John 17:1-11

John 17:1-11

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. 6 "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

John 17:1-11 (Year A Seventh Sunday of Easter, also Year B, Seventh Sunday of Easter, verses 6-11) is part of the intercessory prayer of Jesus. My purpose is to interpret this prayer within Johannine theology, to situate the prayer within the farewell discourse, and to argue for a high Christology, especially the pre-existence and ontological unity of the Son with the Father. 

Summary

John 17:1-11, part of Jesus' intercessory prayer, profoundly outlines the unity between Father and Son, and the pathway to eternal life for believers. The prayer begins with Jesus' glorification of the Father through his completed work, allowing the Son to be glorified in turn. This glorification isn't just a future event, but a restoration to the Son's pre-existent fellowship with the Father, an explicit claim of their oneness.

Eternal life, a central theme, is presented not as a distant reward, but as the present experience of knowing the Father, revealed uniquely through the Son. This knowledge contrasts sharply with the Mosaic revelation, emphasizing a new, direct relationship with God. Jesus' ministry has focused on revealing God's name and words to his disciples, distinguishing them from "the world" while preparing them for their mission within it.

The prayer then intercedes for these disciples, whom the Father has given to Jesus. Anticipating his imminent departure, Jesus prays for their protection from the world's contaminating influence and, crucially, for their unity, mirroring the perfect oneness of the Father and Son. This deep spiritual connection is established through Christ's love and sacrifice, drawing all people into union with God.

I strongly emphasize that glorification is not sequential or merely eschatological but reciprocal and eternal, grounded in pre‑creation fellowship between Father and Son. I explicitly identify this as an argument against anti‑Trinitarian interpretations. 

I define eternal life not as future reward but as present participation in divine knowledge, mediated through Christ. I contrast this interpretation with Mosaic/Torah-centered revelation.

I portray unity among disciples as a participation in divine oneness, not simply organizational harmony. I frame division as a manifestation of “the world,” from which disciples require protection.

What I especially emphasize is that prayer is participatory action, knowledge is rlational and salvific, and unity is ontological before it is ethical. 

Context

Chapter 17 is the resounding conclusion of the discourse, for the fight is fought and the victory won upon the field of the spirit and by the power of God. It is stamped throughout by the terminology and style of John.[1] It is intercession for disciples now and in the future.[2] The prayer gathers up much of what has been said and presupposes the total picture of Christ and his work with which the reader should be acquainted. Every verse contains echoes, which I will explore. The central theme of the farewell discourse has been to explore what it means to be united with Christ, treated in a variety of aspects. Christ is imparting life in union with Christ to them as he speaks. The interchange of intimate conversation among friends is itself the process of uniting people with Christ. They are proleptically being invested with the benefits that are theirs through the supreme act of love through the sacrifice of Christ. They are incorporated with Christ in the love which is mutual indwelling, and in which knowledge and vision of God brings eternal life to people. This relation between Christ and his friends is grounded in the archetypal relation in which Christ stands to the Father. The prayer is the ascent of the Son to the Father. It is that spiritual ascent to God which is the inward reality of all true prayer. In thus praying, Christ both accomplishes the self-oblation of which his death is the historical expression and draws all people after him into the sphere of eternal life, which is union with God, beginning with his disciples and then expanding to all who are to believe in him to the end of time. An interesting overlap occurs in the theme of the Hermetic writings (100-300 AD) of the Poimandres and De Regeneratione. The prayer of Christ can be understood as part of the farewell discourse, but both are analogous to Hellenistic documents. Proclaiming his eternal unity with the Father, he explains to the candidates for imitation how they may become one with Christ and so enter that eternal unity. In union with Christ, they are not of his world, they belong to the sphere of being born from above, to which Christ belongs. He is ascending to the Father and will take them with him that where he is they may be also. Having thus prepared them, he offers the prayer in which he brings them with him into the presence of the Father, thereby accomplishing their union with the Father. The difference in John, however, is that this teaching occurs in a communal context, that knowledge or union with God that imparts eternal life is understood in the ethical term of love, and their knowledge of God is mediated by an historical transaction, the departure and return of Christ, that only on the cross can Christ draw all people to him, the prayer that they mall be one finding fulfillment in the laying down of his life.[3]

Verse-by-verse study

Verses 1-5 are the exordium, reciting the commission of Christ and reports his full discharge of it to the mutual glory of Father and Son. The prayer begins with a theme of glorification (verses 1-8). After lifting up his eyes (11:14), Christ addresses the prayer to the Father (πάτερ) The hour of revelation contained in the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension has come, whereas in 7:30 the hour has not yet come, and thus Jesus being the Son still depends upon the resurrection.[4] This progression of events is a movement toward the glorification of the Son (ὁ υἱὸς) and the unity of the Father with the Son. In Jesus, the disciples have seen the glory of the only Son of the Father (1:14). His prayer is that the Father would glorify the Son so that the Son may glorify the Father, whereas in 7:39 Christ had not yet been glorified. Jesus shows himself to be the Son precisely in his self-distinction from the God.[5] The Son acts to complete his own sending, with everything in the conduct of the Son serving to glorify the Father and enhance the irruption of the reign of God into the world,[6] even as in 3:35 the Father has entrusted everything to the hands of the Son, giving authority to the Son (Dan 7:13, referring to the Son of Man). The eternal life the Son gives to his followers, those whom the Father has given him (6:37, 39, 10:28), where in 10:28 Christ gives eternal life to his sheep, speaks to the quality of relationship that the believer has with the Father. As in 14:7-9, where to know Christ is to know the Father, the content of that eternal life, which is not pie in the sky by and by, is to know in this moment the Father, whom the Son reveals, is the only true God (5:44 the only God), and, the only time in the gospels Jesus uses this title, Jesus Christ (Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν) whom the Father has sent. The prologue asserted that the Son, who is close to the heart of the Father, made the Father known (1:18). Finely summarizing the synoptic tradition, and referring to 3:34, where he said his food is to do the will of the one who sent him and to complete his work,[7] the Son has glorified the Father through the work the Father gave him to do, as Jesus hallowed the name of God by honoring and proclaiming the lordship of the Father (13:32). Affirming 1:14, where the glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, such glorification now between Father and Son is glorification the Son had in the presence of the Father before creation (1:1-2), thereby affirming the pre-existence of the Son and in contradiction to the Socinian and other anti-Trinitarian teachers.[8] The glorification by the Father (πάτερ) of the Son restores the Son to his original fellowship with the Father. The glorifying of the Father by the Son finds correspondence in the glorifying of the Son by the Father. [9] All this is an explicit claim of the oneness of the Son with the Father and the conviction of the pre-existence of the Son.[10]

