The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
Today is the Sunday before Ascension Day, which will be on Thursday. Jesus' time on earth with his disciples is drawing to a close, although they do not yet know that. But he has told them that soon he must leave them, and that he will send the Holy Spirit to guide them and teach them what they must do, and give them the ability and strength to do it.
I often wonder what the disciples were feeling, those last few days before Jesus ascended into heaven. They must still have been filled with the joy of finding that he was actually alive again, after they had witnessed his terrible death on the cross. The Bible tells us that some of them were still having trouble believing that this wonderful thing was true, that Jesus was really alive and really with them. And yet he kept talking about how he must soon leave them and they would not see him any more.
Their emotions must have felt something like a tornado or hurricane, just as had happened during Holy Week...the triumph of entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the glad hopes that NOW Jesus would act to save their country from the Romans, the terrible let-down of seeing him arrested, and the shame they felt as they ran away and left him alone with the soldiers. And then, creeping back to Golgotha, seeing him nailed to the cross, seeing and hearing people making fun of him as he hung there, and the terrible sadness of his death and burial...all hope gone, wondering and fearful about what was going to happen to them now. Three days later, the women's story of the empty tomb, and seeing Jesus appear in a locked room, showing his hands and feet, telling them not to be afraid, actually eating to prove that he was truly alive and not a ghost....the joy that was impossible to describe or understand. And now, he's leaving us again? What now?
I am sure that they asked Jesus millions of questions: Lord, must you really leave us again? Will you be coming back? Who is this Holy Spirit you keep talking about? Are you ready to lead the people of Israel in setting the country free now? How much longer will it be until we are free again? Is it REALLY you that's here with us? How did you come alive again? Why do you have to leave again, now that everything is finally all right and we are ready to follow you in freeing our people?
They still, you see, didn't "get it."
They were still thinking in earthly terms: armies, a revolution, political triumphs.
They still didn't understand that the freedom that Jesus had won was freedom from the power of the devil and from death.
They still saw him as a beloved man. Messiah, yes, but still a man.
They still didn't understand the victory had already been won, that Easter morning, when he left the tomb alive and well.
I am not sure that most of us understand it, even today.
Peter helps us get an idea of what it is all about. It's about good winning over evil. It's about the fact that suffering does not always spell defeat; in fact, sometimes suffering is a crown and brings a great reward, as Peter tells us by pointing to the benefits Jesus' death on the cross won for us.
It's about the fact that it is very much worthwhile to suffer in order to help make good happen.
It is, in short, as John tells us, about love .
Everyone seems to know what John wrote in chapter 3, verse 16, or his Gospel: For God so loved the world that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. We even see that verse written in Magic Marker on sheets held up at football games!
Not everyone, though, connects this with what John wrote in today's Gospel that Jesus had said: The person who loves me, will keep my commandments. And earlier: Anyone who wants to be one of my disciples must take up his cross and follow me.
We need to spell it out for people, and maybe for ourselves too:
God loves us dearly, much more than we can possibly imagine or understand. He is, after all, our Father.
God's love, however, is not the kind of love that shelters us from everything and turns us into spoiled children.
God's love is the kind that teaches us to obey him, be accountable to him, and love him back. It makes us stronger than we could possibly be alone. It gives us gifts and privileges we could never earn ourselves, such as the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life.
God did not hold back suffering from his own dear son, Jesus, and he will not hold back suffering from us, if we need to suffer to make his plans work out for the good of humanity.
We must, if we are called to suffer, accept it as Jesus did, knowing that it is for a good that we maybe don't understand now...but it is for good: God promises. It will help many others, as well as ourselves...yes, even if we die.
God loves us, and hopes we love him back enough to obey him and to accept what he sends us, following the example of his Number One son, Jesus...because we are sons and daughters of God, too.
Whether we suffer or not, or whether we just obey God's commandments, we are assured of blessings we cannot imagine or dream of, and eternal life with God in heaven in joy that is beyond all hope or understanding.
Amen.
