Christ Is In Our Midst
THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
May 17, 2020
As I quoted Robert Webber in the Call to Worship he wrote, “the essential theme of Easter cannot be communicated in one day. It takes a season.” Therefore, we celebrate the Seven Sundays of Easter. Mr. Webber draws on traditional worship themes and liturgies of the church year as a foundation of renewal for modern Christian worship.
In my faith journey, I have always found comfort and reassurance as we progress through the church calendar. Just as assuredly winter eventually gives way to spring, Easter Sunday follows the 40 days of Lent, and we celebrate the resurrection of Christ for seven Sundays. Then comes one of the big Sundays – Pentecost – when the early believers gathered in one place and a sound like the blowing of a violent wind filled the whole house. And, they saw what seemed to be the tongues of fire. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, but yet, everyone understood each other. Many refer to this experience of receiving the Holy Spirit as the birth of the church. A former pastor of this church considered Pentecost Sunday as of almost equal importance to Christmas and Easter.
I always look forward to Trinity Sunday which follows Pentecost. For me, that’s when the concept of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all come together as we sing the old hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy with its final lyrics, “God in three persons, blessed trinity.” Perhaps it’s my Irish ancestry and the old tale that St. Patrick used the shamrock with its three leaflets that grows so abundantly in Ireland’s fields to teach the concept of the trinity. Three leaflets, one each to remember the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit.
Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. Pentecost Sunday is two weeks away. Afterall, we are still in the Easter season although we have long forgotten the Easter eggs and lilies.
In his book, Robert Webber presents a distinct theological theme to each of the seven Sundays of Easter. For example, he describes this Sunday, the sixth Sunday of Easter, as The Spirit, in which Jesus prepares the disciples for receiving the Holy Spirit.
I compare the depth of my theology as swimming in the shallow end of the theological pool. In doing so, I notice a distinct transition in the gospel scriptures that are familiar to us during the Easter Season. On Easter Sunday, of course, we celebrate the glorious resurrection of a risen Christ. In order to experience this euphoria, we had to endure the darkness of Jesus’s betrayal, his arrest, the mockery of a trial, and finally, all of these events culminating in the crucifixion.
The scriptures for the second and third Sundays of Easter convince, first the disciples and then others, that Christ was risen from the dead. The Second Sunday of Easter always reminds us that one disciple, Thomas who was not with the others when Jesus first appeared, had to place his hands into the scars on Jesus’ body. But once convinced of a living savior, he became one of the first missionaries of the early church.
On the third Sunday of Easter, we read about the two, one named Cleopas, who were walking on the road to Emmaus when a stranger joined in with them. As they continued on the road together, the two were distraught and seemed appalled that the stranger had not heard of the recent events that had occurred in Jerusalem. “What things” the stranger asked? “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. Only when the stranger accepted their invitation to stay with them, were their eyes opened to recognize Jesus as the savior broke bread and offered it to them.
As we progress through the Easter Season, the gospel lessons transition in a manner that Robert Webber describes as, “the teaching emphasis shifts from the explanation of the meaning of Christ’s life, death and resurrection to preparation for Jesus’ disciples to the church, his body, as the continued presence in the world. The church itself is a sign of Jesus’ resurrection.”
And in today’s gospel reading from John is a portion of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse which was given to eleven of his disciples after the Last Supper in the Upper Room the night before his crucifixion. Jesus prepares them for the time that he will no longer be with them in a physical presence. He tells them, “Before long, the world will not see me anymore.” But he promises, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and he will give another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.” The Counselor, or in some versions of the New Testament, the Advocate, that Jesus describes is the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells them that this spirit will live within them and they will not be orphans and although he will go to live with his Father, he will also live within them, through this Holy Spirit, as long as they live them.
Wow! That must have been a lot to for the disciples to try to grasp. And little did they foresee how the events over the coming days would change their lives forever.
In the uncertain times that we face today, may we remember that we are an Easter people. May we discover the resurrection faith that Pastor Andy described last Sunday as we continue our journey. And in doing so, may we be filled with the Holy Spirit which will remind us of the love that Jesus has for each one of us and the love that we have for him. May we spread that love to everyone we meet…from six feet away. Amen.