In verses 6-8 is a brief review of the ministry of Jesus and its results in revealing the name of God to his disciples and transmitting to them the words (τὸν λόγον) of God, a designation for the Christian message,[11] while they have received the divine message, thereby attaining faith and knowledge. In 3:11, Christ tells Nicodemus that we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen. The Son has revealed the divine name (person, nature, essence). The Son reveals the love of the Father, so the believing in Jesus as the Son is an acceptance of the love of the Father revealed through him. The separation from Judaism is alarmingly obvious here. In the Hebrew Scriptures God revealed the divine name (YHWH) to the chosen people through the servant of the Lord, Moses.[12] The Torah is the focus of revelation for the Jew. For John, this revelation through the Son separates those who believe from the world. The Father has given the precious gift of the disciples to Jesus. During his ministry, the has given the words (ῥήματα) of the Father to his disciples, and the disciples have received them. They know that the Son has come from the Father and they have believed the Father sent him, thereby using the language of the prophet like Moses and expressing the Father-Son relation in terms of the Son coming from God.[13] The prologue also affirms Jesus as the true light (1:9) and that grace and truth are through him (1:14, 17). Those who believe receive power to become children of God (1:12). Eventually, the disciples understand the full meaning and impact of Jesus, his divine source, his sacrificial life, and his life-giving teaching. 

In verses 9-19 is the middle portion of the prayer, contemplating the disciples in their situation in the world after the departure of Christ. The prayer continues with an intercession for the disciples and for the world (verses 9-11). The assumption in the opening words is the hostility of the world, the opposition of the world to Jesus. “He’s got the whole world in his hand” is a comforting thought, and true from one perspective, but not the perspective of this prayer. The prologue reminds us, however, that the world came into being through the Word (John 1:10). Further, God loved the world so much that the Father gave the Son in order that those who believe would have eternal life (John 3:16). This part of the prayer petitions the Father (πάτερ) on their behalf, in contrast to the world, even the risen Lord will send the disciples into the world. The disciples are those whom the Father has given him. They still belong to the Father, for anything that belongs to the Son belongs to the Father, as in 16:15, everything the Father has belongs to the Son. The Father has glorified the Son in them. By virtue of creation, all are children of God, but John is focusing on the unique way in which one belongs to the Father by believing in the Son. Anticipating that he will no longer be in the world through his passion and crucifixion, his departure is already under way. However, the disciples are in the world. The Son is coming to his Holy Father, a unique term, praying that Father will protect or shelter them in the name of the Father. They need protection from contamination of the world, which will have the result that they will be one, even as the Father and Son are one. Among the great threats the world presents is its divisiveness.

Application

In Act 5 scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth has heard that the queen is dead and he knows his own death is imminent. At this time, he delivers his famous soliloquy:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow

creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 

To the last syllable of recorded time, 

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 

The way to dusty death. Out, Out, brief candle 

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player 

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 

and then is heard no more. It is a tale 

Told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury 

Signifying nothing.  

 

Many people have pondered whether Macbeth might be right. Is life nothing but a shadow having no substance, no meaning? Writers and philosophers since recorded time have tried to answer the question. Obviously, no one has been successful in answering the question to the satisfaction of everyone. Someone once said that trying to speak about the ultimate reality is like sending a kiss through a messenger. I understand their point: Something of its truth is lost in the translation. The question of the meaning of human life is a philosophical one to be sure. I think it is also a genuinely human question. At some point, most of us ask it. We may ask it out of a sense of despair, hope, cynicism, curiosity, or a deep desire to have goals and guidance in one’s life. The question may be the most basic and fundamental of questions.

  The question of the meaning of life also reveals a quite real problem we have. If the answer were staring us in the face, would we receive it? What would we do if we did not like the answer? I am not so sure we would embrace the answer, especially since embracing it might require us to change the course of our lives. In this part of the prayer of Jesus, John is making it clear that the Jesus as the Son reveals the Father and glorifies the Father. The meaning of a human life is to embrace this truth, to believe it, and live our lives in accord with its reality. We will not easily embrace such a truth. After all, we would rather go on searching instead of committing. We would rather do and believe what we want instead of finding the meaning of our lives outside us and within the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Thus, I think John is inviting us to reflect upon some basic issues of a human life.

Followers of Jesus need protection or shelter from the world. The world is a threat to the unity the followers of Jesus have with each other and with God. I came across what I thought was an interesting exploration into the prevalence of dust in our world that might give us a way of thinking about the concern of this prayer. 

Dust is our beginning. It is also, most certainly, our end. "You are dust," said God to Adam, before tossing him out of the Garden of Eden, "and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Dust is a blessing and a curse. Now, scientists tell us, dust is also a dramatic part of daily living. With every breath we take, we suck in tens of thousands of particles. Although we cannot see it, each of us walks the earth in a cloud of dust, shedding fragments of skin and bits of lint torn from our clothes through friction. One can measure it in microns, which is the type of measurement you can count on the head of a pin. Some of it is harmless, but some of it is deadly. Dust has swept away whole civilizations, burying dinosaurs so fast that they never got off their nests and suffocating all those folks you see in Pompeii, caught forever with a cry on their lips. Science journalist for the Discovery Channel Hannah Holmes suggests that by age 6, our children have consumed at least a cup and a half of pollen, pesticides, lead, dander, and fibers. 

In her book The Secret Life of Dust (2001), Holmes promises an exploration of the various lives of dust, or more exactly, particulates. Those who watch the popular television series Bones will remember that “the king of the lab” often refers to particulates.

Some dusts menace the planet and its living residents. Some are beneficial to people, plants, and animals. Many are merely fascinating. All are going under the microscope. And the secret lives of dust are being revealed.

 

She tracks the enormous dust streams that pour across from Saharan Africa, fertilizing South American rain forests, and that carry the Gobi, particle by particle, across the Pacific Northwest. She also reports that our every human action produces tons of the stuff, from tire dust to the invisible clouds that arise from cooking, vacuuming, gardening and powdering baby. A whole dust food chain lives off it, fungi to mites to cockroaches, and their decomposing bodies and droppings add to the mess. 

Dust is everywhere and unstoppable. Every breath you take brings 150,000 to 1 million specks—depending on the grubbiness of your environment—into circulation in your lungs. Many will wash out on the tide of exhalation, but not a lot of those industrial dusts, or asbestos dust, or quartz dust—all of which stay to kill you. Then again, Holmes is quick to admit, do not discount those dust bunnies skulking under the sofa that “contain everything from space diamonds to Saharan dust to the bones of dinosaurs and bits of modern tire rubber.” Then again still, dust fires the hydraulic cycle and gives birth to the stars and the heavenly bodies; every patch of the Earth is made of melted dust. Did dust start the Ice Age? Did it end it? Does dust help suppress asthma? Does space dust form noctilucent clouds?

