Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

The emphasis in these texts selected for the Sixth Sunday of Easter this year is clearly on “good things” and on the belief that all good things come from God, as the Prayer of the Day specifies: “Bountiful God, you gather your people into your realm, and you promise us food from your tree of life. Nourish us with your word, that empowered by your Spirit we may love one another and the world you have made, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”

These texts in Cycle C all carry this emphasis without entering seriously into the related question of the origin of “bad things.” It is appropriate that our sermons and services next Sunday maintain the emphasis of these texts. There are other opportunities to consider the more difficult issue of the origin of evil.

Psalm 67

The “good things” here are God’s gracious interaction with and blessing of the people of the worshiping community. The results of this interaction and blessing are seen most clearly in the good harvest cited in 67:6. This and presumably other blessings will cause people of all nations to fear God and to praise God. God is said to judge and to guide all nations. In this Community Hymn of Praise there is no mention of Adonai. It is entirely Elohim who is acclaimed.

Acts 16:9-15

In this segment of the Acts of Apostles literary drama the “good things” come to the woman named Lydia, a seller of purple cloth who worshiped God and listened to Paul and to the other apostles. The Lord had opened her heart to be receptive to the message of Paul. After she and her entire household had been baptized, she invited Paul and those who were with him to be guests in her home. Together with Lydia, we too are nourished by the Word of God.

Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5

Here in beautiful unrestrained apocalyptic imagery we are given a description of the glorious new city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God to become the Bride of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Life is so good in this new city that there is no need of a temple, or of sun or moon, for its temple is the Lord God and the Lamb. The glory of the Lord provides its light and the Lamb of God is its lamp.

John 14:23-29

Three “good things” form the basis of this Fourth Gospel text. They are presented in two promises and in a gift of “my peace” from the Johannine Jesus. The first good that is promised is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in Jesus’ name to remind the disciples of all that Jesus had said. The second good that is promised is the assurance that the Johannine Jesus and the Father of Jesus will come to those who keep Jesus’ word, and the third is that the Johannine Jesus and his Father will make their home with those who keep the word of the Johannine Jesus.

As the Johannine writers and community, inspired by God, reflected theologically about how Jesus as they perceived him would be and was active among them, they claimed Jesus’ peace. Nevertheless, the grammatical condition contrary to fact in 14:28 suggests that they realized their love for Jesus was not adequate. Perhaps this condition contrary to fact construction is the key that provides for us the best entrée into this text and into a homily/sermon based on this text. They perceived Jesus as saying to them, “If you had loved me the way that I wanted you to love me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to my Father, because my Father is greater than I am.”

We too look for good things from God as we reflect theologically over the absence of Jesus and claim his presence. Like the members of the Johannine community, we also recognize that we do not love Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of God our Savior, as we should love, and that because of this our joy is not complete. Therefore, the “good things of God” remain for us somewhat elusive, as they were for the community by which and for which this texts was composed. They are realized only in part. The full measure of the “good things from God” is still to come.

John 5:1-9

The “good thing” that the man at the pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem who had been ill for 38 years received was to be healed. The question asked by the Johannine Jesus, “Do you want to be healed?” seems at first to be entirely unnecessary. Of course, he wants to be healed! After being helplessly ill for 38 years, would he not want to be healed? On further reflection, however, we see that it is totally essential that he has the will to be healed. Without the will to be healed, he would not have been healed. We too must want the healing and all of the other “good things” that God provides.

The Ascension of the Lord texts in Luke-Acts (Luke 24:44-53 and Acts 1:1-11) accomplish four major objectives. First, they provide an explanation of where the Risen Christ is now. Second, they provide an explanation of why the Risen Christ was seen by many followers of Jesus during the first few weeks after his crucifixion and resurrection but is being seen in the same way no longer. Third, they provide assurance that the Risen Christ is still with us spiritually and that the Risen Christ will return. Finally, they establish more clearly the responsibilities of the followers of Jesus to be witnesses of the Risen Christ throughout the world.

These are very important objectives, and we miss our opportunity to follow through with a dramatic culmination of our forty-day Lenten season and of our forty-day Easter season if we do not have a meaningful and memorable worship service on Ascension Day each year.

