The Ascension of Our Lord – 28 May 2017 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for meditation is written in the 1^st chapter of the Book of Acts; Verses 1 – 11:
Acts 1:1–11
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, ² until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³ He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 

⁴ And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Way back at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John baptised Jesus in the Jordan and then the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to do battle with Satan.  One of Satan’s temptations challenged Jesus to use His Godly powers to help Himself – to turn stones into bread.  One of the things that we learn from this account of the temptation was that, between the time that the Son of God took on His human nature until His disciples laid Him in the tomb, He never used His Godly powers to help only Himself.  He used His Godly powers to help others.  He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead; He performed miracles of grace. Although His Godly powers were always at His disposal, He intentionally limited them and never used them to His own advantage.

The Apostle Paul described this very well when the Holy Spirit inspired him to write: ^{[Philippians 2:5–8]} “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Since Paul states that Christ humbled Himself, we refer to this self-imposed limitation as Christ in His state of humiliation.

Ever since Jesus took on His human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He has been and will always be both God and man in one person.  During His state of humiliation, He hid His divine powers so that He could take our place under the law.  He suffered the temptations of Satan in the exact same way that we did, but, unlike us, He never sinned.  In His state of humiliation, He still lived the perfect life with the exact same resources that we have – that any human being has.  In His state of humiliation, He allowed the Roman soldiers to nail Him to a cross and He died.  While He was on that cross, He suffered the full punishment of our sin in our place.  In His state of humiliation, every torment He endured tortured Him just as much as it would have tortured us.  He endured all that in our place so that our sin would not be charged against us – so that we would have the righteousness of His holy life.

When Jesus finished paying for our sin, the state of humiliation came to an end.  That happened once Jesus died and His friends laid Him in the tomb.  At that time His state of exaltation began.  At that time He began to fully use the Godly power that had always been at His disposal.

The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Peter to tell us that ^{[1 Peter 3:18–19]} [Christ] being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit … went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.  This is Peter’s way of saying that Jesus held a victory parade in the depths of hell in order to proclaim His victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil.  After Jesus proclaimed His victory to the people in hell, He began to show Himself to His disciples.  He began to teach them that He was with them even when they could not see Him.

That brings us to the Bible text for this day.  In this reading we learn that after Jesus showed Himself to the disciples for forty days, He ascended.  Our reading says that He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  The disciples saw Him ascend in His state of exaltation.

Now, if this were the only place in the Bible that talked about the Ascension, we might think that Jesus, having finished His task of salvation, simply left on a long and well deserved cosmic holiday – that He was simply gone – gone at least until the day that He returned as the angels said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Fortunately, Jesus Himself made some promises before He ascended.  He said, ^{[Matthew 28:20]} “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  In addition to the words of Jesus Himself, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to tell us something about what it means that Jesus ascended.  When He wrote to the Ephesians, He said, ^{[Ephesians 4:10]} “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.”  From these Scriptures we learn that Jesus did not go away when He ascended, but that He fills all things.  That means that you can’t get away from Him even if you wanted to.  It means that when you are in your car, in your home, at work, shopping, or whatever, Jesus is right there with you.

Now, when I say that Jesus is with you, I don’t mean in some sort of abstract spiritual presence.  When Jesus is with you, all of Jesus is with you.  Because Jesus is now in His state of exaltation, even His human body is able to fill all things.  The whole person of Jesus – both God and Man – is always with us.

As marvellous as this news is, there is even more.  Jesus was always with His disciples during those forty days between His resurrection and His ascension, but, for most of that time, they could not see Him.  There were special times when Jesus showed Himself to them – He called Mary by name – He appeared in the locked room on Easter evening and a week later to Thomas – He showed Himself in the Breaking of Bread to the Emmaus disciples – and so forth.  Although He was always with them, they only saw Him at the time of His choosing.

Jesus has promised us that we too will have special times when He shows Himself to us.  One of those times Jesus ^{[Luke 24:45–47]} opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”  This verse teaches us that Jesus gives His gifts when His church proclaims repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name.  The mission of the Christian Church on earth in all that it does – worship services - preaching – teaching – singing – administration of the Holy Sacraments and so forth, should always centre on the proclamation of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ.

