across the three years are not the ascension narratives in the Gospels (which are assigned on Ascension Day), but the three main sections of Jesus’ priestly prayer found in John 17. In Year C, John 17:20-26 gives us the portion of that prayer concerning the generations of Christians to come. He prays that “those who believe in me through [the apostles’] word,” that they “may be one even as we are one” (22); and, strikingly, that they may “see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (24).
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In Year C, the church completely leaves off giving us any account of the ascension in Acts (as it does in Years A and B) and assigns Acts 16:16-34. This could be to make sure the account of Paul and Silas’ experience of imprisonment in Philippi appears sometime on a Sunday. But, as it is the story of a Gentile family coming to Christ, it is also a vivid example of Jesus giving his glory to later generations of Christians in the world, and that “they may be one“ from the Gospel reading (Jn. 17:22).
The assigned OT reading from 1 Samuel 12:19-24 is from the last section of what Samuel assumes will be his farewell speech to the nation of Israel after Saul’s confirmation as the king. (While the OT does not record another speech of Samuel, he certainly becomes busy again with the anointing of David.) On a Sunday remembering the ascension of Jesus, it is fitting to hear the prophet’s exhortation: “Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you” (24).
The choice of either Psalm 68:1-20 or Psalm 47 is offered every year for this Sunday. Both make use of inspiring metaphors of God rising and reigning (68:1,18 and 47:5-8).
The final installment in the Year C series of the New Testament series is from Revelation 22:10-21. The visions have ended, and the angel is delivering to John the final exhortations of the ascended Jesus Christ concerning what has been shown to him. In a final mention of “the Bride” of Christ, a theme in Revelation often recounted in the lectionary series, Jesus states, “‘The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.’” (16).
The appointed collect looks at the ascension of Christ as an event that has passed and prays for the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the future. Though for us, the later generations of believers whom our Lord has prayed for in John, the ascension of Christ and Pentecost are in the past, we pray always for the fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit until he should come and take us home.
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.
Paul and Silas (Acts 16:16-34)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
Acts 16:25-34
We are astounded by the power of God in this passage, especially the earthquake in the prison and the conversion of the jailer. Much of Paul and Silas’ behavior is also inspiring, singing hymns in the cell and choosing not to flee when the prison doors are opened. But, if we consider the entire narrative (16-37), we find Paul is not altogether a patient actor. Aggressively, he becomes “greatly annoyed” (18) by the demon-filled girl calling out to him; and in the following section of the story, only after he is offered release does he invoke his rights as a Roman citizen (something he might have done earlier with the same effect).
The point is, devotionally, despite Paul’s inconsistencies of personality and changing desires, God uses him to advance the gospel in this case. Paul might have been more patient at the beginning and less vindictive at the end; he may not have been acting perfectly in the will of God at every point, but, and this we must see, it does not stop the work of God. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Put the emphasis on “all things.” Our Lord’s forgiveness is unrelenting, and his power to redeem our mistakes is infinite.
The great Reformer Philip Melanchthon was becoming depressed and paralyzed by his guilt over sin. It was in a letter to comfort him that Martin Luther penned his famous words: “If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy…God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (or “Sin boldly”), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides…Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.”
Today, in the Spirit, I will put aside my shame for having committed sin and my fear of committing new ones, both of which can only paralyze me for the work of God. I will trust in the Lord’s great mercy and his uncanny ability to “make all things work together for the good.”
For Consider What Great Things He Has Done for You (1 Samuel 12:19-24)
19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
1 Samuel 12:19-24
There is a serious disconnect here between the people of Israel and Samuel the prophet in their thinking about God. Understandably, because of the prevailing pagan mindset of peoples of the Ancient Near East, and their own experience of the One God meting out serious punishment against disobedience, the people approach Samuel with the urgent plea: “‘Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.’” (19). Samuel will confirm their expectation that YHWH does in fact want obedience, but he urges them to shift their understanding of in the direction of mercy first, seeing YHWH as one who loves them and will not forsake them: “Do not be afraid…For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make a people for himself. But will that information be enough to convince them?
Devotionally, we might consider what is most important–how we think about God or how God thinks about us? Biblically, this is not a chicken-and-egg question. The fact is, we cannot think about God correctly on our own. In our sinful state, we are wired against it. The good news is that our God, unlike all other “gods,” reveals himself to show us the correct image and causes us to reckon it rightly. Thanks be to God that through Jesus we have not only the miracles of God as in the OT, and not only the revelation of God in person, but we have by his cross the payment for sin to give us new eyes, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to perceive God correctly and respond to him as intended.
A. W. Tozer famously wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” To this idea in The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis appears to respond when he writes, “I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of him is of no importance except insofar as it relates to how he thinks of us. It is written that we shall “stand before” him, shall appear, shall be inspected.
The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”
Today, Holy Spirit, we come before you, hopeless even on our best days of thinking rightly about you, trusting only in the work of Jesus Christ, who tells the Father, “The glory you have given me I have given them” (John 17:22, in our Gospel reading).