Dust might be vital to life on our planet (and may, in fact, even be responsible for it). Yet, she also refers to it as this "heartless little brute" that could also be responsible for the deaths of millions. She is not talking about dinosaurs. (Or at least not just yet.). We are swimming in it. It covers us. We might very well have come from it, and--surely, eventually--we will become it. 

Fascinating facts from the book:"...you breathe about 700,000 of your own skin flakes each day" "...a cup of flour... isn't legally filthy until it contains about 150 insect fragments and a couple of rodent hairs" "...the average child eats 15 or 20 milligrams of dust a day, and superslurpers eat 30 to 50 milligrams."

Dust. It is downright disgusting. We live in a dusty, musty, and rusty world. The dust is here. It will not go away.

Allow me for a moment to take this natural reality and apply it to spiritual life. Some dust is harmless. We do not need to have any concern about that. Some dust will help us with some forms of disease. We need to pay attention to that and learn what we can. Some dust is deadly. We need to learn to protect ourselves from it.

The prayer of Jesus in John 17:1-11 includes the prayer the holy Father would protect his disciples from contamination by the world. We part of a culture, rather than isolated from it. We must take the risk of what involvement means. As creatures of the earth, we will not live in a dust free environment. The point is that the intimacy of the relationship between the Father and the Son moves us toward such an intimate relationship with Father and Son that we can discern what is contaminating in the world from what is not.

I guess that means we need to maintain that type of intimacy with God. 

We are citizens of another world. Jesus wants to provide his followers with a new way of viewing themselves. Jesus creates a new identity for his followers. They are getting a new passport. You are living on this earth, but every nation has become a foreign land. You are citizens of the eternal even as you remain in this temporal world. How do we survive as "foreigners"? If we are foreigners in a strange land, how are we going to cope? How can we make this work? 

First, we can embrace our foreignness. If you have done any traveling at all, you know that the local people can always spot a foreigner. They look different, smell different, talk different, dress different and think different. Can we be similarly identified as belonging to God's world, rather than this world? This means, to keep working with the metaphor, that if Jesus says we're foreigners in this world, that the world should recognize us as total foreigners. We think differently. Our values are different. Our approach to life is radically different and sometimes contrary to this world. 

Second, we can survive as foreigners by seeking God's protection. Jesus mentions this several times in our text. He asks the "Holy Father" to "protect them" (v. 11). He says that he himself has "protected" and "guarded" the disciples. Again, in verse 15, he says in this prayer to the Father, "I ask you to protect them." Evidently, living in this foreign land is not safe. From what do you suppose Jesus felt the disciples needed protection? It is possible he feared for their physical safety. He certainly was aware of his own fate at this point; and elsewhere he alludes to Peter's manner of death (see John 21:19). Perhaps he feared the attraction of the world itself with all its temptations. The apostle John writes to young Christians saying, "Do not love the world or anything in the world" (I John 2:15, NIV). He goes on to identify things we might love: "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches" and says that these things do not come "from the Father but from the world" (I John 2:16).

Third, we can survive by hanging out with a community of other foreigners, i.e. people from our own country. Go to any major cosmopolitan, international city in the world, and you will discover that there is a strong German, Turkish, Italian, American, Lithuanian, Bulgarian or Swedish community there. These are just examples. The point is that, if you're a Norwegian living in Singapore, you are going to look for other Norwegians in Singapore. It will help you to survive in this hot and humid city that's perched smack on the equator. Being with other Norwegians will make life a little more bearable. Similarly, if we're serious about acting as foreigners in this world, we, too, will seek the protection of a community of other Jesus people, or God-followers. "So that they may be one." If you want to become a citizen of a country other than the one in which you grew up, you must learn its language, culture, tradition, and rules (written and unwritten, the do and do not). If we are to be citizens of eternity within this temporal world, being part of a community will help us learn the language and the way of life that gives precedence to the word of God (verse 6).  

---

[1] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971) 186.

[2] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971) 189.

[3] (Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 1953, 1970) 417-23.

[4] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989), 57, who would disagree with this. 

[5] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 310.

[6] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 2, 395.

[7] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 309, Volume 3, 625.

[8] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 309, Volume 3, 625.

[9] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 3, 11.

[10] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 29, 57.

[11] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 234.

[12] (See, e.g., Deuteronomy 5:11, 10:8, 12:5, 12:21, 14:23, 16:6, etc.; see also John 17:26).

[13] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989) 29, 141.

I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 

            Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

            5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 8 Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. 10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

                   I will discuss I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11, which is part of a larger section, I Peter 4:12-5:11, that encourages steadfastness in faith. 

                  Summary

My analysis offers a reflection on steadfastness in faith amidst suffering. I highlight that Peter's audience, early Christians facing pagan persecution, were urged not to be surprised by "fiery ordeals" but to rejoice in sharing Christ's sufferings, as this refines faith and promises future glory. This suffering, you note, has a "sacramental presence" connecting believers to Jesus's own path.

Moving to 1 Peter 5:6-11, I emphasize instructions for humility, casting anxieties on God, and disciplined vigilance against the devil. Crucially, you stress that enduring suffering with faithful patience is not passive humiliation but an act of submission to God's mighty hand.

A distinctive claim is that suffering possesses a “sacramental presence”, meaning it mediates communion with Christ rather than merely symbolizing it. Key theological implications:

 

·      Suffering is not redemptive in itself, but participatory in Christ’s redemptive suffering.

·      Glory and Spirit are closely linked; the Spirit already “rests” on believers even before final consummation. [Document | Word]

·      Eschatology governs ethics: present endurance is meaningful only in light of future revelation.

 

This reflects a strongly incarnational and eschatological theology, resisting both triumphalism and despair.

                  I make a critical ethical distinction between humility the right posture before God, and humiliation, an unjust degradation imposed by others. Faithful endurance is not endorsement of abuse, despite the call of Peter to non-retaliation. 

I then pivot to the contemporary relevance, lamenting the loss of a clear understanding of evil in Western society. I argue that intellectual rationalization often masks personal and societal evils, leading to self-deception and the demonization of "other" groups. My discussion underscores the importance of recognizing evil as an intimate matter of the human heart and cautions against misinterpreting Peter's words to perpetuate injustice, stressing the original context of a vulnerable minority. I use literary references to reinforce the claim that evil is often banal, intimate, and self-deceptive rather than spectacular. 

Verse-by-verse study

To begin, I Peter 4:12-14, part of a larger section, I Peter 4:12-19, has the theme of suffering for good. 