Psalm 47

Our use of this psalm on our Christian Ascension Day is an indication that we consider the Risen Christ to be our Lord and God in a way that is quite similar to the way that the ancient Israelites perceived the Lord God for them. They perceived the Lord God to be the one who had won the victory for them over their enemies and over all evil and as the one who was, as it is stated in the picturesque language of this psalm, “sitting on the holy throne of God” the “Most High King over all of the earth.” As Christians, we perceive Jesus the Risen Christ in much the same way as the Lord God was and is perceived and acclaimed by Israelites and by Jews in Psalm 47.

Psalm 93

There are numerous similarities between Psalm 47 and Psalm 93. The Lord is acclaimed in Psalm 93 as the king clothed with power and majesty, whose throne is established eternally. The Lord’s rule is holy and just and will be for ever.

Acts 1:1-11

Since the principal literary antecedent of Acts 1:1-11 is the Septuagint text of 2 Kings 2:1-18, it is helpful to review the 2 Kings text in preparation for a Christian Ascension Day worship service. Genesis 5:21-24 and Deuteronomy 34:1-7 should also be read to provide the Enoch and Moses analogies.

We note that the inspired Lukan writer linked the Ascension account closely to the Lukan empty tomb account by having “two men clothed in white robes” interpreting the significance of the ascension of the Risen Christ in Acts 1:10-11 just as the Lukan writer had “two men in dazzling apparel” interpret the significance of the resurrection of Jesus in Luke 24:4-7. Perhaps we could benefit from the use of this Acts 1:1-11 drama best if we would begin the Ascension Day service outside the church building with the reading of this Acts 1:1-11 text. It would not be necessary for anyone to play the role of the Risen Christ, but it would help to dramatize the event with two of the men of the congregation dressed in white robes appearing from around a corner somewhere at the point of Acts 1:10 in the reading while the rest of those gathered for the worship service are standing together “gazing up into the heavens.” The two men should appear and say to the group, “Why are you all standing here, looking up into the heavens? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come again as you have seen him going into the heavens!” The worship service can then continue with the people entering into the sanctuary, singing an Ascension Day hymn, and using an Ascension Day liturgy.

Ephesians 1:15-23

At least once during our three-year cycle in the lectionary that we are using, it would be effective to utilize this Ephesians 1:15-23 reading as the primary text for the Ascension Day message. This text articulates what is desired for the People of God in the Church on Ascension Day. It refers specifically to the thought that the Risen Christ is sitting at the right hand of God in “the heavenly places.” It uses the analogy of the ancient throne scene to depict how some people in the early Church late in the first century perceived the Risen Christ. What is said here about the power of the Risen Christ over the Roman Emperor and all of the political authorities who are persecuting and threatening the early Christians should be emphasized as we consider this text.

Luke 24:44-53

The Lukan themes of understanding the Scriptures and of claiming that everything about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection written in the Israelite Scriptures has now been fulfilled are prominent in this text. What the Lukan writer did not say in this text about the expected return of Jesus as the Risen Christ is supplied in the Acts 1:1-11 reading. What Luke 24:44-53 does stress is the great joy of the followers of Jesus and their constant worship and blessing of God. Let us continue this joy and this worship and blessing of God for the Risen Christ now and always!

As is appropriate for this Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Sunday after the Ascension of the Lord, the emphasis within these texts is on the exaltation of the Lord. In Psalm 97 it is the Lord (Adonai) who is exalted. The exalted Lord Jesus and the Most High God are said to have removed the spirit of divination from the slave girl in the Acts 16:16-34 account and opened the gates of the Roman prison. In the Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 text it is said that the exalted Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, will be coming soon to judge everyone and to give the water of life to those who are thirsty. In the final portion of the prayer of the Johannine Jesus in John 17:20-26 the members of the Johannine community and those who will believe in the exalted Johannine Jesus through their word are said to be one with the Johannine Jesus in the glory that the Father has given to the Johannine Jesus.

Psalm 97

Those who live in accordance with the precepts of the Lord God as perceived by the Israelites will be filled with joy, for the Lord God reigns over all the earth. The Lord God is exalted far above those who are perceived to be God by people among the other nations. Therefore, Zion and the daughters of Jerusalem will be glad; they will be delivered from the hand of the wicked. They shall prepare themselves by hating all that is evil and by giving thanks to the Lord God of Israel.

