What is our place in the world?
Commentary
[Dr. Foster R. McCurley has had a distinguished career as St. John's Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. In addition to his career as a pastor, seminar leader, and international lecturer and consultant, he has written numerous books and articles and is currently the Theologian-in-Residence of Tressler Lutheran Services, LSS of South Central PA and LutherCare.]
We often say of teenagers that they're searching to find their place in the world. They are looking for identity, for how they fit into this extension of space and time, for meaning and purpose in the larger scheme of things. More than one of us has admitted to relief over not having to grow up in today's world where all those questions -- once so simple -- have become most complicated.
Yet our lessons for today might encourage us to find some of those struggling teenagers in order to seek their advice on how to handle it all. All three pericopes challenge us to understand our place in the world, to comprehend what role we are to play, and to learn the secret of how to make it until all those difficult questions are answered in the new world.
Imagine how exciting life could be for adults if teenagers and even infants were our role models!
Acts 7:55-60
Our verses report the result of Stephen's sermon. The occasion for the sermon was instigation of some people to charge him for blasphemy (6:11). Before the high priest and others he then delivered his sermon, which was a salvation history, much like the historical creeds of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:20-23; 26:5-9; Joshua 24:2-13). Like the ancient creeds, he told of God's promises to the patriarchs, the exodus from Egypt, the guidance through the wilderness, and the gift of the land of Canaan. In the course of all these gracious actions on God's part, Stephen announced, the people were always rebellious (7:2-51).
Throughout that recital of history Stephen said nothing more derogatory than is contained in the Old Testament itself, above all in Psalm 78. Yet the content of the sermon was not endearing him to his audience. Only in the final verses did Stephen bring up the crucifixion -- without even mentioning Jesus' name -- in order to demonstrate that the people of Israel were completely consistent with regard to the way they responded to God and to the ones whom God sent (7:52-53). Their immediate reaction was also consistent: "They became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen" (v. 54).
As they came at him, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, saw "the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (v. 56). The language is typical of visions. Jesus promised Nathaniel that he would one day see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51). At his baptism Jesus himself saw the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descend like a dove (Matthew 3:16). This vision of Stephen is one in which Jesus himself is part of the vision that is seen, and that is possible only because Jesus had already ascended to that lofty position at God's right hand.
Of course, only one filled with the Holy Spirit could see the vision. His statement of what he saw only enraged the crowd further. As they carried out the execution by stoning, Stephen sounded very much like Jesus himself at the point of his own crucifixion. First, he asked the Lord Jesus to "receive my spirit" (v. 59) as Jesus did (Luke 23:46). Second, Stephen asked that the sin not be held against them (v. 60) as Jesus did (Luke 23:34). It is not surprising that the author of Luke-Acts repeats here the words of Jesus from the cross that are unique to his Gospel.
It is only people filled with the Spirit who see visions. That same Holy Spirit enables people of faith in every day to see what others do not, even as they face their deaths at violent hands. Such vision is possible because God provides the Spirit precisely so that we can see beyond the immediate horizon.
1 Peter 2:2-10
The author of 1 Peter encourages Christians to face persecutions faithfully and to regard their role in the world as exiles and aliens. That identity means they are to act differently in the world, too, and so he had just encouraged his audience to put away malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander (2:1).
He compares his readers to "newborn babes" and continues the image by stressing the longing for pure spiritual milk, even suggesting that once you have tasted the goodness of the Lord, you will not want to turn back. The "babe" imagery itself is interesting, however, and it is by no means unique to 1 Peter. The revelation of the gospel came to "babes" rather than to the wise (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21), and so it is out of the mouths of "babes" that come the praises to God (Matthew 21:16). For 1 Peter the image derives perhaps from the emphasis of "new birth" (1:3) and their being "born anew" (1:23). It should be noted that Paul gives a different twist to the "babe" image by suggesting Christians really ought to grow up rather than remain in the infancy of their faith (see 1 Corinthians 3:1; 14:20).
