Morning Prayer: Tom Lyda Choral Amen Hymn of Faith *O Christians, Haste* Witness of Scripture: Acts 1: 6-14 Anthem *Give Me Jesus* Douglas E. Wagner. FCC Chancel Choir
Recorded on May 21, 2023
That we are here today in worship bears witness to the story we just heard—but not only we who are gathered here but also every other church that gathers in Christ’s spirit across the street and across town and across the globe. We all bear witness and lend credence to the story we just heard, because Jesus said ‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ We realize with deepest humility and gratitude that we are those who fall into the last category—we are the collection of the ‘ends of the earthers!’
If we go back just a bit, we might think beyond our bearing witness to those who have borne witness to us. They are teachers or coaches, they are parents or grandparents, they are friends or neighbors, they are the men and women who played piano as we learned the songs of our faith and heard the stories from the Bible, they are the elders who spoke a word at the communion table or the sponsors who guided us on mission trip, they are the stories themselves from the Bible that captured our imaginations or the mysterious moments when we sensed the Presence of we are not sure what but our best words describe something like God or Christ or Spirit.We think of those who have been a witness to us and helped us craft whatever our faith is becoming because none of us is born knowing the stories of faith—we have to be told in the myriad ways there are to telling faith’s story.
If we go back a bit further, beyond those who have borne witness directly to us, then we might realize that authors and poets, hymnwriters and theologians, prophets who speak necessary truths and founders who start needed movements are also among those who have helped shape the faith we have so far. We could even venture a bit deeper if we wanted to—we could go back to 1777 in Virginia or to 1517 in Germany or to 1054 in Rome or 313 in Milan and discover that people named Jefferson or Luther or Leo IX or Constantine, whether we realize it or not, are in some measure part of the great cloud of witnesses we have all inherited. And if we are feeling especially adventurous today, we could travel back almost 2 millennia to the year 30 or so and run into Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, Alphaeus’ boy James and the zealous Simon and James’ son Judas—11 all total because Judas of Iscariot had died. But they aren’t the only ones we would find there. Mary the mother of Jesus is there because the disciples are making good on their promise to Jesus to take care of her, and other women are there too because when it comes to the Spirit, there is little regard for whatever limitations and boundaries people manufacture. It might be fun, even informative to meet these first witnesses.
Our tour guide for this trip is the book of Acts, which we might recall is the sequel to the gospel of Luke. We find the disciples gathered 40 days after the resurrection. It is an important number because we remember Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism preparing for his ministry, and the disciples have spent 40 days with Jesus after his resurrection preparing for their ministry. Did the disciples know Jesus was about to leave them? Who knows, but what they did know from having been with Jesus for the past three years was that sometimes he was right there with them and other times he was absent from them, culminating in the great absence of that horrible Friday followed by the incredible presence of that wondrous Sunday. Faith is like that—sometimes a sense of presence and sometimes a sense of absence. The disciples must have sensed something was about to change because of their question to Jesus. “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” It is a bit of a humorous question because the disciples never stopped asking Jesus for insider information about God, and Jesus never stopped refusing to answer their question. We wonder why Jesus won’t answer, and it could be he is not privy to that information, for we remember when the disciples had asked before, Jesus said “only God knows this.” But there may be another reason Jesus does not answer their question. Jeremy Williams suggests that the disciples’ question reveals the idea they still held that Jesus had come to restore the fortunes of Israel only, thinking God’s favor is limited to one nation. The disciples had hats and t-shirts ready just in case Jesus told them God cared only about Israel and no one else. They were ready to call the band and strike up ‘happy days are here again,’ returning to the good old days when David ruled and then Solomon, which we might recall were not as glorious as nostalgia likes to imagine. Jesus knows what happens when people claim they have been mandated with God’s authority to rule. Soon, those wielding that kind of self-ordained power begin ruling with self-righteous vengeance. Remember what and who killed Jesus—the collusion of state and church, the arrogance of civil authority and religious exceptionalism, the lethality of Rome consorting with the certitude of religion. Now to be fair, it could be the disciples were asking for another reason. They wanted to know when Rome’s rule would come to an end, when Rome’s version of peace based on dominance and oppression would be replaced by God’s reign of peace based on liberation and shalom? When the disciples saw that Friday’s deadly cross was not the end but Sunday’s empty tomb was the beginning, maybe they thought the Garden was about to be replanted once and for all. We understand that longing, but for whatever reason Jesus does not give them an answer, Jesus does not give them that kind of authority.
