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Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 1
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”


If you send me a text message that begins “Dear Michael” (comma, space) then “something something something something” and “sincerely yours” (comma, space) and your name, you may belong to another age.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, and I applaud your formality, but times have changed. Even the act of calling someone and telling them who’s calling has been ruined by technology. You carefully rehearse how you will identify yourself on the phone and then they pick up and say “oh, hello you.”

Now some will argue that formality never goes out of style, and that the art of letter writing—even by text—has dignity all it’s own. There is a form to follow, conventions to observe, traditions that began long before us that may likely survive the present technological age. They do evolve over time, but the basics are there.

So, for example, the reading begins as any ancient letter might: a sentence that identifies the intended recipient and the purpose of the letter:

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

The formal “Dear so-and-so” would develop some time later, but the intent is the same. Luke is picking up the story where the last letter left off, and will now describe what happens next.

He’s writing a letter, but he’s also creating a history of important events. The letter itself will come to be called the “Acts of the Apostles” and give us an outline of the days that followed the ministry of Jesus. In some ways, it acts as a bridge, between the earliest means of Christian expression and what will follow.

So, for example, we know that the story for our faith begins in memory, sayings and poetry that lived in and among believers. Passages like that found in Philippians 2 (“rather, he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant”) form the earliest record of the expression of our faith.

Next are Paul’s letters, some written for a wider sharing, but some reading as specific correspondence to address very specific issues. Then comes Mark, with the style of a hasty recording of events that ought not to be forgotten. And finally on to Luke-Acts, the details of a life and the recording of important history set in the context of a formal telling.

What we are witnessing, it seems, is the development of a self-conscious community intent on telling its story. It is finding the means to record events that in another context might just turn to a proper historian. But that would be reserved for the important and the powerful (from the world’s perspective) and not some upstart religious movement on the edge of the empire.

So we have Luke. And after getting the formalities out of the way, he wastes no further parchment:

3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

So we have a storyteller and a theme—the kingdom of God. Jesus makes it clear that this is the topic going forward, and that what the world will need is a vision of the Kingdom to help them see God.

But the disciples, of course, are impatient and and demand to know more: “Lord,” they asked him on one occasion, “are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” This is the scriptural equivalent of “are we there yet?” and Jesus handles it as any annoyed parent might:

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Note the advanced warning, in our case just one week away: the day of Pentecost is coming, with the formal transfer of power that only the Holy Spirit can confer. The power of the Spirit will come over them, and the truly important work of transmission will begin.

So we have an increasingly self-conscious community emerging, we have a refined message about the coming Kingdom, and we have a mandate to take this message to the ends of the earth. What else could we possibly need to make this work, to carry out the instructions so carefully set before us? The answer is hidden in plain view, in verse nine:

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

He had to leave them. It was the act of ascending to God that allows the story to continue, that allows the disciples (and others) to carry this work forward. It’s a necessary step, perhaps as important as the gift of the Spirit that will come in a few short days—to leave them and allow them to become the church.

In other words, the period between the first appearance that night in the upper room, and the moment that Jesus ascends to God, is about the same as hiring a babysitter and then sitting in the car in the driveway. The growth, the development as a community independent of an every day with the physical Jesus, will not happen until he stops appearing.

Yes, he will make some famous interventions—Paul on the Road to Damascus comes to mind—but the daily routine of advice and teaching will need to conclude for this story to continue. It is in the absence of Jesus (in the most direct sense) that will lead to the church that continues down to today.

Why is this important? First, it will force the disciples to become responsible for what they learned. It will fall to the disciples to safeguard the kingdom message of Jesus, to tell his story, and and to integrate this story into the unfolding story of the church.

Next, it will set a pattern, one that follow down to today. We have the Risen Christ present in the church (each other) and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us, but we do not have Jesus giving new commands to each new situation we face. We already have all the commands we need: loving God and loving neighbour, forgiving seven times seventy, and building a world that will bring together heaven and earth at the last. Jesus did not leave us orphaned, but we’re not being coddled either. We can’t look over our shoulder to see the instructor’s reaction—we have to have the confidence of someone who already knows what to do.

Finally, we have to take this to “the ends of earth.” To my mind that does not mean some far off place, but the whole world, beginning one step outside our door. It means that we need to apply the kingdom vision to every person and situation we meet, to every tragic event, to every marginalized group, to every example of injustice, to every needy person who doesn’t even know they are needy.

It means listening to the bidding of the Spirit to find the next place God would have us go, the places where we will discover that God is already busy making things new. It means remaining a self-conscious community able to tell our story, and a confident community willing to risk rejection when we try to tell our story. And it means remaining together, the body of Christ, now and always, amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 6:17 AM