As we have learned, Christians are finding that their identity in Christ causes problems. Professional, social and personal relationships are strained; being a Christian leads to social ostracism, persecution and suffering from the dominant pagan culture. The questions that Peter deals with are these: How do believers and the communities of the faithful cope during challenging times in an un-Christian world? What are the attitudes of the distinct enclave known as the church? The answer is: Endure, stay faithful, show mutual love, be steady, humble and patient; remember that other believers are suffering, too, and that the rewards of God's kingdom will come in time.

¹²Beloved, a title that is used in the gospels only for Jesus, but in the post-Resurrection church for all those who have become Christians, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal, suggesting an apocalyptic flavor, including every good work^[1] that is taking place among you to test (πειρασμὸν) you, a view this author shares with Daniel and Revelation. Suffering is a way of testing faith and thus, do not treat it as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings. Thus, as Jesus suffered during his life, they should not have surprise if they experience hardship as well. The way of the cross is not an easy one. When those who follow Jesus experience suffering due to their faith, they are only walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Suffering itself becomes a form of the sacramental presence of the risen Lord among them. They participate in the suffering of Christ. Experiencing suffering in this way is so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. Suffering is the way God purifies the community in the age before the promised end. An understanding of the eschatological future as revelation of the divine glory determines what I Peter says about the future of Jesus Christ. Such statements occur within the apocalyptic notion of revelation, which he discusses in the context of the multiplicity of biblical ideas of revelation. Here, believers await their sharing in this coming revelation of the glory of Jesus. Further, he finds the renewal and consummation of the world by world-changing judgment under the sign of the divine glory that will be manifest as the glory Jesus Christ, as we find in this verse, by the completing of his reconciling of believers for participation in his life.^[2] 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, a notion that should remind us of the beatitudes. Reflect upon Luke 6:22-23, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you ... Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven.” The reason you receive blessing in persecution is because the spirit of glory, (and power) which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. We again see the sacramental nature of suffering. We find here an equation of glory and Spirit implied, with the reference to the gift of the Spirit to believers. On them, the Spirit of the glory and the power of God rest already. Both glory and power (if that word is original to the text) are intrinsic to the nature and work of the Spirit. Therefore, the glory of Christ, which will find manifestation in the event of the final consummation and for which believers wait, will be the full bringing into view of the power and glory of the divine Spirit and the divine essence.^[3]

Moving to I Peter 5:5-11, which has the theme of instructions to the faithful. It may contain an allusion to the burning of Rome in 64 AD, as Nero blamed the Christians for the fire.

5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.  And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility [Colossians 3:12] in your dealings with one another, for "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." [Proverbs 3:34]

 

^5:6 Humble yourselves. The believers who are experiencing trials and tribulations are not, however, to take part in any kind of personal, political, or religious action against the persecution. Rather, according to Peter, Christians are to be passive and even suffer the abuse (2:19). At the same time, humility is not humiliation. Humility describes the attitude of every person before God. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, the Old Testament image pointing up the disparity between divine power and the humble human condition, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Since God will exalt them, there is no need to have anxiety about their life. See Matthew 6:25-34. Placing ourselves squarely in the hands of God is difficult because it is so hard for us to give up control of our choices. Submitting to the will of God is a hard and perilous thing. However, without our willing submission to God and a ready grasp of the will of God through prayer and meditation, all our choices fall at last to dust. Most congregations pray “Thy will be done,” regularly, and many Christians offer the prayer as a regular part of their daily meditation. This petition acknowledges that the greatest battle occurs within us, committing us to travel the path of the will of God regardless of where it may lead.^[4] 8 Discipline yourselves. This disciplined or clear-headed stance keeps believers from any mental confusion or momentary passions. They train their hearts and minds on God.  Keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. See Daniel 7:4-7 and II Timothy 4:17. ⁹ Resist him, here is how they resist, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. Such military images will prepare them for battle. The trials they are facing are part of a larger cosmic struggle. He argues that the devil wants people to leave the faith because of their sufferings.

 ¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. They should receive some strength in knowing that their suffering puts them in solidarity with others who suffer. In the face of great difficulty, Peter prompts the reader to recall that God is a God of the bigger picture. Thus, far from detaching us from God, suffering connects with God. ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

Application

To be clear, the suffering mentioned in this text is the result for taking principled stands against injustice, wickedness and wrongdoing and doing so in the name of Jesus Christ. In our modern and post-modern world, with all its secularity, it can be an act of courage to name something as genuinely evil. I want to pause for a moment and consider the cost we experience in losing the language of the devil and therefore the language of evil. 

The self-deception of humanity is deep. We believe in ourselves. We do not believe in others. What we permit in ourselves we can excuse because we might view it as our experiment. We assume the same act in others is sin. We have faith in ourselves. We give ourselves latitude that we do not extend to others. We do not believe ourselves to be lost. We have not committed the crime of the felon. We can always rationalize our actions as moral. The intellect can always rationalize away the immorality of our actions. Our intellect can diminish our sin. We can rationalize any crime, no matter how horrifying, from so many different angles that it excuses the behavior. The culture of the West, academia being the chief culprit, has transformed sin and evil into the transgression of a moral experiment. Evil becomes cool. Conscience, which focuses upon the will, magnifies it. The conscience can see the simplest and smallest act as an expression of essential evil.^[5] For some literary examples of evil at this level, consider “The Renegade of Avignon” in Rameau’s Nephew (1761) by Diderot, “Ethan Brand” (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and “The Unfortunate Glazier,” (1862) by Baudelaire. We often think of evil on a grand scale. Yet, evil is an intimate matter of the heart. Evil takes many forms and is easy. Yet, evil can take the form of the quest for the good and pure. Investing oneself in a moral mission may pass for good, for example, and yet lead to profound evil. We can think of evil as natural disaster, as moral actions designed to harm and exploit, as radical evil that pervades a society (think the Soviet gulag or the Nazi Holocaust), and metaphysical evil that justifies moral or radical evil and therefore nullifies attempts to constrain them through law and social compact. Russian authors Dostoevsky and Chekhov are worth exploring with a view toward their narration of the intimate nature of evil.^[6]

Many Americans today share the Islamic revulsion to Christian Europe, the Middle Ages, and especially the Crusades. Thus, with 9/11/2001, instead of recognizing the evil for what it was, analyzed it away by saying, “America’s chickens have come to roost.” The victim of evil on that day quickly became the persecutor. Many Americans believe that America is an evil presence in the world. Therefore, they have intellectually rationalized away the horror of 9/11. This intellectual approach even finds a way to ignore the treatment of women, homosexuals, and Christians that we find in many Islamic countries. Conscience takes a back seat to intellect, leading to a distorted form of relativism. They turn a blind eye to the many advances made in the West for individual liberties while magnifying its imperfection. The West has a long way to go. It has not achieved its goal. Islamic countries, in contrast, have not even started on the journey. They have turned themselves into splendidly wicked people. Many of these persons, with intense self-loathing of the West, also excused communism and fascism. Islamic militancy has learned much from fascism. No amount of intellectualizing it out of existence will remove it. 