Acts 16:16-34

With the subtlety that is characteristic of the inspired Lukan wrier, the Lukan playwright proclaimed in this account that the power of the Most High God present in the exalted Lord Jesus was infinitely greater than the power of the Romans and of the Roman Empire. This text is especially meaningful for Christians who practice Believer’s Baptism, for in it the jail warden at Philippi who asks what he should do to be saved is told that he should believe in the Lord Jesus and he and his household will be saved. Baptism follows instruction and confession of faith in this account.

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

This text is a reminder to us that the Seventh Sunday of Easter marks the end of the first half of the Church Year. It is somewhat like a “Christ the King” Sunday. This text in Revelation 22 is particularly comforting to those believers who are heavily oppressed in this world or are otherwise nearing the point of death. The rich symbolism of this final chapter of the Christian Apocalypse should not be unnoticed during our worship services next Sunday.

John 17:20-26

This is the portion of the prayer of the Johannine Jesus that is existentially most significant for us, since we are among those who have believed in Jesus because of the words of the members of the Johannine community. In this text we have the most pronounced ecumenical prayer within the Newer Testament. It is the biblical basis for our most sincere efforts for denominational unity, for Christian unity, and for human unity. Even if the members of the Johannine community wanted unity on their own terms (just as most of us do), they did have their Johannine Jesus pray for unity and most likely themselves prayed fervently for unity, particularly for unity with the representatives of the much larger communities of followers of Jesus who produced and used the Synoptic Gospels. Certainly we should reflect theologically over this prayer for unity and make it our prayer next Sunday within the congregations in which we live and serve.

Two lunar months after they reenacted the Passover meal each year, many of the ancient Israelites brought some of the first fruits and vegetables of the spring season as an offering to the Lord and to their priests as they celebrated together their spring religious and social agricultural festival. When the Torah became the unifying factor of those who survived the fall of Jerusalem and the loss of their nation, this agricultural festival, the Feast of Weeks, seven weeks after the Passover, gained additional meaning as a commemoration of the giving of the Torah to Moses by Adonai at Sinai. For Greek-speaking Israelites still later, this festival was called Pentecost because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover.

The inspired Lukan writer took this process of development one step farther, transforming for followers of Jesus the Israelite agricultural and Torah festival into a Christian celebration of the beginning of Christian prophecy and the “birthday” of the Church. This is one of many instances in which the Lukan writer shaped the emerging Christian traditions by using ideas and materials from the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Within our current Christian usage, the significance of our Pentecost observance is much less than is our Christmas and Easter, the other two major Christian festivals. Many congregations have Confirmation ceremonies on Pentecost, but apart from that, relatively little is done to attract interest in the rich traditions of the day. (It is the only one of the three major Christian festivals that has not been commercialized. There are few if any “Pentecost sales” in our department stores and truck and auto sales lots.)

The agricultural significance of this day is not notable for most Christians. Apart from small volume “farmers’ markets,” within our “supermarket” society, we are able to purchase fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables throughout the year. It seems that we have always had the Scriptures and the Church, and because of our multitude of somewhat independent Christian denominations the Church has had many different “birthdays.”

There are actions that we can take to educate and sensitize more members of the congregations in which we live and serve regarding the historical and spiritual significance of the Day of Pentecost. We can decorate the chancel areas of our worship centers on Pentecost Day with early produce from our gardens and orchards in the southern areas of our country, or purchase high-quality produce for this purpose in the central and northern regions. We can have someone carry a Bible into the chancel during the opening processional. We could even place a “Birthday cake” on the altar to celebrate another year of life for the Church. This will provide numerous opportunities for various members of the congregation to be involved, and everyone should, of course, share in enjoying a small piece of the “Birthday cake.” Our children (and we as adults also) will learn in this visual, tangible way to have a greater appreciation for our rich Pentecost traditions. With a few variations each year, within a few years we shall have much more interest in the Day of Pentecost and increased attendance on the occasion. If we have a children’s sermon, it will be easy to take the children to the produce, to the Bible, and to the birthday cake to teach the traditions represented by each.

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

This psalm was chosen for the Christian Pentecost observance each year within our three year cycle of texts because of the mention in 104:30 of the ruach (Hebrew expressed in English as spirit, wind, or breath) of Adonai giving life to all of the creatures of the earth. The sending of the ruach of Adonai, which gives life, is contrasted with Adonai’s hiding of Adonai’s face (v. 29), which results in the death of all beings as they lose their ruach.

It would be helpful to use all of Psalm 104 and not merely the verses suggested in our lectionary. Psalm 104 is a poetic equivalent of Genesis 1:1–2:4a, more beautiful in many ways and perhaps older than the Genesis account. Also, since the Genesis account was at some point redacted into a six days of work and one day of rest liturgical pattern in order to show that God instituted the Sabbath already at the conclusion of God’s initial creative activity as the Genesis 1:1–2:4a account has been, unlike with the Genesis account, we do not become embroiled in historicity issues with Psalm 104.

Genesis 11:1-9

Among the many purposes of the Tower of Babel story, three come immediately to mind. First, the account provides an answer in story form for the etiological question, “Why are there so many different and confusing languages among the people of the earth?” Second, the story is a polemical degradation of the “evil” Babylonians and other Mesopotamians who, having no mountains on which to build their altars, built towers (ziggurats) with worship centers at their tops. Third, the account continues the theological theme of Genesis 1-11 that sinful humankind seeks to grasp divinity by force, by eating the forbidden fruit to gain knowledge of everything, by taking human life, mating with Elohim beings, and here trying to reach into the heavens. Genesis 11:1-9 is the Series C selection for the Christian Day of Pentecost because Acts 2:1-21 provides a dramatic indication that through God’s sending of the Holy Spirit the Christian gospel will be heard and understood by people of all languages. Even though people are sinful and their languages are confused, the Spirit of God makes it possible for them on the Day of Pentecost to hear about a few of the mighty acts of God.

Acts 2:1-21

This reading in Acts 2 clearly dominates the Day of Pentecost for us. It is a prime example of the Lukan playwright’s inspired creativity and literary skill. Therefore, it should be the primary basis for the message on Pentecost each year. We can hardly provide a Christian Pentecost worship service without it, just as we can hardly have a Christmas Eve service without the Lukan writer’s Luke 2:1-20 Christmas story.

The “tongues of fire” that are said in Acts 2:3 to have come upon the heads of the followers of Jesus are symbolic of the “tongues” or languages needed to proclaim the Good News about Jesus as the Risen Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, i.e., to Rome and to people throughout the Roman Empire. The inspired Lukan playwright used fire as a visible symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. The fire is a sign that the Spirit of God is resting on the disciples of Jesus. We today receive the same Spirit of God and are called to proclaim the mighty acts of God to all people in all languages just as the earliest disciples of Jesus were called to do.

Romans 8:14-17

As stated by the Apostle Paul, all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God, are in a secure relationship with God, and are heirs of the blessings of God, together with Jesus perceived as the Risen Christ, suffering together with Christ and glorified together with Christ. More than that, no one of us can ask, especially on this Day of Pentecost.

John 14:8-17 (25-27)

In John 14:16-17 the Spirit of Truth is called “another Paraclete,” who will be like the Johannine Jesus. Unlike the Johannine Jesus, however, the other Paraclete will be able to be with the followers of Jesus until the end of the age. The Spirit of Truth will be requested by the Johannine Jesus and sent by the Father. The Spirit of Truth will live with and within the Johannine followers of Jesus, and the Spirit of Truth will bring peace to them.

We notice that within this chapter 14 of the Fourth Gospel the Trinity perception of God as Father, God in Jesus as Son, and God as the Holy Spirit of Truth are linked together inseparably in order to assure and to comfort the Johannine followers of Jesus. As such this text provides for us a theological introduction to our observance of Trinity Sunday one week later.

(FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST)

If we think that we must try to explain God on Trinity Sunday, it is understandable that we face this assignment with apprehension. However, if we see this as an excellent opportunity to praise God by sharing enthusiastically some of the biblical expressions of God, we will be able to enjoy the experience immensely. The texts selected for Trinity Sunday, Series C, provide some beautiful expressions of faith in God with which we can do this.