At another time Jesus said, ^{[Matthew 28:19–20]} “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”   These words teach us that Jesus gives His gifts when His church baptizes and teaches.  Notice that Jesus instructs His church to teach all, not some, of the things He has commanded.  That means that we have the joy of learning His teachings our entire life because Jesus always has more to teach us.

Then there is the special meal that He gives.  He has promised that He will deliver His very body and blood for the forgiveness of sins in the bread and wine of that meal.  He has promised that as we receive Him in our mouths, He will deliver forgiveness, life, and salvation to us.  In this way He has promised to bring heaven itself into our presence – into our very mouths.

There can be no doubt that Jesus distributes His promised gifts at His Divine Service; that time when His church gathers together to receive His gifts in Word and Sacrament. When He reveals Himself to serve us, He gives us the righteousness of His holy, sinless life.  He also gives us the forgiveness of sins that He earned with His suffering and death on the cross.  These gifts mean that the day will come when we shall rise from death just as He did, and we shall then live with Him forever.

The worship service is not an exclusive experience with Christ however. The Ascension of Jesus Christ means that He is always with us – at home – at work – at school – on vacation – on our sick bed – in times of trouble – His presence knows no bounds.

The gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life with Him, the confidence to face the challenges of each day knowing we are in His divine presence are gracefully offered to us in unconditional love; Jesus calls us to the alter of worship to receive them that we may live in joy with Him eternally.  Amen

The peace and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Easter 6 – 21 May 2017 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Holy Gospel reading for this meditation is written in the 14^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 15 – 21:

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ n that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me ^swill be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

No matter how often we open the pages of the Bible; there is always something more for it to teach us.  That is one of the wonderful things about the Bible.  It presents God’s plan of salvation simply enough for children to understand that Jesus saved them from their sins with His death on the cross.  At the same time, it has enough sophistication in it so that scholars have filled warehouses with the teachings of Jesus Christ drawn from its pages.

One of the many themes that we find in all of Scripture is that we do not go looking for God.  It is God who searches for us.  One of the themes of Scripture is that every time we mere human beings try to find God, we get into trouble.  Conversely, all the wonderful stuff that happens in the Bible always begins with God.

In fact, Jesus Himself reminded His Apostles that they did not decide to follow Him, but He called them.  He said, ^{[John 15:16]} “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you …” The Gospels tell us that Jesus actively sought out and called His church together.

Today’s Gospel continues that teaching of the upper room from last week’s Gospel.  In a few hours, Judas will lead a band of soldiers into Gethsemane in order to arrest Jesus.  The next day, Jesus will die on the cross to take away the sins of the world.

Jesus knew that His time was short.  He knew the confusion and grief that would attack His disciples over the next few days.  He also knew that after His crucifixion and resurrection, His mission to mankind would change.  After He ascended, His people would not be able to see Him.  How will He call His church together then?  How will people know that He is with them if they cannot see Him?

Today’s Gospel answers those questions.  Jesus has been with the disciples as their helper.  Now, He will ask the Father to send another helper.  The word helper, while it is an accurate translation as far as it goes, does not do justice to the original Greek.  The Greek word is Paraclete and could just as easily be translated as advocate, intercessor, or comforter.  A Paraclete is a helper who helps the helpless – a helper who is called to be with us.  When the Father sent the Son into the world, He sent Him as the first Paraclete.  Now the Son – Jesus – the first Paraclete promises a second Paraclete.

Jesus described this Second Paraclete as the Spirit of Truth. It quickly becomes clear that Jesus is telling the disciples about the Holy Spirit.  Jesus also told the disciples that this Paraclete will be with them forever.  He will be the Eternal Paraclete.  These words of Jesus led the early church to refer to the Holy Spirit as the Eternal Paraclete.  Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you forever, …” That word forever means that the Eternal Paraclete is still with us today.

Not everyone is excited about this Paraclete.  Jesus said, “The world cannot receive [the Spirit of Truth], because it neither sees him nor knows him.”  The Eternal Paraclete inspired the Apostle Paul to write, ^{[Romans 8:7–8]} The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  In another letter he wrote, ^{[1 Corinthians 2:14]} The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Yet another time he wrote, ^{[Ephesians 2:1–2]} You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.  By nature, all people are born into this world as heathens.  Even as we begin to develop in our mothers’ wombs, we are already enemies of God.  We have no desire to know God.  As long as we are part of the sinful world, we neither hear nor see this Paraclete.  It is as if He does not even exist.