God Sits on His Holy Throne (Psalm 68:1-20 or Psalm 47)
1 O clap your hands together, all you peoples; *
Psalm 47, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
O cry aloud unto God with shouts of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; *
he is the great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the peoples under us, *
and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, *
the pride of Jacob whom he loved.
5 God has gone up with a shout of triumph, *
the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.
6 O sing praises, sing praises unto our God; *
O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
7 For God is the King of all the earth; *
think upon his mighty acts and praise him with a song.
8 God reigns over the nations; *
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham; *
for the mighty upon earth have become the servants of the Lord, and he is very highly exalted .
Both the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed contain the statement that Christ “is seated at the right hand of the Father,” which states succinctly for us the Christian doctrine of the session of Christ. There are about ten clear references to Christ being “seated” on the throne in the NT, including four from passages at the end of Revelation we have heard in this Easter season on Sunday mornings (Rev. 19:4,21:5,22:1,3). There are fewer OT passages referring to God being seated on the throne; one is in this psalm: “God sits on his holy throne” (see also Is. 6:1).
Devotionally, on this Sunday after the Ascension, it is profitable to consider the particular blessings of a meditation on the session of Christ:
- His seating speaks to us most specifically of Christ’s assumption of his kingly office. It is the “to where” aspect of the ascension storyline. Our Lord is not joining a heavenly chorus, but rather the chorus is singing to him: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might, for ever and ever” (Rev. 5:13).
- The session speaks to us of the stability of God’s sovereignty. Seated, he is unmoved and unperturbed in his reign over all things. Our Lord is never found pacing or fretting. Thus, Paul teaches the power of God working in us is as dynamic as Christ’s resurrection and secure as his session: “That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…(Eph. 1:19-20, NIV).
Today, in the Spirit who steadies our hearts with the knowledge of Christ seated with the Father, we rejoice in his ascension to the heavenly places.
The Spirit and the Bride Say “Come” (Revelation 22:10-21)
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation 22:10-21
The visions of heaven’s throne room (“up here,” 4:1) are now finished. In our final reading from Revelation in this season, we hear Jesus addressing the churches in Asia Minor (and by extension the universal Church), much as he does in the inaugural vision (1:9-20), pulling back the veil on earth. Strikingly, however, in this prophecy, we catch one final reference to the Church as bride. John observes, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come’” (17). The people of God, united with the Holy Spirit, having heard and affirmed John’s visions, now speak longingly to her Lord, like a virgin waiting eagerly for her lover, “Come!” And others in the world who are “thirsty” for God will hear the Church’s cry to Jesus as an invitation to join and cry for themselves, “Come!”
Devotionally, as the visions in Revelation carry forward the image of the Church as “Bride,” so must we carry it in our hearts and never let go. We are not an institution in the Spirit, but a people in the Spirit–and not just a people, but the beloved of our Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. We are betrothed to Jesus and soon to be wed and fed at a great feast. Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you taste it?
Today, in the Spirit, we, your beloved, cry, “Come!” Let others hear and join our Maranatha, making it ever louder until the appointed time when he will.
The Glory that You Have Given to Me I Have Given to Them (John 17:20-26)
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
This reading covers the third part of Jesus’ intercession in John 17, his prayer for the believers of future generations. Considering all we have meditated on in the Book of Revelation over this Easter season, the magnitude of the prayer is enormous–nothing less than a “great multitude that no one could number” (Rev. 9:7). But our Lord’s assumption behind the prayer for unity of that group is equally stunning: he tells his Father in heaven, “‘The glory you have given me I have given to them’” (22). The NT use of “glory” (Gk. doxa) is borrowed mainly from the OT use of the word (Heb. kabod), meaning something weighty or impressive. As God, both the Father and the Son are often described as having “glory” or being “glorified” in that sense. (Note: the Nicene Creed also states the Holy Spirit is “glorified” as a person of the Trinity).
When it comes to human beings, a more Greek understanding of doxa becomes apparent. In Greek, doxa is usually connected with “opinion” and, positively, a “high opinion.” So, when Jesus claims to have “given glory” to all future generations of believers, he is saying he has, by his works, established a high opinion of believing humans in heaven and on earth, presumably transitioning from a previous low opinion. Being glorified by Jesus, the weight of eternal honor is irrevocably assigned to them, which, again, we have seen in the content of songs in Revelation.
Devotionally, we are immensely encouraged that, by our Lord’s death and resurrection, we are the beneficiaries of a new, high opinion in heaven. That opinion carries the weight of eternity in heavenly places. But, take note of our Lord’s expectation of having been given “glory” here and now. Jesus’ prayer is that, so glorified, we will be one as a Christian community, even as the Father and Jesus are one. The world may or may not have a high opinion of the Church (often it will not!)—but of one another, we do. Thus, Paul urges within the Christian community: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom. 12:9-10).
Today, in the Spirit, who takes from the mind of Christ and makes it known to us, we receive the news in Jesus’ prayer that we have “glory” now, rejoicing over the benefits in heaven and taking up the responsibilities of achieving unity on earth.
Today in the Spirit
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