St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 5th Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18, Psalm 148, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35
Gospel: John 13:31-35
31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
NRSV
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The Unhindered God
If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?
Acts 11:17
Grace and peace to you, beloved of God, from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Peter has never been so right. It is not by coincidence that the first stewardess of the word of God understood God’s manifestations among us through things like thunder, clouds, wind, earthquakes, and pillars of fire. They had zero control over those things. They were fully aware they could capture God like a genie in a bottle.
When the Spirit sends us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for us, we are not in the driver’s seat. I mean, we control what is mundane, human processes, rituals, and conventions. We choose the carpet’s color, which hour the service begins, how to spend the money, and who is in charge of what. God willingly leaves all these things for us to decide under the expectation that whatever we do, we do in community and for the benefit of our common ministry. God wishes us to be good stewards of all provided to us.
However, when we close our eyes and imagine the divine, we may find ourselves often in a small and precarious boat at the mercy of the wind, storms, and waves, working hard to fish for people. And we are not even in the realm. It can be a terrifying proposition. Where is the boat going? Are we going to make it? On which side of this vast ocean are we going to land. No wonder the most repeated instruction in scripture is “do not be afraid!”
Here is why we shouldn’t.
I don’t know about you, but I usually identify with apostles in the book of Acts. Duh! Right!? They are brave individuals with the Holy Spirit upon them, announcing the resurrection, facing the evil forces still working against them, conquering hearts, and making new disciples for Christ. They are awesome! Why not? That is what courageous Christians do here and now.
Maybe there is a little problem, though. I was once a gentile, and this is a problem we may share unless we can trace ourselves with absolute certainty to the Israelites. Once upon a time, our mothers and fathers were not included in the covenant. Peter, Paul, John, Phillip, Andrew, Thomas, James, Matthew, Nathaniel, Thaddeus, Simon, James, and Mary Magdalene, later Matthias and Stephen, were Hebrews, Jewish, as was Jesus. Theirs were the ancestors enslaved in Egypt, then led to freedom by a pillar of fire to be gifted with God’s Ten words. They were the ones who built the temple, were exiled, and first received the promises of redemption through the prophets. Theirs were the ancestors who wrote the psalms and grew up singing their lament, hope, and praise. They were the ones originally called to be a light to the nations. They were the ones who saw God walk on earth.
Our ancestors were the excluded, the stranger, the alien, the profane, the unclean, the uncircumcised. We were once the people of Joppa, Lydda, and Cesaria. We were the eunuch. We were Tabitha, who in Greek is called Dorcas. We were Lydia. My sisters and my brothers, once we were orphans and deemed not worthy of God’s grace and love. We were the ones who God’s people had to live with. Yet, here we are, adopted and beloved children of a generous, compassionate, and merciful Father, full heirs of the same gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Don’t be afraid, for we are here today, dwelling with our Lord and Savior, washed, nourished, in common reunion with the divine, tears washed away, being graced with glimpses of the kingdom of eternal abundance, joy, and consolation yet to come, only because no one can ever hinder our God.
Whoever God brings together to the font cannot be separate. Jesus welcomes to his table all who have faith in God’s promises. The Holy Spirit takes over, empowers, and propels whoever it chooses. God declares who is righteous and holy out of God’s good pleasure.
The ship of salvation has sailed. The rainbow promised to bring everyone from all the corners of the earth, from every race, nation, tribe, and language, everyone who God has made for his glory, to be together at the throne of the Lamb has been fulfilled. It is done. We will be sent to places we do not want to go alongside people we did not expect. Everything is becoming new.
Don’t be afraid, for the alpha and the omega, the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus, from the town where nothing good comes from, is at the helm. Love one another, don’t be afraid. To the thirsty, he will give water from the spring of everlasting life. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 