Part of the problem in the West is that philosophy and psychology are losing the ability to speak of evil. Yet, the idea of evil is essential to a healthy society. Without this idea, society runs the risk of sterilizing the imagination and muffling the conscience. Let us be clear. We have not eliminated the idea of evil. We have distorted the idea. We have localized evil into groups by a process of demonization. We are part of a tribe that is good, while the other tribe is evil. Recognizing that evil is present in the human heart is to say that evil is close to each of us. Evil is so close we may participate in it without having self-awareness that we are doing so. We do this because we intellectualize our actions. Seen from a different angle, any evil can appear justified, thereby involving us in the perpetuating the evil we have justified.

One needs to handle with care this emphasis in Peter's letter of accepting the suffering and abuse with faithful patience. Far too often, throughout history, church leaders have used passages such as this one to keep slaves submissive to cruel masters and to maintain the cycle of abuse and violence against women and children. Therefore, some knowledge of the historical setting for Peter's epistle is necessary to curb one's lazy contemporizing. The few hints the letter gives about the socioeconomic status of Peter's audiences suggest that the readers counted themselves among those of the lower ranks of society. Christians were few in the days of Peter (A.D. 60-100), and Christianity was not the dominant religious orientation of the world. In the first and second centuries, it was a matter of survival for Christianity as a religion to maintain a certain quietism in the face of almost universal paganism. The pastoral words of Peter, written to help the minority survive in the hostile circumstances of the first century, should carry a heavy judgmental weight in our day, when Christianity is the majority confession, and yet still so many suffer in unequal relationships of power and status.

---

[1] Barth CD IV.2 [66.6] 609

[2] Pannenberg Systematic Theology Volume 1, 209, Volume 3, 626-7.

[3] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 624.

[4] -Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings (London: Faber and Faber, 1964), 82.

[5] Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Experience.”

[6] When Evil is Cool by Roger Shattuck, Atlantic Monthly, January 1999, inspired these thoughts.

Acts 1:6-14

Acts 1:6-14

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

The theme of Acts 1:6-14 is the mission to the world and the ascension. I will utilize exegetical analysis, biblical theology, and homiletical application, moving toward intentional formation and exhortation.

The central thesis is that the ascension of Jesus marks a decisive transition from expectations of political restoration to a Spirit-empowered, global mission carried out by imperfect but called witnesses, sustained through waiting, prayer, and openness to the Spirit. I point for support of this thesis to three observations.

·      The disciples’ concern with timing and restoration is redirected toward mission and witness. 

·      The Holy Spirit replaces Jesus’ physical presence as the animating power of the church. 

·      The ascension does not authorize disengagement from the world but intensifies vocation within it. 

Summary

The disciples have a concern for the timetable of restoring the kingdom to Israel. The response of the risen Lord is like what we find in Mark 13:32, where only the Father knows when that day will come. Thus, neither the angels nor the Son will know. We are going to see the intimate connection between the Spirit and the church. The rule of God will come, not through armies, but through witnesses. Witnesses have only the power of words and a life that backs up their words. We will see the geographical interest of Luke as the story of the church begins in Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and then the ends of the earth. The point is that the mission to the world, like Luke 24:47-48 (repentance and forgiveness preached to the nations by witnesses) and Matthew 28:19 (make disciples of all nations), replaces the notion of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. As Luke records the ascension of Jesus, we might think of some biblical parallels. In Genesis 5:24, Enoch walked with God, but was not, for God took him. In II Kings 2:11, a whirlwind brought Elijah to heaven. Jewish tradition said God took Moses in a comparable way. Yet, Luke does not let us ponder this event too long. Two angels puzzle as to why they continue to stare into the sky. They have work to do. The mission to the world seems to replace the notion of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.  

Thus, we have here the significant pause before this mission begins. They must wait and pray. “They” here is not just the 11. The group includes a larger circle of men and women who gather to wait and pray. The Spirit will come upon all of them in Acts 2. They will prophesy, even as the prophet Joel said, sons and daughters. Then, the Spirit will come, giving birth to the church. I think sometimes that a significant pause happens in our lives and in the lives of churches. The pause does not mean nothing happens. The pause gives us an opportunity to wait and pray. It gives us an opportunity to have open minds and hearts. We become open to the Spirit coming in a new way, in a way that enlightens the path and empowers us for new ministry. The point for us, then, is that the Spirit has been with us all along, but that we need openness to the new things the Spirit wants to do among us and in us. 

I emphasize several theological themes.

One is that Mission Replaces Restoration. Israel’s restoration hope transforms into a worldwide mission. Thus, I treat Acts 1:8 as programmatic for the entire book of Acts. The geographical progression (Jerusalem → Judea/Samaria → ends of the earth) is intentional narrative theology, culminating symbolically in Rome. I am following mainstream scholarship in Luke.

Two is considering The Holy Spirit as Narrative and Ecclesial “Dynamo” I describe the Spirit as:

·      The presence of God on earth in the era of the church,

·      The source of power for witness, not coercion or force,

·      The animating principle of Christian identity and action.

I reinforce these affirmations by engaging both Conzelmann and Fitzmyer. The Spirit is thus both theological hinge and pastoral hope.

Three is the notion of the “Significant Pause”: Waiting as Faithful Action. I frame waiting and praying are framed as active faithfulness, not passivity. This pause is both historical (between ascension and Pentecost) and existential (experienced by individuals and churches today). I seek to carefully balance: the danger of procrastination disguised as waiting, with the spiritual necessity of discernment before action.

Four is an emphasis on Witness as Persuasion, Not Coercion. I frame witness rhetorically and ethically:

·      It relies on words aligned with authentic lives, not force. 

·      The 12 Angry Men illustration reinforces a model of gentle, relational persuasion rather than confrontation or fear-based evangelism.

I extend this theme into critiques of:

·      Coercive preaching,

·      Polarizing rhetoric,

·      Spiritualized escapism.

This reflection unpacks the pivotal transition from Jesus' earthly ministry to the birth of the church's global mission. The disciples' concern for a political restoration of Israel's kingdom is redirected by Jesus, who emphasizes the Father's timing and the coming power of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit, as Luke's narrative dynamo, will empower them to be witnesses "in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth"—a geographical scope culminating in Rome.

