SUNDAY SERVICE
7th Sunday of Easter - Sunday 1 June 2014 Acts 1:6-14 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 John 17:1-11
The days after Ascension Day until Pentecost are days of prayer and preparation for the celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The readings this week focus on the power and the glory to come for those who are united to Christ by faith.
Acts 1 retells the story of the disciples waiting for the Spirit. Someone once said that the question they ask Jesus (“Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”) contains as many errors and misunderstandings as it does words! They are looking for power and glory in the here and now, and they will receive it. But it will not be as they expect. They will receive power from on high when the Holy Spirit comes, and they will be blessed with the awesome privilege of witnessing to Jesus’ resurrection. For many, this will end in their deaths, as the gospel spreads inexorably from Jerusalem, to Judea, and (beyond Israel) to Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth.
They watch as Jesus disappears from sight, only to be told that he will come again in the same way, one day. They return to Jerusalem from Olivet, and immediately devote themselves to prayer as they wait for the things they have been told about to happen. The names of the 11 foundational apostles are again given (as they were earlier in Luke’s Gospel account), but minus Judas Iscariot. His mother and his brothers also believe and pray with them, with some other unnamed women. The gift that Jesus promised will come, and then, at some unknown future point, the Lord himself will return again in glory.
The Gospel reading goes back to just before the crucifixion, when Jesus prayed his high priestly prayer in John 17. He prayed that he might be glorified, as he was glorified before the foundation of the world, so that he might glorify the Father and give eternal life to all those who had been given to him. The past glory, the future glory, and the present glory. In a wonderful “oneliner” he tells us that eternal life is knowing God, and the glorified Son. He prays, not for the world, but for those given to him by the Father out of that world, that they would go on believing his word, even when he has returned to the Father’s side. He asks that they might enjoy the closest, most intimate spiritual unity with God. This is his present prayer for us, as he intercedes with the Father on our behalf before his return.
Peter reminds his readers that in this time of waiting we must suffer before the glory to come is revealed. We must not be surprised by this, because it has been prophesied and is inevitable for those who follow a crucified messiah. Sharing his sufferings means sharing in the glory to come, because of our union with him by faith. The Spirit of God rests on those who confess his name under pressure and endure to the edge of glory with his divine assistance. In this period of waiting, we entrust ourselves to him and cast all our burdens and sorrows upon him, along with all those who likewise are joined to him by bonds that are deeper than blood and stronger than death. The God of grace and eternal power equips us for the glory to come, with all that we need in Christ, by his Spirit.