The author invites his readers to "come" to the Lord who is a "living stone." In order to prove his point that Jesus is the "chosen and precious" stone of God, he quotes Isaiah 28:16 about the "cornerstone" in Jerusalem. The rejection of Jesus by mortals is like the fate of the cornerstone at Psalm 118:22. Moving beyond the cornerstone imagery, the author quotes Isaiah 8:14-15 as evidence that Jesus is the "stumbling stone" for those who do not obey the word of the Lord. All that stone imagery both identifies who Jesus is and at the same time warns the readers against apostasy in the face of persecution.
In verse 9 the author returns to the identity of his readers, this time selecting his terms from Exodus 19:5-6. Once applied to the people of Israel as the chosen and redeemed of God, the words are now transferred to Christians. They are "a chosen race," God's newly elect people who have been chosen -- like Israel -- through no gifts of their own but simply because God loved them. They are "a royal priesthood" -- like Israel -- not only with direct access to God but through the role that priests play for the rest of the world. They are a "holy nation" -- like Israel -- because they are separated from the rest of people in order to play out their unique roles and responsibilities among other people. And they are "a people for his own possession" (NRSV note) -- like Israel -- because while the whole world belongs to the Lord the King, this little elect group is God's private treasure chest (see that of King David at 1 Chronicles 29:3).
Unlike Israel of old, this "chosen race" has a specific responsibility: "that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." The responsibility of announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ is the reason for their election and the purpose of their priesthood in the world.
Finally, with allusion to Hosea 2:23 the author declares to the Christians that they possess this remarkable identity as God's people only because God has been merciful. That is indeed the story of each of us who have been baptized: we are who we are only because of the mercy and grace of God.
John 14:1-14
This dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, begun at 13:31, occurred after Judas had left the room where the final supper was eaten. Jesus had just finished telling them that by loving one another, others will know they are his disciples (13:31-35). Peter offered to lay down his life so that he might go with Jesus, but Jesus responded with the prediction that Peter will deny him three times (13:36-38).
The words that comprise our pericope, especially the first six verses, are among the most comforting words of Scripture, and for that reason they provide the basis for many funeral sermons. They offer hope and promise and direction to grievers precisely at the point where many feel utterly disoriented by their mourning.
Jesus' opening words are intended to relieve the anxiety of the moment and at the same time to establish once again the unique relationship between himself and the Father. The first verse virtually provides an outline for the first paragraph and the second. The comforting exhortation, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," will take on meaning as Jesus discusses with them the journey he will take so that they will one day join him (vv. 2-6). The method of communication here takes the typical Johannine form of a statement that is ambiguous enough to raise a question, the question itself asked by a disciple or another, then Jesus' words of clarification. Here the questioner is Thomas. The words that follow immediately thereafter, "Believe in God, believe also in me," will become the focus of the dialogue in verses 7-14. Again the pattern will prevail. This time the questioner is Philip.
To develop the first theme Jesus announces he is going to prepare a place "for you" in "my Father's house." The expression "father's house" is common in the Old Testament in a non-theological sense, that is, to establish familial identity through the earthly paternal home. When Jesus speaks of "my Father's house" he is therefore identifying himself in terms of his origin as well as his destination. Elsewhere in the New Testament Jesus speaks of "my Father's house" in terms of the Jerusalem temple (Luke 2:49; John 2:16), but here the reference is clearly to a heavenly habitation (see Luke 16:9; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Luke, in fact, distinguishes between the Jerusalem temple and the future promise of Jesus by speaking of the latter as "a kingdom" in which are tables for dining (Luke 22:30).
The purpose for Jesus' announcement regarding the many rooms in his Father's house is to promise the disciples that he is going there in order to prepare a place for them. That promise indicates that his imminent departure will not be permanent. On the contrary, it is his presence among them that will be permanent, for he will come again to take them with him so that they can all live together for all eternity.
Jesus set up the disciples for the typical misunderstanding by his words, "And you know the place where I am going." That statement led Thomas to respond, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" In the first place, the Gospel according to John is filled with references about where Jesus came from and where he is going, and this is simply one more. The Prologue to the Gospel announces his origin "in the beginning" and "with God." He speaks of the Father as "the one who sent me" (for example, see 8:26, 29). He placed himself as authoritative even over Abraham by establishing his own place in time: "Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58). When Jesus speaks of going away from the disciples, therefore, he is talking about going home to the Father. Thomas should have known. And he probably did. But to suit John's scheme for dialogue, someone had to point out that he did not know the destination or the way to it.
That incomprehensible statement -- at least from the reader's point of view -- leads to one more "I am" saying in John's Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." That Jesus is "the life" has already been asserted on numerous occasions, not the least of which occurs at the beginning of the Prologue: "What has come into being in him was life" (1:3c-4a). Belief in him is the means to eternal life (3:15-16), for he is the source of the water that gushes up to eternal life (4:14). Moreover, he gives the food of life (6:27, 33, 35, 48) that is nothing other than his body and blood (6:51, 53, 54). At the death of his friend Lazarus, Jesus announces to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25) and that belief in him is the means to life forever. As for "the truth," John announced at the beginning that the word that became flesh was "full of grace and truth" (1:14) and that "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:17). Immediately following his statement that "the truth will make you free," Jesus identifies himself as that truth by saying, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (8:32, 36). In the scene before Pilate, Jesus indicates he has come into this world "to testify to the truth" (18:37). The statement -- true to John's scheme -- raises the familiar question "What is truth?" On this occasion, however, no clarifying statement is made, perhaps because the reader already knows the answer to the question. Finally, that Jesus is "the way" has also been clear from the beginning. Jesus and the Father are so intimately connected that one cannot know one without knowing the other. Jesus is the "chip off the old block," and so by knowing him, people can know the Father. That there is no other possibility of knowing God makes Jesus "the way."
That unique relationship between Father and Son is the second theme of this pericope. Jesus stimulated the necessary question by saying, "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him" (v. 7). Philip takes the bait and requests that Jesus "show us the Father, and we will be satisfied" (v. 8). In the process of responding Jesus deals again with the Father-Son relationship and also with works.
Jesus is able to show the disciples and the world the Father because "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (v. 10) That indwelling of one with the other, repeated in verse 11, takes us back to the opening verses of the Gospel in which "the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). One speech after another throughout John's Gospel spells out this relationship in slightly different ways and with some varied images, and one way of accomplishing that purpose is to transfer all kinds of images about God in the Old Testament to Jesus in the New. Many of the "I am" sayings achieve that function (see the Good Shepherd of Ezekiel 34, for example), but the point is made also by the application of such metaphors as "the fountain of living water" (Jeremiah 2:13 and Jesus' claim to be the source of the water that brings eternal life at John 4:14).
If that ontological reality is too much for the disciples to comprehend, then, Jesus suggests, they should at least believe him "because of the works themselves" (v. 11). The works here must refer to the signs in chapters 2 through 12 ("the book of signs") where, on the basis of one miracle after another, people came to believe in Jesus. The author of the Gospel even acknowledges the power of such works or signs when he sums up the purpose for writing: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah ..." (20:30-31).
Having touched on the works he performed, Jesus moves another step to speak of the work his disciples are able to perform -- not only the ones he himself accomplished but even greater because "I am going to the Father" (v. 12). Apparently the promise of "greater works" is related to the commission in 20:22 about the forgiving and the retaining of sins, because that is the work he gives them after he has gone to his Father.
What Jesus does in the final verse of our pericope is provide us the answer to the question about how we make it through this life as we struggle with what it means to be God's people: he will do for us what we ask in his name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son, just as that happened when Jesus performed his signs. That purpose of the glorification of God enables us to determine what we ask for in Jesus' name.
If we cannot come up with an answer to our own question about making it in the world, maybe we should ask some teenagers. They might even help us determine what we should be asking for in Jesus' name. They are, after all, the most honest about the struggle.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
[Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, an ordained Presbyterian minister and Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer. she is the author of twenty books and frequently contributes to church publications.]
Acts 7:55-60
I got in a religious dispute one time with a relative over particular truths in the Christian gospel, and at one point in the argument, as she became more and more defensive, she blurted out, "Don't quote scripture to me!"
We don't like it very much when the very faith that we profess is used against us to show us that we are wrong. After all, faith is a good thing, and our piety is sincere, and we don't want anyone telling us, by means of the faith, that we're on the wrong track in what we believe and how we act. Indeed, nothing is quite so enraging as to have our beliefs turned against us.
