Sunday, May 29, 2022

Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:12-26
Psalm 133
Revelation 22:1-6 (7-11) 12-20
John 17:20-26

See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!

One of the advantages of our transient military life was the opportunity to visit some wonderful places without having to travel very far. We went to Canada when we lived in Washington. We learned all about the history of Little Rock and the beauty of the Ozarks when we lived in Arkansas. Bruce was stationed in England for four years and we used the time to see as many things as we could see. We had many visitors when we lived in California and enjoyed the incredible national treasures that were just a few hours from our home, including the Redwoods in Northern California.

We loved looking at those amazing trees that are so large that you can’t even see the canopy hundreds of feet above the ground. Among our souvenirs from that trip was the seedling of a miniature redwood tree. We were going to plant that tree in our yard so that one day it would tower over the neighborhood for all to enjoy. It was an impractical idea for many reasons, including the reality that we’d never enjoy the tree because we would be gone long before it grew big. Also, the landscape was not conducive for a redwood’s survival.

One redwood tree would have difficulty surviving alone. Even though redwood trees grow to be hundreds of feet high and wider than you can imagine, they have very small root systems. During one visit to the groves, we saw a tree that had been recently felled by a storm. I shocked by how small the roots were; they were barely larger than the trunk and only a few feet deep. It is no wonder that the tree fell; there was nothing to hold it up.

Redwood trees have lasted for centuries because they live in groves. They count on the other trees to help them stand. Their root systems intertwine, giving the group greater strength than any individual tree. That one tree was just far enough from the others that it had no support and thus no strength.

There are, unfortunately, too many Christians who think they can go it alone. They choose not to participate in the fellowship of the saints, to join others for worship, word and sacrament, or Bible study. They are disappointed with the body of Christ because they have been hurt by individuals or they do not like what they’ve seen, so they reject institutionalized faith and go it on their own. When they do this they stand separate, alone in the world. When the storm hits there is nothing to help hold them up. They have no unity with others who can give them the support they need to stand. They are too far from that which gives true strength in Christ: The Church which is strongest when we are one with each other in Christ Jesus.

In our Gospel lesson from John, Jesus prayed for the unity of believers, that they would be one just as the Father and Son were one. He was not just praying for the disciples that were with Him in the Upper Room, but for all Christians over time and space. We are a diverse people; we come from different times and places. The Church has existed for two thousand years and has touched nearly every corner of the world. Unity does not necessarily mean that we will all be the same. That is impossible. Not even the twelve disciples were the same. There were fishermen, a tax collector, revolutionaries and others. At least one was married. Some were brothers. They were from different villages. In the scriptures we can see they had different personalities. They did not always get along. The disciples often bickered, and the early Church faced difficulties.

When Jesus prayed for the unity of the believers, He was praying for them - and us - to be of one mind. That mind is not our own, or even a human mind. That mind is Christ’s. As we have seen over the past few weeks, Jesus set down how we could be unified. We are called to love one another with an active love. In service to our brothers and sisters in Christ, the world will see that we are one and will know that God is the Lord Almighty. They will see our unity and will know that God does exist in and through our lives.

The second lesson for this week is from the final chapter of the book. We struggle with some of the language in John’s description of heaven. We love the beauty he describes: a crystal-clear river, a magnificent tree, no more curses, and the face of God in our sight without fear of dying. There will be no night or lamps because God’s Light will illuminate them. God the Father and Son will reign forever on the heavenly throne.

Our struggle comes with some of the other things that John writes, they don’t seem to fit the image of God that we desire, particularly the idea that there will be some left out of the Kingdom. The Revelation of Jesus Christ according to John is the end of the story. God has accomplished all that is necessary for His people to spend eternity with Him. John’s revelation makes it clear that the grace of Jesus Christ is greater than we can imagine. How is it that John is still talking about dogs and punishment? How is there anyone left to experience judgment after all the apocalyptic events described in his book?

There are different types of judgment described in the Bible. The first is the final judgment. Strange as this may seem, the final judgment has already occurred: it was finished on the cross of Christ. Thanks to the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the judgment of sinners is done; some will live and some will die, but eternal life is entirely dependent on faith. The second kind of judgment is that which we do on the earth when we judge between to people in a court or we judge someone for their wrongdoing. The advice given for those of us in this world who will judge (all of us at some point in our lives because we all find ourselves in the position to judge, even if it is only to judge the actions of our children) is that we are to be careful because we will be judged as we have judged. So, if we accuse and condemn someone for an action, we will be accused and condemned if we are unrepentant about doing the same thing.

The third type of judgment is the believer’s judgment. Those who are believers will be judged according to the works that they do. We see this especially when Jesus talked about how we serve Him when we do good things for those who need us (Matthew 25:31-46). In the parable, of those who fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, and visited the imprisoned were doing so to Him and they would inherit the Kingdom. Those who did not do those things would be separated and sent to the fire. We know God is gracious and loving so this image of Him sending anyone to the fire is counter to our expectation of God.