Psalm 8
One of the advantages of this psalm is that it is understandable and appealing even to the younger children and to the theologically unsophisticated. Because of this, as we use this psalm in the Trinity Sunday worship service we should simplify the vocabulary, using words such as “exalted” with “important,” “majesty” with “greatness,” and “adversaries” with “enemies.” Then the reader should comment that the psalm is easily understood and ask the members of the congregation to close their eyes and to picture the images of the psalm with their imaginations while the psalm is read or sung. The time that it takes to prepare to present our biblical texts in innovative ways during our worship services is well spent. “One size fits all” with no variety in our presentations of biblical texts leads to monotony and boredom, apathy and non-participation. With proper preparation, we can recover much of what was lost when the oral presentation of pre-biblical material was cast into written form.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
This portion of the personification of wisdom as an attractive female hypostasis of God in Proverbs 8 is an excellent text for Trinity Sunday in that it demonstrates that the wisdom hypostasis, along with other important hypostases of God in Israelite thought such as the ruach (“spirit”) of God, the panim (“faces”) of God and the dabar (“word”) of God were available, along with the hochmah (“wisdom”) of God and the shekinah (“presence”) of God in the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Apparently, elements of the hochmah, shekinah, and dabar hypostases were applied to the stories about Jesus and the sayings of Jesus by early followers of Jesus, as we see them in what we call the “Q” materials and in the Fourth Gospel particularly. These elements, along with others, were applied to Jesus and perceived as the “Son” of God over a period of several centuries in the process by which Jesus after having been depicted as the “Son” of God became within our Christian formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity Jesus as “God the Son.” God as the Father of Jesus in a special sense became generally for us as Christians “God the Father.” The hypostasis ruach (“spirit”) became “God the Spirit,” and soon more specifically “God the Holy Spirit” to complete the Trinity. While we can know no “facts” about God, we can study, understand, and share information about how our concepts of God have been and continue to be developed.

The potential existed within the Israelite hypostases of God for still more complexity in our description of the nature of God. Female figures such as wisdom, or perhaps wisdom incarnate in the Virgin Mary, could have come in but were not adequately developed by the time of the fourth century. It is important for us to note that most of the early Christian Trinitarian discussions were conducted in the Greek language, in which attention was focused on the Son and on the Holy Spirit as hypostases of God. When the discussions were expressed in Latin within Western Christianity, the Greek word hypostases became personae. The Latin personae (“faces,” “masks”) became the English “persons” (one God in three hypostases, one God in three personae, one God in three “persons”).

Especially on Trinity Sunday, we should say with confidence that we believe in One God, revealed to us as creative, life-giving Father, as vital, youthful Son and Savior, and as correcting, chiding, comforting, counseling Spirit in God’s world for us, in God’s Word for us, and in God’s life for us.

Romans 5:1-5
In writing this Epistle to the Romans primarily to Gentile background followers of Jesus within their house churches in Rome during the mid-fifties of the first century, urging them to accept Jewish background followers of Jesus back into their house churches as leaders, Paul emphasized that all people sin and fall short of the glory of God. He wrote that it is not on the basis of a person’s religious or cultural background or by good works — not even by trying to live in accordance with God’s Word — that we have access to the grace of God. It is by faith that God has been active for our salvation now and forever in a very special way through the death of Jesus for our sins and through our belief that God has made Jesus alive again that we shall have peace in the presence of God. After a digression about boasting in the hope of sharing in the glory of God and about boasting in the problems and difficulties that we face for the sake of sharing the gospel, Paul returned to his major point that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given by God to us.

John 16:12-15
The Johannine followers of Jesus, not having the Jesus of history accessible to them, wrote about the Spirit of Truth whom Jesus would send to lead them into all truth. The Johannine followers of Jesus claimed that they had the Spirit of Truth among them and through this Spirit of Truth Jesus continued to speak to them. The Johannine Jesus who speaks in these “farewell discourses” is the Johannine Jesus of many decades after the crucifixion. The Johannine Jesus reveals what the members of the Johannine community believed about Jesus, about the relationship between the Johannine Jesus and the Father, and between the Father and the Son and the Spirit of Truth. What we have, therefore, in the Romans 5:1-5 text and in this John 16:12-15 text are some of the biblical “raw materials” from which the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was formed.

What then shall we proclaim next Sunday? Which texts shall we use as the primary basis for our message? We realize that although we cannot comprehend or understand or explain God, we can and must share these biblical expressions about God and we must apply them to our lives in our own particular situations. We should not try to reduce the Trinity concept to more simple dimensions. We should, instead, expand the concept beyond the ways that it is usually perceived and presented. We should do this by using the rich, biblical images within the texts selected for our use on this coming Trinity Sunday. As always, we should emphasize that our Triune God is one God who is perceived in many ways and in three particular ways by us as Christians.