That's exactly why Stephen, a second generation Christian in Jerusalem, is stoned to death, however. He uses the beliefs of his fellow Jews to convict them. When his compatriots can't best him in religious arguments (Acts 6:10) or put down the wonders and signs that he does among the people (6:8), they get a bunch of thugs to accuse Stephen falsely of speaking blasphemy against Moses and the law, and against God and the temple (6:11-14). As a result, Stephen is hauled before the council of the Sanhedrin that was made up in Jerusalem of priests, rulers, elders, and scribes, and he is queried as to whether or not the charges are true (7:1).
In answer, Stephen's face is like the face of an angel -- Luke's indication that Stephen is speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit (6:15) -- and the address that Stephen gives is the longest speech to be found in Acts -- an indication of its importance. What Stephen does is to recount the Old Testament's traditions concerning the patriarchs, Joseph, Moses, the law, and Solomon's construction of the temple. And some of the words in the account quote rather closely portions of the Old Testament. But as he recites the tradition of God's acts of salvation, Stephen uses that very tradition to accuse his fellow Jews of faithlessness.
Stephen's opponents are so concerned about Moses and the law, but their forbears refused to obey Moses and broke the law by worshiping the golden calf (7:35-43, 53). They are deeply attached to their temple, but the temple cannot house the God who has heaven for his throne and earth for his footstool (7:47-50). And they continued to be apostate by persecuting the prophets who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, God's intended Messiah. More than that, the present listeners have murdered that promised Son of God (7:51-53).
In making those charges, Stephen employs the very heart of the Jewish faith -- the law by which every Jew is supposed to live; the cult through which the Jews have communion with their God, and the prophets who pronounce God's Word to the people. You Jews, Stephen preaches, have been faithless toward all three. Your religion is phony, you stand condemned in the sight of your God, and your execution of God's Son has revealed the final extent of your sin.
If someone made the same accusation against us, we too would be enraged. Imagine someone saying to us, "Your practice of your faith is as phony as a three dollar bill." But it is when Stephen makes his final statement that the lynch mob hauls him out of the city to be stoned. I saw the glory of God, he says, and the Son of Man, Jesus, standing at his right hand of power. In short, Stephen states that Jesus Christ has been raised and has been exalted by God to rule over all (7:56). Jesus Christ now reigns supreme over law and cult and prophets. Jesus Christ is now Lord. That is the last blasphemous straw, the message to which the mob shuts its ears and rushes to do away with the messenger.
The witnesses who have made the accusation against Stephen join in his stoning, shedding their cloaks at the feet of a Pharisee named Saul -- the first mention of that figure who is to dominate Acts' story from here on.
As the stones strike Stephen, knocking him to the ground, he does not cry out against his executioners, but instead prays to Jesus, whom he has testified to be the Lord. The words that he prays imitate his Lord's words on the cross. Quoting Psalm 31, Jesus had prayed, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Stephen too delivers his life into the hands of his Lord, in the sure knowledge of his resurrection (Acts 7:59). Jesus had prayed as he was nailed to the wood, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Stephen too asks Jesus' forgiveness of the mob who are killing him. "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). In life and in death, the pattern for Stephen's life is Jesus Christ. He dies, faithful to his Lord.
Luke uses this story of the martyrdom of Stephen to show, in the Roman empire, that the Christian faith is an extension of Judaism and therefore not subversive to Roman rule. It is from the law and the prophets and writings of old that Jesus Christ may be understood (cf. Luke 24:44-45). The history of salvation that Stephen recounts in his long testimony finds its final fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. That is a good indication to us that we cannot truly know Jesus Christ except we know also the history of the Old Testament that has preceded him. He is the final fulfillment and interpretation of that sacred history.
But the question that is directed pointedly to us on this fifth Sunday of the Easter season is: Have we been faithful to the religion that we profess as Christians? We confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord. Do we then act as if he is our Lord? Do we take our directions for life from his commandments to us? Do we try to follow his will, or is our own self-will the guide and director of our daily lives? We worship and praise him in our cult, that is, in our church services. But does our living point to his glory or to our own reputation and status? And is gratitude to God the tenor of our daily round or is it full of complaint and dissatisfaction and yearning after ever more goods and things? We believe that our Lord holds our future in his hands, as he proclaims in his prophetic words. But do we trust that future and lay aside our anxieties and fear of death in the faith that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
This account of the disciple Stephen is a call to examine our lives, and an opportunity in the power of the Spirit to cleanse our faith of falsity and phoniness.