Instead, what Jesus gives is better than political authority, which as history has proven comes and goes over the centuries. What Jesus gives them is the Spirit’s power that is theirs to embody on behalf of and in the name of the living and loving Christ. In other words, the disciples will bear witness to who Jesus is and how Jesus is even when he is gone. Interestingly, Jesus is specific about this power’s movement. Sharon Betsworth says it this way—“Stay here in the big city you are visiting (Jerusalem) until God makes God’s presence known; then go from this city to the outlying region (Judea)—the place you are most comfortable; then go to those people whom you despise and who despise you (Samaria); then go to those people you don’t even know, who are probably very different from you (the ends of the earth—oh yes we remember, that’s us).
All that Jesus says to this point is understandable, although it may not always be comfortable. What happens next is beyond our understanding. Acts says Jesus is lifted skyward. Who knows what to make of this, but Jeremy Williams offers a helpful perspective. “The disciples were not only redirected by Jesus’ words, but they were also physically redirected as they watched him ascend out of sight. Jesus’ ascension redirects them to look up. They look up above anything the Roman Empire could ever claim to dominate. They look up above any individual or group or set of people. But before they could get lost in the heavenly vision, the men in white brought them back to earth with a crash saying, ‘men of Galilee…’ They are reminded they are Galileans from an insignificant place yet entrusted with the power of God’s loving spirit to move into the world and bear witness to what they have seen.” (Sermon Brainwave commentary, 7th Sunday of Easter) In that moment and with that direction, the disciples move from the ‘now what’ of ascension into the ‘what now’ of discipleship.
Jesus’ last word to his disciples is ‘you will be my witnesses’—not you will be my heroes, or you will be my bouncers, or you will be my guardians, or you will be my admirers. No, you go and bear witness that God’s reign, God’s way, God’s power is coming. Peter Gomes has written, “Ascension is not simply an essay about the future. It is not simply bon voyage to Jesus. It is not simply upward in focus. It has a downward…earthly dimension as well, and that is where we come in, just as did the poor old disciples, to collect their wits about them once again and set about the task of living until the kingdom comes…We, like the disciples, are called to love life, in Auden’s phrase, ‘for the time being.’ We are not permitted the luxury of gazing at Jesus’ feet; no, we get on with Jesus’ work…his vision of the world that is to be that calls us to service in the world that is.”(Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living, 95, 96) Go and bear witness, Jesus said, carrying the grace of God even when our flaws are still there, carrying the wisdom of God even when our vision might be limited, carrying the goodness of God even when our days are challenging.
This story reminds us that whether we realize it or not, we bear witness all day, every day. We bear witness when we walk the halls of school, when we drive in heavy traffic, when we talk with loved ones, when we engage in conflict, when we treat our neighbor, when we spend our money, our time, our energy. We bear witness simply by showing up. Jesus said, you will be my disciples and bear my witness in the world.So, in a world that too often bears false witness, we will speak truth with courage and kindness; in a world that too often seeks to overpower and manipulate, we will seek to empower and serve; in a world that too often strives for self and creates division, we will strive for others and create community; in a world that too often idolizes privilege and personality, we will pursue justice and compassion; in a world that too easily retreats into cynicism and hostility, we will employ hope and goodwill.
If we are feeling particularly adventurous today, we don’t really need to travel back two thousand years. All we need to do is live forward the great adventure of bearing witness to Christ, just as he asked us to do. It is the movement from ‘now what’ to ‘what now!’