Sixth Sunday of Easter (sermon text)
Scriptures: Acts 10:44-48, Psalm 98, 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Where the Spirit Goes
Happy Easter! That’s right, it’s the sixth Sunday of Easter, and it may go without saying, but this has been a strange Easter season, liturgically speaking.
Most Easter seasons, I begin and end every service with a huge, responsive shout of “Jesus is risen, Hallelujah,” as we did on Easter Sunday while worshipping outdoors – and then of course the congregation shouts back. I’ve really missed this, but decided that asking us all to project our voices – and communicable diseases – during a pandemic isn’t a very neighborly thing to do.
I miss it, all the same, the shouting – it’s always a high point of the year for me, getting to yell the Good News – though I suspect some people don’t miss it after several weeks of shouting. (Now you know what you have to look forward to next year!) Really, though, it’s just a loud reminder from the pastor that the message is worth sharing, and sometimes it’s worth shouting, but it’s better still to live out. That’s what we’re equipping ourselves to do when we meet these Sunday mornings.
So, Happy Easter all the same. We can still say that for another week or so, liturgically speaking. We can say it, but what are we saying. Is it just another way to say, “Hallelujah! Christ is risen?” What’s the meaning of Easter? If I asked you to say three things you associate with Easter, aside chocolate, rabbits, and eggs, what would they be?
Based on surveys, most Christians associate Easter with the event of the resurrection itself. This is a great starting point… but where do we go from here? If one person cheated death once, long ago, what does it matter to you and me. We could talk about salvation here, absolutely, but let’s go deeper.
Because Easter is more than the promise of salvation. More than the promise of life after death.
Easter is the inbreaking of a new covenant between God and the whole world.
Easter is the second time, after creation, that God said, “I love you this much,” and laid bare the full power of divine love.
The Gospel of John talks a lot about love, and does a great job keeping it at a relatable level for the listener. Even some 2,000 years later, we can hear these passages and gain a sense of the immediacy and urgency of Jesus’ words. This is a very different discussion of love than you’ll find on Hallmark cards – not that those don’t have their place, but the average card doesn’t read, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Jesus is, of course, foreshadowing his crucifixion and death. But he’s also talking about how to live as a disciple of Christ, thinking back to the commandment he established in chapter 13 and repeats here: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
As followers of Christ in this day and age, what does it mean to love someone, and how do we demonstrate Christ’s love? There are some examples I love to give from St. Stephen’s. This month’s Food Pantry is May 22, and expect an announcement about it next week. I’m eager for us all to join in the Ruth Circle’s activities, and there are so many other ministries I haven’t gotten to see yet, as a new member, but hope to see this year, God-willing, such as the craft fair, Santa Shop, and more.
As a community grounded in Christ, we take on these activities, giving of our time, talents, and finances for the sake of each other and our neighbors. Another very clear and present example is what the Friends Church is doing for us right now, having seen our need for indoor worship space and welcomed us into their own.
This week, though, I’d like to recognize and honor what our community is doing, in Christ’s name, to move on and explore new horizons. We are living in the clear and present reminder that our ministry, as a community, goes beyond the four walls of our own church and into the world God created in love and has not abandoned.
When Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” he’s talking not only about his death and the resurrection event. He’s also talking about a new way to live, abiding not in sin but in love, not in ignorance of God’s plan for the world but in friendship with Christ and one another. Our reading from Acts today gives an early example of what this means.
Last week, we read about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. It was an incredible series of events of the sort that could only be orchestrated by God. In today’s reading, we catch the end of another, parallel story, but it’s not obvious that this is a surprise ending. Cornelius is a Roman, and not your average citizen.
Cornelius is a Centurion, with power, influence, and a household that serves him, of course, but also relies on him for protection and patronage. He’s not Jewish, but is among a small number of God-fearing Gentiles, who give alms to the poor and are curious about Yaweh. After an angel visits him, he sends a messenger to find Peter.
Perhaps it should amaze us that Peter said yes to Cornelius’ invitation. In theory, Cornelius was an enemy to the followers of Christ; remember that Jesus was executed as an enemy of Rome. In theory, Peter would have no business entering the home of a Roman, and he would be expressly forbidden from eating there. And if you need a refresher on Peter’s vision, please please please take the time today to read Acts 10, which is an incredible affirmation of the sanctity of all of God’s creation.
Pastor Amy Starr Redwine gives a wonderful perspective on this turning point in the early church. Jesus has not been gone long, and the disciples are, quite honestly, clueless as to what will happen next. They have any number of decisions to make, including:
[W]hether to stay behind locked doors or go out among God’s people…
whether to share the gospel with Jews only or with everyone…
whether following Jesus was more important than following the rules…
Although the answers to these questions may seem obvious to us now, for those first Jesus followers there was nothing easy or obvious about these decisions at all. This was especially true for Peter, who was not just any apostle – he was the one Jesus himself said would lead the church. From the very beginning of Acts, we see why Jesus chose Peter. He is a gifted preacher, and a wise and discerning leader. It is Peter who recognizes that it is the Holy Spirit causing the chaos of the first Pentecost; it is Peter who is not afraid to speak on behalf of the other disciples; it is Peter who believes enough in the power of God that he can cure the sick and even raise someone from the dead. In today’s story we also discover that Peter has a gift for what we now call adaptive leadership – leadership that responds to emerging challenges that have no clear-cut solutions. As much as the events in today’s passage must have shocked Peter – first the vision that overturns centuries-old food laws and then the invitation to enter the home of a Gentile – he nonetheless keeps going, trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead him into an unknown future.
None of Jesus’ earliest followers expected the Gentiles to simply hear the story of Jesus and be “in.” They’re not “God’s people,” they’re not Yahweh worshippers. But as the Holy Spirit overtook them, Peter didn’t start a new member’s class for them. Peter didn’t say, learn to act and behave like us, adopt our culture, and we’ll talk. The Holy Spirit moved, and Peter didn’t stand in the way. Like Philip’s answer to the Etheopian eunuch, who asked, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?,” Peter’s response of “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have” recognizes that it is God who acts for the sake of the world to draw all creation together in the love in which we were created.
Without doing anything themselves, upon hearing what we call the Gospel – the Good News – of Christ, the Gentiles are “in.” Those of us here this morning… my guess is that most of us would correctly be labeled as Gentiles. Our ancestors-in-faith were made heirs to God’s promises through Jesus.
Because Easter is more than the promise of salvation. More than the promise of life after death. Easter is the inbreaking of a new covenant between God and the whole world.
And I say this morning, as I’ll say again, returning to our own building will be more than the promise of a return to life as normal. Here, I’m not really talking about social distancing and masks, because in the not-too-distant-future, it’s likely that we’ll be able to uncover our faces and safely offer hugs and handshakes again.
I’m talking about being open to the movement of the Spirit. Like the disciples, who listened to God and left the safety of the upper room, we’ll find it necessary to step out into the world to again serve. We want to grow as a church, not so we can brag about bigger attendance numbers or inflate our offering plate but so that we can celebrate and share the love of God in Christ with more and more people, all of whom God loves as much as us, and whom we’re called to love not only as ourselves but as Christ loves us.
Easter is the second time, after creation, that God said, “I love you this much,” and laid bare the full power of divine love.
Let’s be ready, siblings-in-Christ, for what’s ahead. How can I ask us to be ready for the unknown? Says Jesus: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” That’s how Jesus prepared the first disciples. Let’s take Jesus’ words to heart. Amen.
-Pastor Will Bevins