We often say of teenagers that they're searching to find their place in the world. They are looking for identity, for how they fit into this extension of space and time, for meaning and purpose in the larger scheme of things. More than one of us has admitted to relief over not having to grow up in today's world where all those questions -- once so simple -- have become most complicated.
Yet our lessons for today might encourage us to find some of those struggling teenagers in order to seek their advice on how to handle it all. All three pericopes challenge us to understand our place in the world, to comprehend what role we are to play, and to learn the secret of how to make it until all those difficult questions are answered in the new world.
Imagine how exciting life could be for adults if teenagers and even infants were our role models!
Acts 7:55-60
Our verses report the result of Stephen's sermon. The occasion for the sermon was instigation of some people to charge him for blasphemy (6:11). Before the high priest and others he then delivered his sermon, which was a salvation history, much like the historical creeds of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:20-23; 26:5-9; Joshua 24:2-13). Like the ancient creeds, he told of God's promises to the patriarchs, the exodus from Egypt, the guidance through the wilderness, and the gift of the land of Canaan. In the course of all these gracious actions on God's part, Stephen announced, the people were always rebellious (7:2-51).
Throughout that recital of history Stephen said nothing more derogatory than is contained in the Old Testament itself, above all in Psalm 78. Yet the content of the sermon was not endearing him to his audience. Only in the final verses did Stephen bring up the crucifixion -- without even mentioning Jesus' name -- in order to demonstrate that the people of Israel were completely consistent with regard to the way they responded to God and to the ones whom God sent (7:52-53). Their immediate reaction was also consistent: "They became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen" (v. 54).
As they came at him, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, saw "the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (v. 56). The language is typical of visions. Jesus promised Nathaniel that he would one day see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51). At his baptism Jesus himself saw the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descend like a dove (Matthew 3:16). This vision of Stephen is one in which Jesus himself is part of the vision that is seen, and that is possible only because Jesus had already ascended to that lofty position at God's right hand.
Of course, only one filled with the Holy Spirit could see the vision. His statement of what he saw only enraged the crowd further. As they carried out the execution by stoning, Stephen sounded very much like Jesus himself at the point of his own crucifixion. First, he asked the Lord Jesus to "receive my spirit" (v. 59) as Jesus did (Luke 23:46). Second, Stephen asked that the sin not be held against them (v. 60) as Jesus did (Luke 23:34). It is not surprising that the author of Luke-Acts repeats here the words of Jesus from the cross that are unique to his Gospel.
It is only people filled with the Spirit who see visions. That same Holy Spirit enables people of faith in every day to see what others do not, even as they face their deaths at violent hands. Such vision is possible because God provides the Spirit precisely so that we can see beyond the immediate horizon.
1 Peter 2:2-10
The author of 1 Peter encourages Christians to face persecutions faithfully and to regard their role in the world as exiles and aliens. That identity means they are to act differently in the world, too, and so he had just encouraged his audience to put away malice, guile, insincerity, envy, and slander (2:1).
He compares his readers to "newborn babes" and continues the image by stressing the longing for pure spiritual milk, even suggesting that once you have tasted the goodness of the Lord, you will not want to turn back. The "babe" imagery itself is interesting, however, and it is by no means unique to 1 Peter. The revelation of the gospel came to "babes" rather than to the wise (Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:21), and so it is out of the mouths of "babes" that come the praises to God (Matthew 21:16). For 1 Peter the image derives perhaps from the emphasis of "new birth" (1:3) and their being "born anew" (1:23). It should be noted that Paul gives a different twist to the "babe" image by suggesting Christians really ought to grow up rather than remain in the infancy of their faith (see 1 Corinthians 3:1; 14:20).
The author invites his readers to "come" to the Lord who is a "living stone." In order to prove his point that Jesus is the "chosen and precious" stone of God, he quotes Isaiah 28:16 about the "cornerstone" in Jerusalem. The rejection of Jesus by mortals is like the fate of the cornerstone at Psalm 118:22. Moving beyond the cornerstone imagery, the author quotes Isaiah 8:14-15 as evidence that Jesus is the "stumbling stone" for those who do not obey the word of the Lord. All that stone imagery both identifies who Jesus is and at the same time warns the readers against apostasy in the face of persecution.
