MUCH IN COMMON

May 6, 2012

Easter 5

Acts 8:26-40

John 15:1-8

(prayer)

The Revised Common Lectionary cycle of suggested Sunday readings normally has four passages for each week: one from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), a Psalm reading, a reading from a New Testament letter (epistle) and a Gospel reading.

Any of you who have been watching my preaching patterns may have noticed that I tend to focus on two of the readings on most Sundays – which ones depends on what jumps out at me when I am planning the services.

In this season of Easter (it is still Easter through the Victoria Day long weekend: six Sundays after Easter Sunday), that the RCL has been suggesting a reading from the NT’s Acts of the Apostles in place of an OT reading.

The book of Acts is addressed to a person called ‘Theophilus’.  It is not know if this was a real individual or if the name was to be representative of the whole group of believers.  You see the name Theophilus literally means ‘Lover of God’.  So was that a real person’s name or is that a general term? Either way, the book certainly was intended to be shared with all those who love God.

The book of Acts is the second part of a two-volume work of an early church author.  Volume one is the book of Luke [also addressed to Theophilus] – which (as the author points out) was “about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1-2).

Volume two (Acts) picks up the story at the same point where Luke ended: the Risen Christ is instructing the disciples about what they were to do next.  The book of Acts is the story of those next steps.

Acts chapter one, verse eight, sets the tone for the book.  The risen Jesus tells his followers:

“you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”.

In a way, the passage we heard from Acts 8 this morning begins the fulfillment of this quest Jesus gave his disciples.

//

Jesus’ initial followers were Galilean Jews.  Peter, James John and the others were from the region of Capernaum, not all that far from where Jesus grew up.  As Jesus traveled, people from other towns and places joined in as well, like Mary and Martha from Bethany.  Jesus even had some followers from Jerusalem like Sanhedrin members, Joseph and Nicodemus.

During his travels, Jesus ventured into some gentile (non-Jewish) territories and shared his gift and message with people beyond ‘his people’.  But it does seem to appear that (during Jesus’ lifetime), the movement was (by and large) a Galilean and Judean Jewish one.

//

One the first major expansions that the early church experienced as described in the book of Acts was that the group of believers expanded to include Jews from beyond the Holy Land – people from the (so called) Diaspora [the dispersal], Hebrew people who lived in other parts of the world; they were mostly greek-speaking and are sometimes described as ‘Hellenistic Jews’.

In Acts, we learn that the community of believers had grown so large that the twelve apostles were not able to meet the needs of everyone.  Some of the Hellenistic believers were bothered that their widows and needy were not being attended to well enough.  So it was decided to appoint seven people (from among these Greek followers of Jesus) to work along side the twelve.  One of these seven was Philip.

//

The church of Jesus started as a Judean-Galilean movement, but those edges proved limiting and restrictive, so it expanded and included those from the Diaspora.

//

Today, we heard that the edges of the movement were pressured to move out again.

Philip met a man on the road from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea.  He was not Judean or Galilean.  He was not even a born and bred Jew who lived in the Diaspora.  He was from Africa – a life-long indentured servant/consort of the Queen of Ethiopia. 

The back story is that he was not born or raised Jewish, but at some point in his life he converted to Judaism.  He was (what is called) a proselyte.

His conversion may have been relatively recent as he was still unsure what to make of some of the major scriptural passages, like Isaiah 53.  He asked Philip about what it meant.

Philip’s interpretation of these words in Isaiah were strongly influenced by his involvement in the movement of Jesus.  In those words from 450+ years earlier, he saw the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

The events of the Judean’s exile in Babylon and the image of suffering in that time are far removed from Jesus being brought before Pilate, but they do hold things in common.

The songs of the suffering servant from the exilic texts of Isaiah were deeply helpful to the followers of Jesus to help understand how his deep faithfulness allowed him to endure during those hours before his death – how Jesus refused to speak against the truth of his words and actions; how he did not cave under torturous flogging.  The early church could relate to the utter abandonment of Isaiah’s suffering servant to the same experience Jesus had.

Philip was able to use this common ground to share the good news about Jesus with this faith-seeking man from Ethiopia.

