Easter 7A

John 17 according to The Twible: “JC prays that all his followers will have unity and harmony. This prayer will be answered at such time as hell freezes over.”
UCC Motto! Kind of - technically vs 21, but vs 11 is pretty close
“The disciples overhear this prayer, which essentially summarizes the Farewell Discourse. The act itself, that the last thing Jesus does before he takes his disciples to the garden is to pray is certainly a noteworthy point. That he commits the entirety of his life, his ministry, his disciples, and everything said in the discourse to the Father, which the disciples get to overhear, is quite another point altogether.” (Karoline Lewis, The Fortress Biblical Commentary: John, p. 209)

Bible Study

Glorify
- doxa - glory, opinion, reputation, appearance, brightness (Acts 22:11), greatness (Matthew 6:29), honor (1 Thess. 2:20)
- how are we glorified in Jesus as Jesus is glorified in God?
  - Elections
  - Sports teams
  - High school championships
- Love based Glory- not self glory, not national glory, not local glory, love based glory illumines/shines on all around
  - Includes everyone, even Jesus will not name who is not included in glory- when we choose to tread where Jesus won’t are we not reverting to the world’s glory of being over and against the other?(Larry D Bouchard)
Knowing Jesus
- Knowing in John’s gospel is to be in relationship- to be in relationship with Jesus is to be in relationship with God
- Jesus is speaking about those who know him, not those who don’t
- v. 2: Eternal Life to all who were “given to him” is anyone not given? Is this exclusive or inclusive?
  - Those given to Jesus vs the World - is this an individual distinction (believers vs unbelievers) or an internal distinction ( we fight our own “worldly” inclinations- greed, desire for power, apathy, etc)
- “Some interpreters find here a Gnostic-like attitude toward the world and the fostering of a dangerous elitism among Christians. But there need be no suggestion that God (or Jesus) has abandoned humanity in general or lost interest in the world’s welfare. John 3:16 should lay such a thought to rest. Rather, the Fourth Gospel takes a sober position toward the church’s situation in the world: (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching Year A, p. 327)
Ecumenical, not evangelical.
- This is a prayer for unity.
- The only hope for the world to know Jesus is if those that claim to know Jesus act as if they do.
- United Methodist and Episcopal Full Communion
- Full Communion
Protect them (v.11)
- Jesus is praying an intercessory prayer and asks God to protect his/Jesus’s people
  - It seems God does a pretty bad job of it (Paul beheaded, Peter crucified, Stephen stoned, etc.)
  - Jesus’s prayer, like many of ours, are not answered in the way we might expect.
  - So if not physical harm, what are we being protected from?
    - worry
    - anxiety
    - fear
    - Loneliness

Thoughts and Questions

“The text challenges any notion of an easy peace between the church and the world. Having and keeping the divine word creates a unique community, which does not belong to the world, but is sustained and protected by God.” (Cousar, p. 327)
- The purpose of this text - and this prayer - is not to set the Church over and against the world. It is to keep the community together so that it can be stronger in doing its work in the world.
Remember how the disciples acted before and after the Resurrection. Although in John’s Gospel this element is softened, look to places like Luke to see how much differently the disciples were able to act after they had encountered the Risen Christ. Before Easter, they were acting out of fear, jealousies, rivalries. After Easter they are able to preach, teach, be faithful even to martyrdom. This is not to say they had it all figured out. There is still need for unity among the followers, but Knowing Jesus made a huge difference in the way they lived out their discipleship.
“Preach the specificity of this prayer, why it happens when it does, what it assumes, and who gets to hear it. Then maybe prayer will get a new lease on life… Essential for preaching on JEsus’ prayer for his disciples in the Gospel of John is to go through it as the disciples would have experienced it. Reading and interpreting its totality might create for the preacher, and for our listeners, the same feeling of those first disciples - the incredible emotion of overhearing Jesus pray for you.” (Lewis, p. 210).

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1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

Initial Thoughts

Last week of 1 Peter
What gets skipped? The exhortation for Chirstians to suffer for doing good rather than evil- is you are going to suffer, suffer for righteousness