It is just as we have seen in the Gospel readings for this Easter Season.  Within ourselves, we do not have the resources we need to know Jesus.  Given the worldly characteristic of our own human nature, we must, in all honesty, confess “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.”

Then how can we know Jesus?  In today’s Gospel, Jesus spoke to His disciples and said, “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  How do we get to the point that the Eternal Paraclete is with us and in us?

All this Easter Season, we have seen that it is Jesus who must show Himself to His disciples.  The disciples in today’s Gospel heard the Word of God from the very mouth of God – the mouth of Jesus Christ.  He is the one who planted the Eternal Paraclete in their hearts.  The Eternal Paraclete used the Word of God from the mouth of Jesus to bring them to faith.  Their contact with the Eternal Paraclete came through Jesus – in His visible presence.

Our contact with the Eternal Paraclete also comes through Jesus – as He comes to us in Word and Sacrament.  The Eternal Paraclete continues to use the Word of God as we hear it and as God combines it with the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.  So we see that God the Eternal Paraclete uses the Word of God to plant faith – a faith that trusts in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.  So we see that God the Son and God the Eternal Paraclete always work together.  As Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: ^{[Romans 10:17]} Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  From that we can only deduct that the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, and sanctifies and keep us in the true faith.”

We can see how the First Paraclete, Jesus Christ, works with the Eternal Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.  The Son of God became human as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  ^{[Matthew 3:16]} When Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.  The Holy Spirit even brought Simeon and Anna to the infant Jesus in the Temple.

The first Paraclete, Jesus Christ Himself, purchased and won us from sin, death, and the power of the devil with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.  He gives us the promise of life forever in heaven with His resurrection from the dead.  The other Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, offers this forgiveness, life, and salvation to us through the Gospel.  It is this other Paraclete who gives us the faith that believes and receives the gifts that the first Paraclete won for us.  As these two Paracletes work together, they transform us from disciples of the world into disciples of Jesus Christ.

Today’s Gospel tells us of the blessings we receive from the Eternal Paraclete – the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit offers to us the blessings Jesus bought for us with His suffering, death, and resurrection.  The Holy Spirit offers forgiveness, life, and salvation to us through faith in Jesus Christ.  Through this faith God adopts us into His family.  We become brothers and sisters of Christ and children of our Heavenly Father.  The Eternal Paraclete – the Holy Spirit sees to it that our life with Christ goes on forever.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Easter 4 – 7 May 2017 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

 The Holy Gospel reading is written in the 10^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 – 10.

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

As we confess in the words of the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds; Jesus is true God and true Man, and as such when the time is right he was prone to bouts of anger. We saw that in the temple where he overturned the tables of the moneylenders.

In our Gospel text Jesus displays this same sort of anger. You see, just prior to the events in today’s reading, in John Chapter 9, we read that Jesus healed a blind man. In healing this man, Jesus made up some mud with his spittle and dirt and applied it to man’s eyes and told him to wash in the pools of Siloam. The man did that and was healed.

One would think that such a miracle would be heralded with celebration; but when the Pharisees and High Priests found out about all this they were enraged. There was a lengthy enquiry into the matter; the man’s parents were summoned to give witness that he was in fact born blind. Then came the legal decisions that a man was not supposed to spit on the Sabbath, nor was he allowed to heal; and if Jesus did this then he could not possibly be a man of God.

It was settled, the healed man was asked what he thought about all this and he spoke the truth “I once was blind, but now I see – only God could do such a thing” – well that outraged the Pharisees and High Priests, and the man was excommunicated from the temple forever.

In our Gospel reading Jesus spoke out against the High Priests and the Pharisees. Here we had the spiritual leaders of the Jews, descendants from the Tribe of Levi appointed by God Himself; men educated in the Old Testament prophesy of the coming Saviour, who were rejecting the Son of God and virtually stealing His followers from Him.

So Jesus spoke His response in todays reading John 10: Verses 1 – 10; He spoke of sheep, pens and gateways and thieves and robbers. He made one of His famous irrefutable  “I am” statements (I am the gateway); He pointed all people to salvation through Him. Of all the teachings and statements of Jesus in the Bible this one is quite a mouthful  - on the surface there are parts that are reassuring – but still, quite a mouthful.