The ascension itself, while paralleled with figures like Enoch and Elijah, also draws meaning from its Greco-Roman context of apotheosis, allowing early Christians to articulate Jesus' unique divine reality. Luke adapts available cultural language to articulate Christian conviction without collapsing Jesus into imperial ideology. Crucially, it initiates a "significant pause," a period of waiting and prayer for the disciples. This isn't idleness, but a vital time for openness to the Spirit, preparing them for new ministry.

I highlight that Christian witness isn't about coercion but authentic living, persuasive words, and building relationships, echoing the gentle approach of "12 Angry Men." The empowering Spirit enables this mission, reminding us that God has "no backup plan" beyond imperfect people. Ultimately, the ascension challenges a spiritualized escape from earthly responsibility, asserting that Jesus' departure empowers followers to partner with God here and now, embracing their mission in a world awaiting new creation.

Verse-by-verse study

In verses 6-11, the disciples have a concern for the timetable (χρόνῳ) of restoring the kingdom to Israel. The response of the risen Lord is like what we find in Mark 13:32, where only the Father knows when that day will come. Thus, neither the angels nor the Son will know. The risen Lord says in verse 7, It is not for you to know times or seasons (χρόνους ἢ καιροὺς) that the Father has fixed by his own authority. This passage signifies a shift in Luke from the soon-coming rule of God as proclaimed by Jesus to the emphasis in Acts on the present power of the Holy Spirit and the current mission of the community.

However, verse 8, a saying of the risen Lord, becomes central to the literary work Luke has produced as it foreshadows the ensuing narrative: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, who in Acts will bring gifts like tongues, miracles, prophesy, and wisdom, strength to witness, provide guidance for the community, the reception of which is associated with baptism and the forgiveness of sins, and you will be my witnesses (μάρτυρες), a primary theme in this book, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Nothing can limit the apostolic mission. In his classic work The Theology of St. Luke (originally Die Mitte der Zeit), the great biblical interpreter Hans Conzelmann delineated the three-stage unfolding of God’s plan in Luke and Acts. He called the plan Heilsgeschichte, a term usually translated as “salvation history.” This passage marks the transition point between stages two and three of Conzelmann’s schematic. The period of Jesus’ ministry ends in his glorious ascension, and God will presently inaugurate the era of the church. The church has not yet received its baptism of the Holy Spirit, promised in Acts 1:5 and delivered at Pentecost (Acts 2), but in this passage, it does receive its commission. This verse marks the transition quite clearly and serves as a programmatic foreshadowing of the ensuing narrative. This verse introduces the importance of the Holy Spirit in Acts. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God on earth in the third phase of salvation history, the era of the church. Readers of Acts acknowledge the profound agency that Luke ascribes to the Holy Spirit in his account. In the words of Joseph Fitzmyer, the Spirit becomes “the dynamo of the Lukan story in Acts ... the power given to disciples, the dynamic principle of their existence as Christians and of their role as witnesses in the new phase of salvation history.”

First, this verse introduces the importance of the Holy Spirit in Acts: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The Holy Spirit is the presence of God on earth in the third phase of salvation history, the era of the church. Readers of Acts acknowledge the profound agency that Luke ascribes to the Holy Spirit in his account. In the words of Joseph Fitzmyer, the Spirit becomes “the dynamo of the Lukan story in Acts ... the power given to disciples, the dynamic principle of their existence as Christians and of their role as witnesses in the new phase of salvation history.”

A second way verse 8 functions as a synopsis is through its geographical charge to the apostles. Jesus commands the apostles to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). In the travel narratives of Acts, the apostles will live up to their name (“apostle” fundamentally means “one who is sent”) by traveling from Jerusalem to Rome and many places around the Mediterranean in between. Part of Luke’s message in Acts is that the early Christian movement was cosmopolitan — not a provincial sect of apocalyptic Judeans, but an itinerant band of Jews and Gentiles that used the great Roman roads to reach the cities in Samaria, Syria, Asia, Greece and Rome itself. Indeed, Rome is here foreshadowed as the destination, although this does not come through in the usual English translation. The literal rendering of the original Greek in verse 8 would be “and to the end of the earth,” with a singular eschaton. The author had Rome in mind, the imperial power, the center of the civilized world, and the culmination of humanity, according to Roman ideology.

We see the intimate connection between the Spirit and the church. The Spirit energizes the church to fulfill its mission. This outpouring of the Spirit implies eschatological closeness to God. [1] We see here the significance of the Spirit in the inauguration of the next stage of salvation history, which is the church. The Spirit becomes the power that moves the church to fulfill its commission from the risen Lord. The Spirit becomes the dynamic principle of their existence as Christians and of their role as witnesses to the new phase of salvation history.^[2] The rule of God will come, not through armies, but through witnesses. Witnesses have only the power of words and a life that backs up their words. We will see the geographical interest of Luke as the story of the church begins in Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, and then the ends of the earth. The point is that the mission to the world, like Luke 24:47-48 (repentance and forgiveness preached to the nations by witnesses) and Matthew 28:19 (make disciples of all nations), replaces the notion of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. 

In verses 9-11, as Luke records the ascension of Jesus, we might think of some biblical parallels. In Genesis 5:24, Enoch walked with God, but was not, for God took him. In II Kings 2:11, a whirlwind brought Elijah to heaven. Jewish tradition said God took Moses in a comparable way. The risen Lord is lifted by a cloud taking him out of their sight, an apocalyptic symbol of the presence and power of God (Exod 16:10, Ezek 10:3-4, Luke 9:34-35, I Thess 4:17). Yet, Luke does not let us ponder this event too long. Two angels puzzle as to why they continue to stare into the sky. The cloud conceals the ascending risen Lord, not allowing any further depiction of the event.[3] They have work to do. The mission to the world seems to replace the notion of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. They must wait and pray. Discernment is required here, for waiting and praying is important, but must not become an excuse for inaction. Obedience to what one hears in the waiting is equally important. They would have to let go of their expectations, formed by Jewish apocalyptic, to receive the revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. We have here the significant pause before this mission begins. They must wait and pray. “They” here is not just the 11. The group includes a larger circle of men and women who gather to wait and pray. The pause does not mean nothing happens. Openness to experience allows the Spirit to move in a new way in a way that enlightens the path and empowers us for new ministry. Yes, Jesus departed from physical sight so that he might return to the hearts and lives of his followers.^[4] This is a communal spirituality at work as they make important decisions together. 

                  Luke is the only New Testament writer for whom the event of the ascension as a separate event has appreciable significance.  Its literary function is a way of terminating the post-Easter appearances of Christ.  It is Luke's way of saying that the community will experience the presence of Christ in a unique way from now on.  It also marks the transition to the period when the apostles, as Christ's witnesses, function as preachers and teachers in his behalf.  Thus, Luke has sensed the theological problem posed by the physical absence of Christ.  With Christ gone, how does the church function?  

                  One way of understanding the ascension as Luke relates it is to place it in its Greco-Roman context. Two more prominent ones relate to Romulus, the eponymous founder of Rome (Ovid, Metamorphoses 14:805-851), and to the hero Hercules (Greek, “Herakles”; Diodorus, History, 4.38.3-5). More importantly, the emperor Augustus was divinized by Rome and believed to have ascended to heaven after his death (cf. Dio Cassius, Roman History 56.46). The so-called “imperial cult” formed around such divinized emperors, who were transferred among the celestial gods by a process called apotheosis. Early Christians naturally drew much language from the imperial cult: Emperors were called “Lord” and “Son of God” and “Savior of the world.” The first evangelists could scarcely create a whole new vocabulary for describing their experience, so they used the best comparisons that Jewish and Roman culture had to offer. The 2nd-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr made specific connections to the apotheosis of the emperors: 

“We propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. ... And what of the emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem worthy of deification, and in whose behalf you produce someone who swears he has seen the burning Caesar rise to heaven from the funeral pyre?” (First Apology 21).

 

                  Some scholars find it far more likely that the influence upon Luke derives from biblical and early Jewish traditions regarding Enoch (Genesis 5:24; I Enoch 39:3), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), and Moses (Josephus, Antiquities, 4.326; Philo, Moses, 2.291). There may be other echoes of Elijah and Moses here in Acts 1 as well. Luke and other ancient evangelists had to figure out the best way to present what they believed about Jesus in the language of their cultural milieu.

                  As 1:12-26 continues, it becomes an invitation for an honest look at the ambiguity of the Christian community. 

                  In verses 12-14, the disciples return from Olivet to the upper room, where they had celebrated the Last Supper with Jesus: Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. These persons were in one accord, devoting themselves to prayer (προσευχῇ), which is a theme of Luke and occurs at significant moments throughout the book, together with the women who were also witnesses to the burial and who received appearances of the risen Lord, especially Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Application

A fun and old saying of Paul Harvey concerns this text. He saw a sign on a Kentucky Fried Chicken door, as one left the establishment.  "Thanks for coming.  Hurry back."  He suggested that is the stance of believers on this occasion of the ascension.  We say to Jesus: "Thank you for coming.  Hurry back."  

As I read the gospel narratives, I am thankful that Jesus was here, walking upon the earth.  That became especially clear to me, as you can imagine, when I went to Israel.  It brought the gospels alive for me. I could almost visualize Jesus walking along the Galilean hills, or in the temple courtyard in Jerusalem.  In fact, if you ever go to Jerusalem and tour the city, you will be taken to the little chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.  In our case, the guide made it clear that there was no way of knowing exactly where the ascension took place.  The little chapel is simply the traditional site.  The guide said, "There in that piece of solid rock in the middle of the chapel is a form that looks like it could be the foot-print Jesus made when he ascended to heaven."  Well, I must confess that struck me as funny and fanciful, the stuff of which legends are made.  The overall impression I had in Israel, however, was that I am grateful that Jesus was here.

                  And, I might also say, I am glad that Jesus is coming back.  The New Testament is so clear on this.  There is an expectation that Jesus will return in glory and create a new heaven and a new earth.  We will be invited to a banquet, as we feast upon the presence of Christ.  That is truly something for which we can look forward.

Yet, it seems as if something is missing. Yes, Jesus, thank you for coming.  And yes, hurry back.  But what about now, in my world, in my situation?  Something inside me wants to add, "Thank you for being here, through the Spirit which you have given to me--to us."

The ascension of Jesus offers some fertile soil for reflection upon Christian life and the church. Jesus departed from their sight so that he might come to their hearts, and to our hearts, in a new way, through the Spirit.^[5] They must wait and pray. They would have to let go of their expectations, formed by Jewish apocalyptic, to receive the revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth. Such is much of our lives, as we must be willing to let go of the life we have planned in order to have the life waiting for us.^[6] The disciples must wait for the promise of the Father. Even when the Spirit comes, they enter another period of waiting for Jesus to return. We join them in their wait. The gift of the Spirit to the early church needed to begin with these persons. Yet, the gift of the Spirit needs to happen repeatedly in the lives of individuals and communities. If we think of it as a story, heroes know that things must happen when the time is right for them to happen. They must not abandon the quest. The happy conclusion cannot occur in the middle of the story. It has been two millennia, but we are still in the middle of the story.^[7]

The last word of the risen Lord focuses upon the disciples becoming witnesses to what they have seen and heard. They witnessed a certain way in Jerusalem. They witnessed a little differently in Galilee. They witnessed still differently as Paul brought the good news concerning what God has done in Jesus of Nazareth to the Gentiles. The story has gone on through the centuries. The form of the witness changes, but the message itself and the need for sharing it does not change. Witnessing is hardly something any Christian should do in the strength they have. They rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

This story raises the interesting question of the ways in which we witness. We need to think of witness as a form of persuasion through words. Yet, such words will have negligible effect if not backed up by the life of the one witnessing. We must not think of perfection here. The honest seeker will not expect that from us as witnesses. Yet, our lives need to reflect an authentic desire and attempt toward Christ-like living. We also need to consider the individual or group whom we seek to persuade. We need to reflect seriously upon the content of our witness.^[8] I briefly refer you to an old 1957 movie, 12 Angry Men, in which Henry Fonda portrays juror #9. Pay attention to his gentle words of persuasion, as he sees holes in the account by the prosecution. Others cannot believe it and are angry. In fact, they try to persuade by their anger and coercion, but juror #9 keeps gently persuading. It reminds me of an interesting book, The Art of Woo (2007), where the authors say that persuading is more like courtship than war. Our political environment could use a bit of this notion today, but that is another story. If you are to persuade, you must put yourself in the position of the other person and identify with their needs, desires, and hopes. The authors suggest that you must then be a credible and authentic witness. The risen Lord has promised power, but followers of Jesus must use it wisely. Too often, coercion through words has been a tool used by preachers and teachers. The question of if you were to die tonight where you will spend eternity may motivate someone, but I have questions whether it motivates many in our modern setting. Martin Luther King Jr offered a path toward racial relationships that too many race-baiters have ignored, to the detriment of this country. I would argue that the pastor of many years for President Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, did not persuade many with his rhetoric, even if he was persuasive for the President. We will be tapping into the power of the Spirit when we share our personal and unique experience of the difference Jesus has made in our lives. If we do this, our focus will be establishing a relationship with the other person. It may sound trite, but the other person needs to know that you like them. One of the most basic questions we have is whether the other person likes us. Make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Christ, is not a bad way to stay focused on the type of witness we can have with others. The art of witness here is not so much about persuading people to an idea. Rather, the point is to help people make commitments that over the course of time will alter the course of their lives. 

Of course, we can say we have not been Christians long enough or we have not received enough training. We may be fearful someone would ask a question we could not answer. We may think we do not have the time. At the same time, it seems as if the plan of God is working through imperfect people to fulfill the mission. God has no other plan. There is an old apocryphal story about what happened when Jesus arrived back at the gates of heaven, following his ascension. The entire heavenly host gathered to welcome God's Son, to celebrate his return home. Everybody had questions. They had heard of his exploits on earth. They wanted to hear it straight from him. Jesus described his adventures at great length: the preaching, the teaching, the healing. They laughed when he told them how he had tied the Pharisees' theological arguments up in knots, and they wept when he described both the agony of the cross and the joy of resurrection. Someone asked him, "Lord, now that you no longer physically walk the earth, who will share the good news?" "I've got a plan," said Christ. "I've selected 11 followers, my closest friends. To them I've given the responsibility of sharing the good news." "They must have some incredible talents, those 11," remarked one angel. "Well, actually no," the Lord responded. "These are average people, with ordinary abilities. They are vain and sometimes foolish. One of them, their leader, denied me three times." "But, Lord," objected another angel, "how can you be sure they'll get the job done?" "To be perfectly honest, I can't be sure." "What do you mean, you can't be sure? What will happen if they fail? What's your backup plan?" Quietly Christ answered, "I have no backup plan." 

Yet, we do none of this alone. The risen Lord, through the Spirit, is our partner in witness. Many of us need to wait for our personal Pentecost when the Spirit grabs hold of us and empowers us. The Spirit is the one who leads us out of our self-centered concerns and toward the concerns of God for this world.

On a personal and spiritual level, we may need to embrace a willingness to leave behind a former way of living and embark on another. We often spend too much time gazing up in a daydreaming sort of way to the old ways that have vanished from our sight, rather than tackling what we know to be God’s will for us now.

Stephen Hawking added his considerable intellectual gifts to the idea that future generations of human beings will need to abandon earth or face extinction. Human beings should not have all their eggs on one planet. They will need to find a new planet to colonize. Of course, we take ourselves with us wherever we go. Do not expect the new settlement to be any better or worse than what we have on earth. Some Christians have their spiritualized version of this idea in the notion that earth is doomed, so live patiently now and wait until Jesus takes them to heaven. The problem with this line of thinking is that it is not in line with the biblical witness. The point, even as we see in this passage is not that God raised Jesus from the dead and therefore his followers are going to heaven. Rather, the biblical witness suggests that since God has raised Jesus from the dead, therefore the rule of God has begun, the Spirit is beginning the process of a new creation, and therefore followers of Jesus have a mission or vocation to fulfill during the life they have on earth. 

Scientifically, I grant that at some point human beings will need to develop the technology to abandon earth if it is to survive. However, this is not an urgent matter. We have time. Before that event occurs, we need to appreciate what God has given us here. Amid the darkness of space, we live on this beautiful, shining, blue planet. God has made a garden of Eden amid an ocean of darkness in our part of the Milky Way galaxy. This planet is full of life, and we must take care of it. We have much work to do. On this account of the ascension of Jesus, the Father receives the Son into divine reality in heaven, abandoning earth while the disciples continue to walk upon it. Yet is this true? 

This event gives us an opportunity to reflect upon how we partner with Jesus on this earth, in our unique moment of history and in our limited place. This event invites us to reflect upon the sense of our mission or vocation as individuals and as congregations.

Around the same time [as the Emperor Constantine’s conversion], perhaps the two most important theologians in the development of Western and Eastern Christianity were influenced by women in their lives. Without the prayers and encouragement of his mother Monica, Augustine of Hippo’s life might have continued on a wayward track. … Augustine’s impact on Christian thought and theology can hardly be overestimated, and yet his mother’s name is not nearly as recognized as his own. Still, she is acclaimed as a saint, and those who have read Augustine’s Confessions are familiar with her steadfast faith and her role in Augustine’s conversion to orthodoxy.

For Gregory of Nyssa, it was the influence of his sister, Macrina the Younger, that made him into one of the most renowned theologians of the Eastern Orthodox Church. She helped educate Gregory and the others in her family. … Gregory most directly credits Macrina with his work Life of Macrina, in which he praises her asceticism and devotion to prayer and spiritual education. …

Many Christians know the names of Constantine, Augustine, Gregory, and Basil, but fewer know the women behind those names, saints in their own right, whose contributions to Christianity as we know it should not go unremarked upon.[9]

Karl Barth characterized the period between the ascension and Pentecost as a “significant pause” during which the church was called only to wait and pray. Waiting and praying are signatures of faithfulness. Isaiah 40:31 proclaims and promises that those who patiently “wait for the LORD” shall “renew their strength ... mount up with wings like eagles ... run and not be weary ... walk and not faint.” When we are busy, we dissipate our energy on a host of tiny, inconsequential tasks. Thus, we never have a chance to feel the depth of our strength. Only in sustained and watchful waiting do we build up our endurance and develop the muscles of faithfulness. The disciples’ waiting, of course, includes one very important activity — praying. Until the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ still-fragile followers have no inkling about how God expects them to become witnesses for Christ to all the earth. The disciples do not return to Jerusalem despondent over Jesus’ departure. They are people on a mission. The disciples waiting in Jerusalem now know exactly that for which they are to ask. They are to ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I want us to be clear. Openness to a personal or communal Pentecost will involve some waiting and acceptance of a pause, although I hope it does not dissolve into procrastination. Some people use waiting as an excuse not to act. At the same time, a significant pause may be precisely what we need. “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”[10] We need to recognize that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. If the mission is large enough, it cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The process will include trial and error, success and setbacks, but if the mission is worthwhile, we must never abandon it.^[11] Yes, Jesus departed from physical sight so that he might return to the hearts and lives of his followers.^[12]

---

[1] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991), Volume 3, 15.

[2] (Fitzmeyer, 1997)200). 

[3] Hauck/Schulz, TDNT, VI, 576-7.

^[4] Augustine of Hippo.

^[5] Jesus departed from our sight that he might return to our hearts. He departed, and behold, he is here. -Augustine of Hippo.

^[6] We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. --Attributed to British novelist E.M. Forster.

^[7] Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story. -Peter S. Beagle.

^[8] Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second, on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third, on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself. —Aristotle, Rhetoric 1.2; 1358a2-4,

[9] —Kira Austin-Young, “The Women of Byzantine Christianity,” Ministry Matters, July 30, 2019.

^[10] Attributed to E. M. Forster.

^[11] Inspired by Peter S. Beagle.

^[12] Jesus departed from our sight that he might return to our hearts. He departed, and behold, he is here. -Augustine of Hippo.