Bible Study

Suffering
- Glory of suffering - PROBLEMATIC to say the least. Must be put into context.
- Don’t be surprised if you suffer- Jesus’ ministry led to suffering and even death on the cross
- Call back to the Beatitudes - blessed are you who are persecuted and reviled for the sake of Jesus
- This is a message of hope for those who are suffering, not a justification of suffering
- You are suffering because you are being faithful, you are not being punished for a lack of faith
The danger of redemptive suffering
- The myth of redemptive suffering - that suffering is its own benefit - is a theology often explored and shared by those who have not experienced true suffering.
- This myth of redemptive suffering is used by those in power to justify the suffering of the oppressed, the enslaved and the marginalized
- There is nothing redemptive about suffering - it is awful
- Similar to the white mission-trip myth of “how happy poor people are!”
The last of the body of the letter, sums up the message.
A brief how-to of remaining faithful in the midst of suffering
- Be clear-headed
- Stay alert
- Be humble
What Christian do as opposed to what they believe
- The persecution of the early Christians stemmed from their actions of radical hospitality and inclusion which transcended the hierarchical status quo and culturally accepted segregations of Greek from Jew, Slave from Free, Man from Woman.
- Resistance comes through persistence. Persistence is made possible through faith alone.
- “Euro-Americans, who usually place an emphasis on orthodoxy, have assumed that the cause of the hostility toward the early church was what they believed. However, Empire seldom cares what the masses believe, as long as allegiances to the ruling elites are not compromised. The early churches were persecuted not for what they believed, but for what they did. They preached a message of liberation. To preach good news to the poor, freedom to the imprisoned, sight for those blinded, and liberation to the oppressed” (Luke 4:18-19) is to reject conformity with the prevailing power structures.” Miguel A De La Torre, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide
Pain is temporary. It is real, but it will not have the final word.
Those that are able to resist will not be alone, and they will share in God’s glory.

Thoughts and Questions

What does it mean to suffer for your faith in your context? How does that look?
What suffering are we willing to risk for the sake of the Gospel? These risks should not be taken foolishly or recklessly, but neither should we approach the Way of Jesus like Insurance adjusters - mitigating all risk

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Acts 1:6-14

Initial Thoughts

Acts 1 according to The Twible: “Disciple National Convention meets in Jerusalem to elect Matthias as newest member of the 12. (The vacancy was due to a scandal. Sssh.)

Bible Study

When?
- Disciples ask, “so, now is the Kingdom going to come?”
  - “Like kids in the back of the car asking, ‘are we there yet?’” (Danielle Shroyer, The Hardest Question)
- Not for you to know
  - Doesn’t stop people from constantly predicting the end times
- The Holy Spirit is coming
- “One does not write church history if one expects the world to end tomorrow. The writing of Acts signals that the once taut expectation for the imminent return of Christ has now been relaxed.” (Will Willimon, Interpretation: Acts, p. 19)
- Now that the resurrection has come and gone, the question remains, “Now what?”
Where?
- “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
  - Growing circles, emanating from Jerusalem
  - Origination of the Jerusalem Cross
- Jesus lifted up to heaven
  - The relationship between Jesus and the disciples has changed. An abrupt transition between post-Easter and a new era.
  - “By virtue of his elevation to this status, Jesus reigns over all creation. Creation is his. He has a role in everything. Therefore he is present throughout all creation through the Holy Spirit. Contrary to some popular assumptions, this event does not put Jesus out of play until the end of all things. He and the kingdom he inaugurated are not on an extended break.” Matthew Skinner, Working Preacher.
- “Why are you looking to the heavens?”
  - Jesus isn’t here any more. Go back to Jerusalem. Start there.
  - They actually follow. They aren’t full of despair that Jesus is really gone. They finally understand that Jesus has gone ahead of them. (Danielle Shroyer, The Hardest Question)
How?
- Go back to Jerusalem, and wait.
  - Their work is important - huge - but still their first step is to pause.
    - Not an excuse to be slow, and get caught up in church bureaucracy.
    - A reminder to soak everything in prayer. Major decisions must be done deliberately and intentionally. Not slowly.
- “Presumably the Holy Spirit could have come immediately after Jesus' ascension; but God waits. Rather, God has Jesus' followers wait. I like to think that in this waiting they learn, or begin to learn, that they are to be a responsive community, a community that waits upon God to initiate. Whether they walk back to Jerusalem from the ascension with eager energy or paralyzing fear we do not know. All we know is that they have to wait.” Matthew Skinner, Working Preacher.
- Resurrection is victory over death. Ascension is empowerment.
- Devoted themselves to prayer as a group (including some women, and Jesus’ brothers)

Preaching Thoughts

How does waiting fit in our ministry? Is the act of waiting and praying still faithful, even though we’ve been given the power of the Holy Spirit?
If Jesus is leading the way, are we following? Are we still taking the good news to Jerusalem (our neighbors), Samaria (cultural outsiders), and to the ends of the earth?
“The challenge is not the intellectual one of knowing enough to tell about Jesus but rather the challenge is to have the authorization and empowerment which enable succeeding witnesses to be doing the work of Jesus. Until those who know the facts also experience the power, they do well first to wait in Jerusalem and to pray” (Willimon, p. 21).
How are victory and empowerment related? This is different than triumphalism and entitlement. When the victory is coupled with the humility that it is God’s victory, one that we did not gain on our own, but one in which we are allowed to share, then we may be empowered to do Christ’s work. This is different than feeling superior because of our triumph, and thus entitled to the gifts and benefits of the win.

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Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, patreon.com/RichardBC). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas for our transition music (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.