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Sermon - Seventh Sunday of Easter Day - 4th May 2008
St Aidan's West Epping
Readings: John 17:1-11, 1 Peter 5, Acts 1:6-14
Today we have the Ascension reading from Acts 1. But when I read it, it always sounds like one of the biggest mistakes the disciples ever made. Its contained in the disciples question in verse 6
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It sounds to me like they are saying “Are you going to do at last what you were sent to do? Lets forget about your death and resurrection. Are you going to do the Messiah’s job at long last or not?” This is what the Jews expected of their Messiah – that he would give them their kingdom back. The Kingdom was a sign to them that they were God’s people, that they were accepted by God, and that he would protect them and keep them safe. They had lost the Kingdom when they were sent into exile in Babylon. They knew they were under God’s judgment. They knew they didn’t have his favour. They had hoped that when the exile ended and they returned to Israel that they would come under God’s blessing again and that would be demonstrated in a restoration of Israel’s kingdom.
But it never happened. What was worse, they were taken over by the Romans which must have seemed like another exile. they believed their time of judgment continued on. They hoped for a Messiah who would be their champion, who would restore them to God, free them from Rome, and bring back their Kingdom. Jesus raised their expectations in his preaching we read in Mark 1
“The kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news.”
Surely, this was what every Jew had hoped for. The Messiah had come, preaching the language of the Kingdom. The Kingdom itself cannot be too far away. But Jesus had been arrested, tried and executed. But then he rose again appeared amazingly to the disciples. So its no wonder we have the disciples asking their question –
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Will the Messiah do his job? Will he do it now? Well, the Messiah has done his job. But the disciples got the timing wrong. That is the point in the beginning of John 17. When will the Messiah do the work he was sent to do? Jesus opening words to his father are “Father, the time has come.” It was at this moment just prior to his arrest Jesus announced he was about to do what he was sent to do. Repeatedly throughout John’s gospel he says, “My time has not yet come.” The first time he says it to his mother at Canna in Galilee when he turned the water into wine. Later, when he was in Jerusalem there were several attempts to arrest Jesus. But it didn’t happen and again Jesus said that his time had not yet come.
But now in John 17 he makes the great announcement. This is the time. It has come at last, to do the work he was sent to do. But rather than using the language of the Kingdom, Jesus uses the language of salvation to describe what he was about to do. He uses the language of “glory”. He says,
“Glorify the Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
The term glory is a way of describing the presence of God, but its also a way of describing the nature of God. Again, we see the glory of God when we see God in action. We see the glory of God in creation. So its no surprise when the Psalmist declares
“The heavens declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
But we also see his glory in his acts of salvation. It was God’s glory that was revealed to Moses on Mt Sinai. It was seen in the glory of the cloud by day and the fire at night that led Israel to their promised land. Here was God rescuing his people and through that act he showed his glory. Now the time had come for Jesus to rescue Israel, and as he prays to his father, he asks that the father might glorify him as he brings glory to the Father. It’s Jesus way of praying that what he is about to do will be a success. The Father will empower him to complete his mission and that success will bring glory to the Father. The same idea is expressed in the next few verses but using different language. Through Jesus obedience at the Cross, he is able to offer eternal life to all people.
This is a bigger story than the restoration of the Kingdom. This is a reversal of Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, through man’s disobedience came death. But now through Jesus obedience comes eternal life. This is a message not just for Israel but for all humanity. For the Jews, the restoration of the kingdom was a symbol of them being restored and reconciled to God. But Jesus was saying that reconciliation is better demonstrated through the gift of eternal life. This is why Jesus can talk about eternal life in terms of knowing God and knowing Jesus. The knowing points to a relationship that is alive and healthy. Through Jesus we have been reconciled to God, and God is now fully revealed to us through Jesus. We can know him because all barriers have been removed and this is sealed by the fact that we have the gift of eternal life. The consequences of our disobedience have been overturned. And the events of the cross, which are imminent, is the way Jesus will achieve all this.
By calling on God to glorify him, Jesus is actually asking to be empowered to do what he is about to do. And his succeeding that will bring glory to the Father.
Jesus then reflects upon a time before the world began, before creation. Back then they glorified one another. It’s a picture of the nature of their relationship. It was the way in which the Son brought honour to the Father, and the Father honoured the Son. What is remarkable is that the wonder of this relationship is now being played out in the history of the world. Through these dreadful events of the Cross, the relationship between the Father and the Son is demonstrated. They demonstrated their glory in the creation of the world and now they demonstrate their glory in rescuing their world from the destruction of evil and restoring the power of life.
Just as the heavens declare the glory of God so will Jesus crucifixion show that same glory. We may look on the stars and wonder about the glory of God. But now we can gaze upon the Cross and rejoice in the glory of God which brings us eternal life. John throws together so many ideas as a rich celebration of what was about to happen.
But then Jesus turns his attention to the disciples and he prays for them. And what he says we can apply to ourselves as well. First he talks about how he revealed the Father to the world. When we look at the history of the world we see a consistent theme of people searching for God and coming to various conclusions about God. But the role of Jesus was to reveal God to the world. The fullest and greatest understanding of God comes through Jesus revelation of him. And that revelation is always successful. Just as the disciples responded in obedience to God so people have done so through every age. Jesus message still produces followers, still produces believers. After 2000 years we find ourselves today in this place because that same message of Jesus has had its impact upon us.
Yet we have even more than this. Not only do we possess a better understanding of God through Jesus but we are also given as gifts by Jesus to his father, so we become God’s possession. When a Roman general returned to Rome after a successful campaign, he would return with great wealth, the spoils of war, and he would give those riches as a gift to the people. Jesus is employing the same idea. He has succeeded in his mission upon earth. He has won a people for God. We ourselves are the evidence of the success of his mission. And so we are given as a gift to his father as a celebration of Jesus’ success.
However, finally Jesus is aware that while he is leaving the world he is leaving his followers behind. His concern is that we might be kept safe. And so we have this prayer of protection. We are given a unique insight into the relationship between the father and the son. These are the things that they are concerned with. And his overriding concern is for the welfare of his people. We can be encouraged that when we bring our prayers to God, that Jesus is already at his father’s side interceding for us. We never pray alone. We always pray in fellowship with Jesus. And so on that day of Jesus ascension we find the disciples are a confused and worried lot, not really understanding much of what had happened. Yet Jesus prayer was answered in the lives of those disciples as they proceeded to turn the world upside down, just as this prayer continues to be answered down through the ages until our own time. All the blessings of the disciples are ours. We receive the same forgiveness, the same hope of eternal life, the same Spirit and the same promise of protection that God will preserve us and bring us to himself.