In verse 9 the author returns to the identity of his readers, this time selecting his terms from Exodus 19:5-6. Once applied to the people of Israel as the chosen and redeemed of God, the words are now transferred to Christians. They are "a chosen race," God's newly elect people who have been chosen -- like Israel -- through no gifts of their own but simply because God loved them. They are "a royal priesthood" -- like Israel -- not only with direct access to God but through the role that priests play for the rest of the world. They are a "holy nation" -- like Israel -- because they are separated from the rest of people in order to play out their unique roles and responsibilities among other people. And they are "a people for his own possession" (NRSV note) -- like Israel -- because while the whole world belongs to the Lord the King, this little elect group is God's private treasure chest (see that of King David at 1 Chronicles 29:3).
Unlike Israel of old, this "chosen race" has a specific responsibility: "that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." The responsibility of announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ is the reason for their election and the purpose of their priesthood in the world.
Finally, with allusion to Hosea 2:23 the author declares to the Christians that they possess this remarkable identity as God's people only because God has been merciful. That is indeed the story of each of us who have been baptized: we are who we are only because of the mercy and grace of God.
John 14:1-14
This dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, begun at 13:31, occurred after Judas had left the room where the final supper was eaten. Jesus had just finished telling them that by loving one another, others will know they are his disciples (13:31-35). Peter offered to lay down his life so that he might go with Jesus, but Jesus responded with the prediction that Peter will deny him three times (13:36-38).
The words that comprise our pericope, especially the first six verses, are among the most comforting words of Scripture, and for that reason they provide the basis for many funeral sermons. They offer hope and promise and direction to grievers precisely at the point where many feel utterly disoriented by their mourning.
Jesus' opening words are intended to relieve the anxiety of the moment and at the same time to establish once again the unique relationship between himself and the Father. The first verse virtually provides an outline for the first paragraph and the second. The comforting exhortation, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," will take on meaning as Jesus discusses with them the journey he will take so that they will one day join him (vv. 2-6). The method of communication here takes the typical Johannine form of a statement that is ambiguous enough to raise a question, the question itself asked by a disciple or another, then Jesus' words of clarification. Here the questioner is Thomas. The words that follow immediately thereafter, "Believe in God, believe also in me," will become the focus of the dialogue in verses 7-14. Again the pattern will prevail. This time the questioner is Philip.
To develop the first theme Jesus announces he is going to prepare a place "for you" in "my Father's house." The expression "father's house" is common in the Old Testament in a non-theological sense, that is, to establish familial identity through the earthly paternal home. When Jesus speaks of "my Father's house" he is therefore identifying himself in terms of his origin as well as his destination. Elsewhere in the New Testament Jesus speaks of "my Father's house" in terms of the Jerusalem temple (Luke 2:49; John 2:16), but here the reference is clearly to a heavenly habitation (see Luke 16:9; cf. Deuteronomy 26:15). Luke, in fact, distinguishes between the Jerusalem temple and the future promise of Jesus by speaking of the latter as "a kingdom" in which are tables for dining (Luke 22:30).
The purpose for Jesus' announcement regarding the many rooms in his Father's house is to promise the disciples that he is going there in order to prepare a place for them. That promise indicates that his imminent departure will not be permanent. On the contrary, it is his presence among them that will be permanent, for he will come again to take them with him so that they can all live together for all eternity.
Jesus set up the disciples for the typical misunderstanding by his words, "And you know the place where I am going." That statement led Thomas to respond, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" In the first place, the Gospel according to John is filled with references about where Jesus came from and where he is going, and this is simply one more. The Prologue to the Gospel announces his origin "in the beginning" and "with God." He speaks of the Father as "the one who sent me" (for example, see 8:26, 29). He placed himself as authoritative even over Abraham by establishing his own place in time: "Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58). When Jesus speaks of going away from the disciples, therefore, he is talking about going home to the Father. Thomas should have known. And he probably did. But to suit John's scheme for dialogue, someone had to point out that he did not know the destination or the way to it.
