Sunday, May 13, 2018

Become a Witness

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Luke 24:44-53
44Then he [Jesus] said to them, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you - that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49You see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in this city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

50Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred and twenty people) and said 16“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus - 17for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.

21So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us - one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24They prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.


The season of Easter is coming to a close. Next Sunday we will put the away the white paraments and some of the abundance of Alleluias, and trade them for red and the power of the Holy Spirit. Today we see the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry, the ascension into heaven.

After three years of teaching, preaching, and healing, Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection showed us who is really is: the Messiah. After walking with his disciples for 40 days after rising from the dead, Jesus sits them down for one final lesson. It wasn’t a parable, or a preview of the kingdom. Jesus’s final lesson of his earthly ministry was a review. “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you - that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Jesus is telling the disciples that all the amazing things they have seen are nothing new. Jesus is the embodiment and fulfillment of what God has always promised.

Jesus shows us who God is. Then right at the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus makes sure that his followers understand that this is who God has always been: “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.’” God reveals himself in scripture, and when the Risen Son of God interprets it for us, our minds are opened and we can understand who God is, and that God has been active all throughout our history in ways that are unpredictable, but are still trustworthy.

Four Ascension Sundays ago, that’s four years ago on Ascension Sunday, I preached my first Sunday service as Pastor here. I remember being struck by the irony of remembering together the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry on the same day that my ministry began. Preparing for that sermon, four years ago, I spent time with sources other than scripture, I watched the Pilot episode of several of my favorite television series. I watched Jimmy Fallon’s monologue from his first night hosting the Tonight Show. I wrestled not only with scripture, but also with how to introduce myself to this community.

There was a tension between Jesus’s ascension and my arrival, and my sermon lived in that tension. Four year later, I’m no longer a novice pastor, preaching his first sermon in his first call. I don’t stand in Matthias’s place any longer, recently appointed to a fill a vacant leadership position.

Matthias is never named in scripture outside of this story. But this story is a window into how the leadership of the early church worked. There was ministry to be done, and no human could do it all alone. With Judas gone, his share in this ministry needed to be taken up by another believer. Peter, who is if nothing else the noisiest apostle, lays out the appropriate qualifications: someone who “accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us.” Two men are lifted up as meeting those qualifications, Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. But it’s not enough to be qualified, a leader of the church also needs to be called.

So the believers take time to pray for God’s guidance as to which of these qualified men was called to serve in this way. “Then they prayed and said, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chose to take the place in this ministry…” They pray before making the decision. “Prayer signal that the church looks beyond itself for guidance and direction.”

God’s work continues
“The work of the disciples and the church is hereby incorporated into ‘everything written about me’ in the Jewish scriptures.”

Witnesses as a courtroom term
Acts, from which the story of Matthias’s election is drawn, is written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, from which we draw this morning’s account of Jesus’s ascension. When Luke uses the term “witnesses,” it’s not a passive “you have seen” word. When Jesus tells his followers “You are witnesses of these things,” and when Peter defines an apostle as “a witness with us to his resurrection,” there’s an imperative behind it. “Witness” is a courtroom term, and testimony is required. Becoming a witness is an active process, tuning our lives to testify to who we know God to be, based on the scriptures, and training ourselves to recognize God still at work in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is not a job that is left only to the 12 apostles. This task is for all believers. We are witnesses to Christ’s resurrection, and the ongoing story of God finds us still sharing in that ministry.


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