The same is true of the verse in this passage from Revelation. John is describing the New Jerusalem where the believers will live forever in the presence of God. We are disturbed by the image that there is or will be some who are not given the same blessing, that there are those who will remain outside the city walls.

The list is very specific: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters and liars. The point of the Revelation is to draw the believer’s attention to that which will come when Jesus returns so that they will be prepared. That day will come when we least expect it, and John’s language demands immediacy. Jesus says, “Behold, I come quickly.” John is encouraging his reader to act now. “Don’t wait until tomorrow, for tomorrow may be too late. Those with washed robes are those who repented. They heard the Word and by the faith given in that Word they turned to God and responded to the invitation to “Come.” It is easy for us to become complacent, after all Jesus has been coming quickly for two thousand years! Even the earliest Christians began to struggle with their faith because Jesus did not come back right away. How much more do we question the reality of these promises and warnings after such a long time?

John warns the reader that those who remove or add to the words will be punished. Here again is a warning of punishment, but after two thousand years we know that there have been people throughout the ages who have claimed to have special knowledge of God; they claim to know what He means and intends with His Word. As a matter of fact, there are scholars who believe these were not the words of John but that they were added by a later believer to give the passage a Gnostic point of view.

There is something important in these words for us to hear, though. John tells us that if we add to the words then God will add on to the plagues we will suffer and if we take away from the words then God will take away our part from the tree of life. If we add something, then something will be added and if we take away something, then something will be taken away. When we add to God’s word, we set upon ourselves and others an extra layer of works necessary for righteousness and when we take away from God’s word we take away from His grace. The Gospel is simple and does not need our intrusion.

This passage teaches us that Christ is immediate, but not as we understand immediacy. It was certainly written for their moment and for their time, but it is now for our moment and our time. Though the Church has been waiting for two thousand years for the coming of Christ, there is never a time to procrastinate. The time is now. It doesn’t matter that generations of Christians no longer live in this world. Don’t think you have time to wait. Christ is coming. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

And yet, Christ also calls us to wait. On Thursday the Church will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. As Jesus prepared His disciples for that final moment, Jesus said to them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.” (Acts 1:4b, WEB)

Wait. I don’t think any of us are very good at waiting. We learn to be patient as we get older, but there’s always something we just can’t control. Even as adults we get anxious or excited. We worry, we wonder, we watch the clock. No matter how good we are at driving, all of us manage to creep up on the stoplight as we anticipate it changing. We look forward to big events, sometimes because we want them to be over. We get frustrated in grocery store check-out lines. We have no patience to sit and wait so we find something to do. We take a book to the doctor’s office. We surf the internet on our phones while we wait for our food to arrive at a restaurant. We sweep the floor while we wait for our children to finish getting dressed in the morning. We can’t just wait; we have to do something to make good use of our time.

I suppose the same can be said about the disciples in those days between the Ascension (tomorrow) and Pentecost (ten days later). Jesus told the disciples that they would be His witnesses, but that they needed to wait for the gift He would send. We know that gift is the Holy Spirit that would come upon them and fill them with everything they would need to do His Work. So, this Sunday is a day of waiting, wondering, and praying.

I always wonder, though. Didn’t Jesus give the disciples the Holy Spirit when He appeared before them on the Resurrection Day? Just a few weeks ago John told us, “Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit!’” (John 20:21-22, WEB) So why did they have to wait; didn’t they have what they needed?

Jesus breathed on them in the passage from John, but they were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. This might not seem significant, but the Holy Spirit could not fully come to the people of God until Jesus left the earth. God’s people experienced the Spirit before Pentecost in many ways, but only in specific and temporary ways. The Spirit was more an outward force that made a difference in the lives of those who believed. Saul was anointed by God to be king of Israel, but when he failed to live up to His expectations, the Spirit left him. Those who prophesied in God’s name did so by the power of the Holy Spirit. The very basics of life for all human beings come from God’s work through His Spirit who creates and sustains life. But it was just a trickle, a gift given as needed to accomplish God’s work.

Something changed on Pentecost. The promise that God made throughout the Old Testament was finally fulfilled. In Joel, God said, “I will pour out my Spirit.” In John the disciples received the Spirit as it was given throughout the Old Testament, an outer force breathed upon them to keep them until the day when they would fully receive the gift of God, the Spirit of Christ dwelling in their hearts. That Spirit brings us together, gives us the same mind as Christ, unifies us in ways we don’t always understand. Jesus prayed for our unity, but without His Spirit it would never happen. Even so, we still disagree with each other about too many things. We do not act like one body.

The problem is that we hold on to our ideas, we have to win, we have to be right, we have to hold on to our truth no matter what. That’s why we often jump into tasks while we wait; we don’t want to give anyone a chance to get control of our world. We think that they should be of our mind, but the one mind is of Christ, which is not like the human mind. We are unified by the Spirit and our testimony of the Gospel, through which Christ is glorified. We share in the glory of God by witnessing together, sharing the Gospel. This begins with the declaration of the forgiveness of sins that is given to all who believe through the blood Jesus shed on the cross and then continues in the life of faith and discipleship which we are made free to live. This is our command, our mission. This is what we are called to do.