That incomprehensible statement -- at least from the reader's point of view -- leads to one more "I am" saying in John's Gospel: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." That Jesus is "the life" has already been asserted on numerous occasions, not the least of which occurs at the beginning of the Prologue: "What has come into being in him was life" (1:3c-4a). Belief in him is the means to eternal life (3:15-16), for he is the source of the water that gushes up to eternal life (4:14). Moreover, he gives the food of life (6:27, 33, 35, 48) that is nothing other than his body and blood (6:51, 53, 54). At the death of his friend Lazarus, Jesus announces to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25) and that belief in him is the means to life forever. As for "the truth," John announced at the beginning that the word that became flesh was "full of grace and truth" (1:14) and that "grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:17). Immediately following his statement that "the truth will make you free," Jesus identifies himself as that truth by saying, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (8:32, 36). In the scene before Pilate, Jesus indicates he has come into this world "to testify to the truth" (18:37). The statement -- true to John's scheme -- raises the familiar question "What is truth?" On this occasion, however, no clarifying statement is made, perhaps because the reader already knows the answer to the question. Finally, that Jesus is "the way" has also been clear from the beginning. Jesus and the Father are so intimately connected that one cannot know one without knowing the other. Jesus is the "chip off the old block," and so by knowing him, people can know the Father. That there is no other possibility of knowing God makes Jesus "the way."
That unique relationship between Father and Son is the second theme of this pericope. Jesus stimulated the necessary question by saying, "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him" (v. 7). Philip takes the bait and requests that Jesus "show us the Father, and we will be satisfied" (v. 8). In the process of responding Jesus deals again with the Father-Son relationship and also with works.
Jesus is able to show the disciples and the world the Father because "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (v. 10) That indwelling of one with the other, repeated in verse 11, takes us back to the opening verses of the Gospel in which "the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). One speech after another throughout John's Gospel spells out this relationship in slightly different ways and with some varied images, and one way of accomplishing that purpose is to transfer all kinds of images about God in the Old Testament to Jesus in the New. Many of the "I am" sayings achieve that function (see the Good Shepherd of Ezekiel 34, for example), but the point is made also by the application of such metaphors as "the fountain of living water" (Jeremiah 2:13 and Jesus' claim to be the source of the water that brings eternal life at John 4:14).
If that ontological reality is too much for the disciples to comprehend, then, Jesus suggests, they should at least believe him "because of the works themselves" (v. 11). The works here must refer to the signs in chapters 2 through 12 ("the book of signs") where, on the basis of one miracle after another, people came to believe in Jesus. The author of the Gospel even acknowledges the power of such works or signs when he sums up the purpose for writing: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah ..." (20:30-31).
Having touched on the works he performed, Jesus moves another step to speak of the work his disciples are able to perform -- not only the ones he himself accomplished but even greater because "I am going to the Father" (v. 12). Apparently the promise of "greater works" is related to the commission in 20:22 about the forgiving and the retaining of sins, because that is the work he gives them after he has gone to his Father.
What Jesus does in the final verse of our pericope is provide us the answer to the question about how we make it through this life as we struggle with what it means to be God's people: he will do for us what we ask in his name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son, just as that happened when Jesus performed his signs. That purpose of the glorification of God enables us to determine what we ask for in Jesus' name.
If we cannot come up with an answer to our own question about making it in the world, maybe we should ask some teenagers. They might even help us determine what we should be asking for in Jesus' name. They are, after all, the most honest about the struggle.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
[Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier, an ordained Presbyterian minister and Adjunct Professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, is known throughout the United States and Canada as a preacher, lecturer, and writer. she is the author of twenty books and frequently contributes to church publications.]
Acts 7:55-60
I got in a religious dispute one time with a relative over particular truths in the Christian gospel, and at one point in the argument, as she became more and more defensive, she blurted out, "Don't quote scripture to me!"
We don't like it very much when the very faith that we profess is used against us to show us that we are wrong. After all, faith is a good thing, and our piety is sincere, and we don't want anyone telling us, by means of the faith, that we're on the wrong track in what we believe and how we act. Indeed, nothing is quite so enraging as to have our beliefs turned against us.
