7th Sunday of Easter (Sunday after Ascension Day) Year A 24.5.20.
Lectionary Readings
Acts 1 v6-14 Jesus is taken to heaven.
1 Peter 4 v12-14; 5 v6-11. Suffering and comfort.
John 17 v1-11 Jesus prays for his followers.
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. (Angels?) “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).
When did they 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?
When did they link the recognition that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s chosen one, (the fulfilment of all the promises contained in the scriptures) with the advice to listen to, obey and follow Him?
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);
Elijah (representing the prophets) is taken up into heaven (2Kings2 v11)
When did they link what they had seen and heard on the mountain, with what they knew to be true about the resurrection and the ascension?
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?
Was it:
- After the last supper/ farewell discourse with Jesus? (John 13-17)
- After the Resurrection? (John 20 v11-29) (Luke 24 v44/45)
- After the Ascension? (Luke 24 v52/53)
- After Pentecost? (Acts 2 v14-39)
Twice ‘risen’?
When the disciples talk of the ‘risen’ Lord, are they referring to the one they didn’t see but now believe (Resurrection), or the one they did see but find difficult to understand, (Ascension)? Or both?
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. In the passage just before today’s reading, (John 16 v16-33), Jesus has spoken about sorrow turning into joy, which is echoed in the passage from 1Peter.
Now Jesus is praying that his followers may be one with him and the Father, now and forever, united in love.
Did you notice the good news in the middle of Peter’s passage?
God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him. (1Peter 5 v7)
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.
Thanks to Mike Peck for submitting these reflections