The Disciples were a little gobsmacked! Verse 6 tells us that they just did not understand what Jesus was saying: Have you ever been in that situation where a wise person says something profound and you don’t know what they are on about, so you just nod your head wisely? Well that was the Disciples on this occasion. In all honesty most people reading this text take it at face value without really understanding Jesus’ message.

To contextualise this reading, we need to understand the very unique practices of the shepherds on the high rocky wilderness plains of Judea. These were men who wandered the uninhabited plains with a mob of 50 to 100 sheep for weeks to months at a time. These shepherds were so familiar with their sheep that they usually gave each a name; they watched them closely by day to see that they did not come to any harm, and by night they enclosed them in sheepfolds which were either enclosures made up of a stone fence with a single opening or a suitable cave on the edge of the mountains.

At night the shepherd armed with his slingshot; rod (club) and staff would position himself at the gateway to prevent his sheep from escaping and to ward off predators. The shepherd spoke and sang to his sheep most of the day and they knew his voice and followed it anywhere. At night when the sheep grew nervous or restless, the shepherd would speak or sing to them to reassure them they were safe. There are some amazing stories of the ability of the shepherds to manipulate their sheep along pathways and hazardous trails just by using their voice. This was (and still is) a situation where the shepherd knew and understood each of his flock thoroughly and lovingly guarded and cared for them 24 hours per day 7 days per week. In response, the sheep knew and trusted their shepherd and loyally followed wherever he would lead them.

You probably realise by now that this is not just a sheep and shepherd story. As interesting as Middle Eastern sheepherding is, in this case it was used as example by Jesus to represent the human Christian experience in a very hostile world.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we, each and every one of the human race, are His sheep. Some may find it impolite to be compared with a sheep, but in our daily Christian living there are some similarities; studies have shown that sheep are not dumb, as commonly thought, but they are stubborn and have a short memory and need constant guidance.

So here we have Jesus the Good Shepherd warning us against those predators, thieves and robbers who would steal his sheep from Him. Initially this sounds a bit rash to us conservative, law-abiding citizens. I am sure that no one here is planning a high risk trip to Colombia to pick up a package. Could it be though that we do sometimes get influenced by such attention grabbing idols like money, power, greed, stubbornness and lust? Are we sometimes influenced by the very allusive New Age thinking that cunningly comes to our ears by various types of media? Do we turn to the Astrology column in the newspaper to see what our ‘Star Sign’ has to tell us about our future? Do we take a peek at the aggressively advertised Physic Expo when it comes to a venue in our town?

When we think about it, we are confronted with potential thieves, robbers and predators each day. We open our door to those who tell us that their Bible is more accurate than one we have been reading for years; we have public leaders and politicians strongly advocating social change that the Holy Scriptures tell us goes against God’s will. Satan is a very alluring and astute operator and he wants nothing more than to steal us out of our Good Shepherd’s flock.

There can be no doubt that our journey through life is very much a parallel with ‘Christian’ the main character of John Bunyan’s book ‘A Pilgrim’s Progress and whilst we try to hold firmly to our faith, our weak human nature causes us to doubt; leads us to advert our eyes; and like sheep we need to be reminded, we need to be guided.

Jesus the Good Shepherd does not abandon us in the face of this world’s perils; as written in our Gospel text, He calls for us to listen to His voice, for that alone can sooth us and guide us through the perils of life.

Our Good Shepherd spoke to us in the beginning “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; he was there to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit and take us into His arms as he welcomed us into His family; the Christian Church on earth.

When we are sick or troubled in any way he calls to us “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”; and when we suffering or in doubt he assures us that we will not allow us to suffer beyond our means to endure. When we as Christians feel alone and ostracised in a cynically secular world He assures us  “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven”

Jesus’ words in our Gospel did confuse the Disciples and they can have the same effect on us. It is hard to draw a parallel between the risen Saviour of the world and gate, but then He draws us around His alter of grace and speaks the words “Take and eat; this is my body given for you – Take and drink this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” and our eyes are open and we know that our Good Shepherd leads us to this sacred place which is truly the gateway to eternal glory in paradise, and as we kneel to receive this gift of divine grace we hear the words of Jesus “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen