Luke 24:44-53
It always annoys me when the lectionary takes one chunk of a longer sermon or teaching by Jesus and uses it as the pericope. It always seems so random and thoughtless. It’s something I struggle with theologically, because most of these longer teachings are probably cobbled together in the first place from different teachings and sayings. However, if we take seriously the final forms of the gospels, which, ultimately, are the only version of Jesus we have, then slicing them up and disassembling them again can hide the evangelists’ meanings. I think this is one such time. It is so easy to use Jesus’ first words here out of context to remake all of scripture into a christological treatise. Since most of our parishioners (and, perhaps, clergy as well) have this sort of Frankenstein’s monster vision of Jesus, bits from several gospels ripped from their original contexts and sewn together, it makes it very difficult to preach passages like this. This week’s challenge will be to help modern Christians understand these so often misunderstood words of Jesus’ from the perspective of his disciples.

“Then he spoke to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you–that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’” This is the tricky part. It is ironic that this passage can be so easily taken out of context, when its purpose was not to impart a christological bent to the Hebrew Scriptures but to include Jesus and, by extension, the disciples, in the ongoing work of God, begun in the Torah, and continuing through the prophets and the psalms. In essence, Luke is saying that Jesus may seem radical, but he is really the true message of the servants of God since Adam properly revealed for his time.

“Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, . . . .” Again, that is an important part of Jesus’ ministry for Luke–not to change the scriptures or to bring new ones but to help us properly understand what has come before. In the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4), Jesus says that he is fulfilling the words of Isaiah. His contemporaries had gotten hung up on issues like hand washing and the technical definitions of working on the sabbath. Just as Isaiah’s contemporaries had gotten too hung up on being a nation blessed by God. Each group had to be reminded that God’s concern is not really with right worship and personal/national glory but “to bring good news to the poor. . . , to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

“. . . and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, . . . .’” Without making the Old Testament about Jesus, full of types and prophecies, we do have to acknowledge as Christians that our understanding of God, and therefore our understanding of God’s revelation, whether in the world or in the Word, must be shaped by the crucifixion. We are “to preach Christ and him crucified.” It is possible to be strongly, even passionately, Christian, without denying the validity of other religions. That is difficult for liberal Christians, but ultimately we have to believe in something. Where does our faith truly lie? We can be all for pluralism and interfaith dialogue, we can be open and accepting of those who differ from us, but at some point we have to actually be for something. And, at our best, what Christians are for is God as revealed through a peasant dying on a cross because of the faithful way he lived.

“‘. . . and that repentance and forgiveness is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’” One thing that really struck me this week is how poorly we understand this. Repentance and forgiveness are not the same thing as conversion! We are to present to people a God of love and righteousness who seeks out loving relationship with all God’s children. I think, if properly done, this will lead people to God as revealed through Jesus Christ, but it might make them understand God as revealed through the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) or nothingness as revealed through the teachings of the Buddha. Either of these outcomes, if they help others find a greater source of joy and love in the universe, are probably positive ones. A friend of mine recently told me they “saved” a four-year-old at a revival. The child told him he wanted to be a Christian so he didn’t go to hell. I regret not saying to this friend, “Congratulations. You just terrified a toddler. Jesus would have been thrilled.” We are tasked not with “winning souls”, as if it were a contest, but with showing God’s love in the preaching of forgiveness and repentance.

“‘You are the witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’” Kairos. I’m sure in all our churches there are those who say we have to do something right now. There are people in my churches who are upset because I refuse to lead a youth group. Aside from all the reasons it’s a bad idea for an itinerant pastor to lead a youth group, (and despite the fact we have no youths,) I am simply not called to youth ministry. When it is time for us to have a youth group, I have faith that God will call up from among the faithful a leader. Until that time, it would be unfaithful of us to have a youth group. This passage is a call to remember that we do things in God’s time, not God on ours.

“Then he lead them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” I know this is The Ascension of our Lord and what not, but I always find it difficult to get jazzed about the awesome things Jesus did once upon a time. For me, the significance here is not that Jesus could fly but that this is how Jesus chose to end his ministry. These were Luke’s Jesus’ last words to his faithful, so this should be the core of our faith. In obeying them, I pray that we find the joy of the disciples. If that joy is lacking in our churches, then it calls into question where our faith truly lies. There is nothing in these words about attracting new members or even converting people to Christianity. There is nothing about active fellowship groups, fund raisers, or even weekly worship. What is there? Continual worship. Showing the love of God to others. Finding God revealed through self-sacrifice and faithfulness. Where are these in our faith as we live it?