I have to admit that sometimes I get tired of waiting for the promise to be made real. I am in no sense suicidal, but I’m ready for heaven. Life in this world sometimes seems so hopeless; it seems like nothing I do is making a difference anyway. I know the only real answer to all our fears is for Jesus to return. I want to dwell in the garden that John described in the text from Revelation. Who doesn’t want to walk beside the river of life that flows from the throne of God?

The Garden is the New Jerusalem. There is no night and no evil to be found inside the city. The gates are left open because there is no need to lock out the dark things of this world. There is nothing impure, nothing shameful, nothing deceitful. There is no more sin because Jesus Christ has overcome all that is against God and reconciled the world to Himself. This is the world in which I want to live.

I don’t want to wait, but I must. There is still work to do. There are still people lost in the darkness who need to hear the forgiving and transforming words of Jesus Christ. There are still people that need the Gospel so that they can join me under that tree, along that river, worshipping God for eternity. John encourages his readers to act now. “Don’t wait until tomorrow, for tomorrow may be too late.” We are given the power and authority of God to call those lost to faith. We are sent to call the world to repentance, so that they can join us with washed robes in the promise of eternal life. It is our task to invite people into the fellowship of believers so that they, too, will share in the fruit of the tree of life.

Isn’t it funny, though, how we are so impatient for so many things, but we do not have the sense of urgency needed to do the work God is calling us to do? We don’t mind waiting for the right moment to tell our neighbor about Jesus. We don’t mind waiting to call someone out of darkness and to repentance so that they might experience the forgiveness Jesus has promised. After all, perhaps tomorrow is a better day. Perhaps tomorrow the neighbor will be ready to hear the truth.

We don’t feel the same sense of urgency that the first Christians heard because we’ve had two thousand years of waiting. What’s another day? Two thousand years is a long time to wait, and we have lost patience and our zealousness. We have allowed the doubts and fears to creep into our faith and we justify the time by saying that God didn’t mean it the way we think. We explain away the language. We have allowed the worries and the cares of the world to temper our enthusiasm and we have followed with a skewed sense of purpose. We forget that for God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. For God the beginning of the church was just two days ago. The promise is as imminent today as it was for Peter and Paul and John.

Our work is as vital now as it was two thousand years ago. We don’t know what tomorrow holds; even if Jesus doesn’t come again as He has promised, we might just lose our chance to be the witness God has called us to be. One more day in the world makes every heart harder to the Gospel message. Every lie that is told makes the truth harder to believe. Every moment takes each one of us closer to the end of our life on earth. What if today is the day for you or your neighbor?

The message of Christ is immediate; it is for this moment, for this time. Though we’ve been waiting for two thousand years for the coming of Christ, this is not the time to procrastinate. There are so many who need to hear the Gospel. We may not think the time or the place is right, but God knows and He is directing the movement of His people in a way that will bring salvation to the world. The time is now to act. Don’t wait! Christ is coming. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

We are His witnesses, sent to share the Gospel message with the world that continues to be lost in darkness and sin. We are the witnesses who will call them to repentance, reveal God’s forgiveness and call those believers to a life of faithful living in this world. Though we may have to wait another two thousand years before Jesus returns, there are those today who need to hear the Good News of Jesus. They need to be healed. They need to have their demons cast out. They need to be baptized with water and spirit so that they too can become part of the unity that we have in Christ Jesus. The need is still urgent, the mission still immediate. Jesus is coming. Soon. Let us continue to live in expectation of the promise, knowing that God will make good come from all we do, even when we seem to fail.

We are still waiting, but not for the promised gift; that came to all who believe beginning with the apostles who were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. We might have to wait for heaven, but as they did in the Upper Room for those ten days, let us wait in prayer and worship, encouraging one another with reminders of the forgiveness Jesus Christ won for us when He atoned for our sins with His own sprinkled blood. For now, we are sent into the world, and we have the power, strength, boldness, ability, and confidence to be witnesses for Jesus today because He sent His Spirit to make us one with Him.

Jesus prayed for unity, and the psalmist sings in hope of it. “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” We are a diverse people, from different times and places. We come from every corner of the world, and we are not the same. It is impossible for us to be of one mind if that mind is human. Even the disciples were different. They did not always get along, just like us. God is not calling us to become like others so that we can be the same; He is calling us to share the mind of Christ and the Spirit of God. The common bond that makes us one is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, the world does not see one body when they look at the Church. There are many reasons why we disagree, we are still dealing with the same troubles as the first Christians. We have built fences between our brothers and sisters that block the Spirit of the Living God from displaying His power to the world. He doesn’t need us, yet He wants us to be part of the blessing that comes from unity of spirit. Christ’s Church is made up of unique and interesting individuals who together form a beautiful picture of life in Christ. May we always remember the things that bring us together - faith, hope, and God’s Spirit - and work together to serve God in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.