7th Sunday of Easter – (Sunday after Ascension Day) Year A 21st May 2023
Lectionary Readings:
Acts 1 v6-14; Psalm 68 v1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4 v12-14; 5 v6-11. John 17 v1-11
Questions, questions.
Luke has two versions of the Ascension. Why?
At the end of his gospel, Luke says Jesus blessed his disciples and then departed. (Luke 24 v50/51).
In today’s reading from Acts, Luke adds more detail, including the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit which will empower and enable the disciples to tell others of Jesus ‘everywhere’ in the world.
As they watch Jesus ascend to heaven, they were joined by two men dressed in white clothes. “Why are you looking up into the sky?” they ask. Then they supply the answer to their own question. “Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back”. Odd, very odd. Why do the disciples need to be told again, what Jesus has just explained to them? (Luke 24 v 44-49).
I think the key to understanding the reading above is rooted in what Luke has already told us in his passage about ‘the true glory of Jesus’, (Luke 9 v28-36)
- Jesus had taken Peter, John and James with him up a mountain to pray.
- Jesus’ appearance was transformed.
- They are joined by Moses and Elijah who told the disciples about what the death of Jesus would mean.
- A voice from a cloud spoke “This is my chosen Son. Listen to what he says!”
- After the voice had spoken, Peter John and James saw only Jesus. For some time they kept quiet and did not say anything about what they had seen (or heard).
Questions:
- If Moses and Elijah are able to explain the meaning of Easter to the disciples, does that mean that they are of one mind with God?
- Is Luke implying that everyone in heaven is of one mind with God?
- Is this what Paul was suggesting when he talked about us ‘seeing clearly’ in the next life?
- Are the heavenly host actively praying for us, willing us to become part of God’s rescue/reconciliation/re-creation plan?
- When did Peter, James and John say anything to their fellow disciples?
- Did they link the voice they had heard at Jesus’ baptism with the one they heard on the mountain?
- Did they ever link Jesus with Moses and Elijah in the manner of their departure?
Moses (representing the ‘Law’) leaves no known grave (Deuteronomy 34 v6); and Elijah (representing the prophets) is taken up into heaven (2 Kings2 v11).
- When did they first accept that God was at work, in a new way, establishing His kingdom on earth; starting with Jesus, then working in and through his followers?
In the passage from John’s gospel, the core group of disciples are with Jesus in the period between the last supper and his betrayal by Judas. Jesus prays that his followers may be one with him and the Father, now and forever, united in love.
As Christians today, we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus; grateful that we share the same love that Jesus prayed for his first disciples, that we are blessed by his grace, (the undeserved kindness of God), so that we may become witnesses to his saving love in our own generation.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.