Figuring Out the Future 5-21-23
Figuring Out the Future
Acts 1:6-14; John 17:1-11
Acts 1:6-14
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
John 17:1-11
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. ”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
Prayer - Jesus, in your resurrection you rose and returned to us and revealed to us what God is up to in our world. In your ascension you took your place in the God’s reign but not before you commanded us to be your witnesses to the end of the earth and thus revealed to us what we should be up to in your world.
Therefore, we ask that you empower us in our ministry as witnesses to you and your work. Cleanse us of our insularity, our self-protective impulses, even our shyness and push us out into your world, convinced that it all belongs to you and that you are determined that everyone, everywhere will be brought into the fullness of knowledge of you. Amen.
I suppose it is somewhat interesting that we have combined passages from Acts and John for our reflection this morning as one is before he was crucified and the other is from after the resurrection. In our passage from Acts Jesus is telling his followers to spread the word across the face of the earth before he vanishes into the clouds, so the newly commissioned apostles are left trying to figure out the future. But before his departure his followers wonder out loud, ‘is this the time you restore the kingdom to Israel?’ Once again, Jesus is left shaking his head, perhaps wondering if his followers will ever get it. Maybe ‘not getting it’ is a distinguishing quality of those early followers – think of Peter’s constant stumbles, the bickering about who is the greatest, or wondering who will sit at Jesus’ right and left to demonstrate how well they ‘get it.’
Jesus had been teaching, feeding, healing, dying, rising and raising, not to mention his relentless hammering of love and forgiveness – and what the clueless followers distill from all of it is that now is the time for the restoration of the kingdom. I guess they missed the lesson on ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ But in the early disciples mind, the Messiah was being sent to restore Israel to its place as God’s favored people.
I wonder if 21st century followers of the Christ get it any better than those first century followers. We have the long burden of church history to inform us, but I have to honestly wonder if we just don’t get it today any more than those early disciples. Following Christ had nothing to do with Israeli nationalism anymore than Christian nationalism in our country today. We have learned little from the fatal compromises and collusion that occurs in the wake of political power aligning itself with ecclesiastical power.
We’ve seen no end of regimes, theologies, churches and governments claiming history on their side. It is all too common in US political discourse, flip-flopping between messianic hopes and Armageddon panic. Karl Marx thought he figured history out with communism, Francis Fukiyama with capitalism, and ISIS with the Islamic state. If history awards prizes to whoever manages to drain the most blood, then one, or more, of these theories may be right – which is good reason to prefer a kingdom not of this world.
So when Jesus ascends, his ascent into heaven is described in ‘earth-bound’ terms, not as a heavenly journey in which the narrator accompanies the hero. We hear the phrase ‘into the sky’ four times in rapid succession emphasizing that Jesus is taken from the eyes of his followers and thus from our visual field as well. But before he ascends he reminds them and us that we are not left without any assistance in figuring out the future. He promises his followers then and us now that the Spirit will come and guide us forward. And still, I can’t help but get that after staring into the heavens for a bit, like those early followers, I too would probably head to the house wondering just what is next.
Despite Christ’s departure, there is no need to speak of an absentee Christianity. Though absent as a character from the narrative of Acts after chapter 1, the influence of Jesus throughout the rest of the narrative is profound. Jesus’ name appears no less than 69 times in the book of Acts – Jesus is at the center of the church’s controversy with the Jews. Jesus guides the church in its missionary efforts, Jesus empowers the disciples to perform miracles. The ascended and exalted Christ, though absent in character, is nonetheless a constant presence throughout the narrative, just as he is today.
Not unlike those early followers who can get caught up in all of the uncertainties of life, we find ourselves today pondering our future, wondering what Jesus has in mind for us here at the corner of Walnut Creek and Clover Hill. We hear once again this morning that the followers of Jesus wanted to know the plan moving forward, just like we want to figure out our future. Jesus’ response to his early followers is telling for us some 2100 years later, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” What????, We need to know the plan Jesus, don’t you understand!?!?
“Here is the plan,” Jesus responds. “You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” So what does that mean for us today in trying to figure out our future? I wonder if it means we are far worried about thinking narrowly about TPC and not the whole of creation? I wonder if God’s plan involves far more than wrestling for political control in 21st century America. I wonder if God’s larger plan is actually to restore all of creation to himself and everything that has happened from then until now is still unfolding. Which may mean that we are simply vessels on God’s journey of redemption and restoration.
As we as a community of faith continue on our faith journey it would be nice to have a plan, a figured out future to know that we are on the right path. Perhaps if we had that assurance then we would feel confident about our future. And we have that assurance through the presence of the Spirit. When you look past across the past though it is pretty clear that God is really good at allowing the present to unfold and acting through the unfolding than having a clear path forward seen through our human eyes. Perhaps we need to take a giant step back from our narrow perspective and trust, yes, trust, that God is in the unfolding mystery of life and faith, and will be present with us no matter what happens tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year. And that the Spirit is with us, guiding and comforting us along the way.
We as human beings get so caught up in being human doings that we frequently forget that we are on a journey of life and faith that is unfolding moment by moment. That God has a bigger plan than whether we succeed or fail in our endeavors. God’s plan is to walk with us and to hold us in God’s light and love, and that is by far more important than what we may accomplish in our work and faith. What we do on a daily basis isn’t always about growing a church, isn’t always about church or secular politics, isn’t always about seeing the destination of our work. I would suggest that what we do on a daily basis is trust that God is working through and with us to accomplish God’s work for redeeming and restoring all of creation. And that my friends is good enough. What we are doing here at TPC, what we plan to do in the coming weeks and years isn’t about us as a church, it is about what God is doing and that makes figuring out our future a much more about what God is doing and less about what we may or may not do. Faith is a journey, not a destination. It is about trusting that God knows what God is doing when God works through and with us as humans and as a community of faith – our task is to trust the process, trust the journey, trust that the Spirit is right there every step of the way – thanks be to God – amen.