//

The man is intrigued.  The story of Jesus enthralls him and excites him.  The text of Acts doesn’t give us the details of the conversation, but as the two of them travel along the road and passed by a pond (or river), the Ethiopian wanted to make a commitment:  “What is to prevent me from being baptized – right here, right now?”

First it was the Hellenists, now foreign converts ... Jesus’ instructions were being followed:  “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”

How wide will this circle go?

Different people - whose faith was founded differently - found something in common.

//

//

The evening of the Last Supper is the setting where the Gospel of John includes several chapters of Jesus’ instructional teachings for his followers.  It is in that section that we hear such famous lines as: 

·         “The world will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” 

·         “In my Father’s house there are many rooms.”

·         “I do not call you servants any longer, I call you friends.”

·         “No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

And today’s gospel reading: “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

//

I said that the context of this section in John is the last supper, but interestingly enough, John is the only gospel that doesn’t describe the meal on that night that Jesus would be arrested.

I think it would be a mistake to interpret that to mean that the author of the fourth gospel did not know about the meal that would be the foundation for Christian Communion.  No, instead this author (writing as much as a couple of decades later than the other gospels) is a master of symbolism and the power of words to mean more than the literal.  John may not have a direct communion story: but John is the book where Jesus says:

‘I Am the Bread of Life’, and

‘I Am the True Vine’.

The last gospel may not mention communion, but it talks about communion a lot.

//

In a short while, we will come to this table, in this church, in Leduc, in 2012 and share in something that Jesus spoke about with his disciples on the night he shared that special last supper.

As different and unique as we are, we are held together by our Christ.

Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branches.  The reality is that the branches are part of the vine – they are not separate, they are connected.  The branches are the edge of the vine – the place where the vine’s growth is nurtured.

The leaves on the branches bring energy to the vine and allow that vine to bear fruit.

The vine needs the branches and the branches cannot exist without the vine.  Jesus puts it this way: ‘Live in me as I live in you’.

//

What we hold in common, unites us.  But there is no expectation (or need) that we be the same.

//

Philip and the Ethiopian came to faith in Jesus by markedly different paths, but Christ was their unity.

//

//

When we are invited to share the bounty of this table, the gifts of the loaf and cup are for all.

New to this church, just visiting or been coming for a while, you are invited to come and eat by the One who said, I am the bread of life.

Young and not so young, quick and slow, you are invited to come and drink by the One who said, I am the true vine,

You of deep faith and you who are in the midst of searching, you are invited to this table of plenty by the One who said, Love one another, as I have loved you.

Not one of us is here today, by the exact same path – and our journeys to come will vary as well – but, right here, right now ... We Are One.

//

As I began today, I noted that my pattern is to focus on just a couple of the suggested readings for a given Sunday.  But today must be an exception because the theme of a unity within diversity, where all are enveloped in the inviting and loving nature of God, permeates the Psalm and Epistle readings as well.  I feel compelled to share them too.

We are used to hearing the start of Psalm 22 on Good Friday because Jesus quotes it from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  But the Psalm goes on to proclaim that God ensures that all are included.

Psalm 22, verses 25-31.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear the Lord.
²⁶ The poor^* shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before the Lord.^*
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and the Lord rules over the nations.

²⁹ To the Lord,^* indeed, shall all who sleep in^* the earth bow down; before the Lord shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for the Lord.^*
30 Posterity will serve the Lord;
future generations will be told about the Lord, ³¹ and^* proclaim the Lord‘s deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that the Lord has done it.

//

And a few selected verses from 1^st John chapter four:

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

¹³By this we know that we abide in God and God in us, because God has given us of the Spirit.

¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

^18aThere is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

²¹The commandment we have from Christ is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters^* also.

//

(next section largely from Seasons of the Spirit)

If we are ever tempted to think of God’s love being available to only certain people, in certain situations, who have certain practices and ways of expressing faith, we will do well to re-read the scripture passages for the 5^th Sunday of Easter in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.  God’s love is there for all of us, in any time and place. 

We have much in common.

What is to prevent us from being bathed in that love?

Let us pray:

God may we believe the truth of your uniting love.  Amen.

>>offering<<