Acts 1:6-14 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11 Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6a]

Jesus blows past this question by the disciples.

The first verses of the beginning of the book of Acts give us the details of Jesus’ last conversation before ascending to be with the Father.  We celebrated the Ascension this past Thursday – the fortieth day of Easter.  In today’s first lesson, we return to this scene.  It is a surreal time for the disciples; Jesus has returned from the dead, resurrected from the grave.  For forty days, Jesus has appeared suddenly to the disciples in various and mysterious ways, and vanished from them just as suddenly and mysteriously.

The question is understandable.  “Lord, will you restore the kingdom to Israel?”  The “kingdom” represents the essence of life for the disciples – their livelihood, their religion, their personal lives, their political structure of laws that govern every aspect of life, and, most importantly, their understanding of living into their covenant with God.  For centuries Israel has lived in exile and under the brutal control of invading enemies.  For the disciples, having the kingdom restored to Israel would mean they would be free of the Romans, once again free to live their lives as God’s chosen people in the Promised Land.

The disciples’ request is sincere, even if it seems rather short-sighted and legalistic to us – rather like an expectation that Jesus fulfill a certain contract as part of his responsibilities as Israel’s Messiah.  And, by now, wouldn’t they know better than to expect Jesus to respond clearly and concisely.  Always, Jesus’ answers are shrouded in the deeper meaning, prompting a struggle to dig deeper toward the greater good that lay far beyond earthly kingdoms and closed societies.

For Jesus, the restoration of the kingdom carries a meaning far different from that of earthly power.  Jesus had come down to earth to show us the essence of God’s kingdom.  All time is under the authority of God alone, Jesus reminds the disciples.  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  [Acts 1:8] In this kingdom, they are no longer disciples – followers, learning at Jesus’ knee.  Once they have received the power of the Holy Spirit, they will be the witnesses; they will be the apostles of the Good News; Apostolos – messenger – one sent forth to deliver the message; the apostles will carry forth their witness from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.  In this way, they will live into the kingdom of God – the kingdom that, through them and those who will follow, will come to all the earth.

How might we perceive the Kingdom of God as compared to earthly kingdoms?

In his sermon from the Cathedral on May 10, the Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, Vicar of St.-Martin’s-in the-Field, Trafalgar Square, highlighted St. Augustine’s contrast between “using” and “enjoying” God. [https://cathedral.org/worship/service-archive/] Jesus’ message, and certainly his message in today’s lesson, is that God’s intension for us is to enjoy God; the enjoyment being an end in itself.

On the other hand, using God, as we might use a ladder for the specific purpose of climbing up on the roof, defeats God’s desire for us.  If we spend our lives using God as a ladder to get to heaven, we will miss heaven as God intends it.  God’s covenant becomes a contract of expectations – an arbitrary legalistic checklist – rungs in the ladder that might break or be too steep or far too inadequate.  Our time of using God is a time limited by earthly perceptions, living our lives in the anxiety and defeatism defined by a subjective earthly-conspired contract.

Rather, as human beings enjoying God, we are fully alive, and life is forever.  We live fully in the awareness of God’s kingdom on earth, comforted by our oneness with God.  We enjoy God, pleasing God and being pleased by God as he intends – living into our covenant with God, our sustenance in “fiery ordeals” and in times of peace – living prayerfully in the expectation of God’s kingdom here on earth and yet to come.  As Peter describes it: “You are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.” [1Peter4:14a]

The entirety of John’s Chapter 17 is Jesus’ prayer to the Father on the eve of the crucifixion.   In today’s portion of that prayer, we hear Jesus’ petition that God be glorified in the mission he has fulfilled on earth; that the mission be carried on by those to whom he has made God known; and, of great concern, that the Holy Father would protect those he is leaving behind, that they might be one as Jesus and the Father are one.

As Chapter 18 begins, Jesus heads out into the night into the hands of his betrayers.  He would suffer and die; he would rise from the dead on the third day; he would remain on earth as the Resurrected Lord for 40 days until the time Jesus would ascend to be with Father, physically departing once again.

We have celebrated these 40 days, physically separated from one another, yet one with one another, living daily into God’s kingdom on earth.  We remain now in the “Sacred Pause” between the Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost ten days later.

My prayer, too, is that our heavenly Father will protect you in a very special way during this pause in our normal daily activities – this time of isolation and concern for our health and that of our neighbors and loved ones.  I pray that you have had much time to reflect on God’s desire that we enjoy God.  God does not desire to be used as a ladder to heaven – a checklist toward the expectations of a contract governed by our earthly expectations, but a God of perfect love, to be enjoyed as we live into the covenant of eternal life, daily seeking his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

How wonderful is God in his holy places! *
the God of Israel giving strength and power to his people!
Blessed be God! [Psalm 68:35]

Amen.