That's exactly why Stephen, a second generation Christian in Jerusalem, is stoned to death, however. He uses the beliefs of his fellow Jews to convict them. When his compatriots can't best him in religious arguments (Acts 6:10) or put down the wonders and signs that he does among the people (6:8), they get a bunch of thugs to accuse Stephen falsely of speaking blasphemy against Moses and the law, and against God and the temple (6:11-14). As a result, Stephen is hauled before the council of the Sanhedrin that was made up in Jerusalem of priests, rulers, elders, and scribes, and he is queried as to whether or not the charges are true (7:1).
In answer, Stephen's face is like the face of an angel -- Luke's indication that Stephen is speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit (6:15) -- and the address that Stephen gives is the longest speech to be found in Acts -- an indication of its importance. What Stephen does is to recount the Old Testament's traditions concerning the patriarchs, Joseph, Moses, the law, and Solomon's construction of the temple. And some of the words in the account quote rather closely portions of the Old Testament. But as he recites the tradition of God's acts of salvation, Stephen uses that very tradition to accuse his fellow Jews of faithlessness.
Stephen's opponents are so concerned about Moses and the law, but their forbears refused to obey Moses and broke the law by worshiping the golden calf (7:35-43, 53). They are deeply attached to their temple, but the temple cannot house the God who has heaven for his throne and earth for his footstool (7:47-50). And they continued to be apostate by persecuting the prophets who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ, God's intended Messiah. More than that, the present listeners have murdered that promised Son of God (7:51-53).
In making those charges, Stephen employs the very heart of the Jewish faith -- the law by which every Jew is supposed to live; the cult through which the Jews have communion with their God, and the prophets who pronounce God's Word to the people. You Jews, Stephen preaches, have been faithless toward all three. Your religion is phony, you stand condemned in the sight of your God, and your execution of God's Son has revealed the final extent of your sin.
If someone made the same accusation against us, we too would be enraged. Imagine someone saying to us, "Your practice of your faith is as phony as a three dollar bill." But it is when Stephen makes his final statement that the lynch mob hauls him out of the city to be stoned. I saw the glory of God, he says, and the Son of Man, Jesus, standing at his right hand of power. In short, Stephen states that Jesus Christ has been raised and has been exalted by God to rule over all (7:56). Jesus Christ now reigns supreme over law and cult and prophets. Jesus Christ is now Lord. That is the last blasphemous straw, the message to which the mob shuts its ears and rushes to do away with the messenger.
The witnesses who have made the accusation against Stephen join in his stoning, shedding their cloaks at the feet of a Pharisee named Saul -- the first mention of that figure who is to dominate Acts' story from here on.
As the stones strike Stephen, knocking him to the ground, he does not cry out against his executioners, but instead prays to Jesus, whom he has testified to be the Lord. The words that he prays imitate his Lord's words on the cross. Quoting Psalm 31, Jesus had prayed, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Stephen too delivers his life into the hands of his Lord, in the sure knowledge of his resurrection (Acts 7:59). Jesus had prayed as he was nailed to the wood, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Stephen too asks Jesus' forgiveness of the mob who are killing him. "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). In life and in death, the pattern for Stephen's life is Jesus Christ. He dies, faithful to his Lord.
Luke uses this story of the martyrdom of Stephen to show, in the Roman empire, that the Christian faith is an extension of Judaism and therefore not subversive to Roman rule. It is from the law and the prophets and writings of old that Jesus Christ may be understood (cf. Luke 24:44-45). The history of salvation that Stephen recounts in his long testimony finds its final fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. That is a good indication to us that we cannot truly know Jesus Christ except we know also the history of the Old Testament that has preceded him. He is the final fulfillment and interpretation of that sacred history.
But the question that is directed pointedly to us on this fifth Sunday of the Easter season is: Have we been faithful to the religion that we profess as Christians? We confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord. Do we then act as if he is our Lord? Do we take our directions for life from his commandments to us? Do we try to follow his will, or is our own self-will the guide and director of our daily lives? We worship and praise him in our cult, that is, in our church services. But does our living point to his glory or to our own reputation and status? And is gratitude to God the tenor of our daily round or is it full of complaint and dissatisfaction and yearning after ever more goods and things? We believe that our Lord holds our future in his hands, as he proclaims in his prophetic words. But do we trust that future and lay aside our anxieties and fear of death in the faith that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
This account of the disciple Stephen is a call to examine our lives, and an opportunity in the power of the Spirit to cleanse our faith of falsity and phoniness.
