Seventh Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle B
Seasonal Theme
Alive and out of the grave, the risen Christ is witnessed in the real world.
Theme For The Day
Jesus prays for his disciples. We review the gospel lived out in the season of Easter.
First Lesson
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Matthias Added As A Witness
As the disciples geared up to do their mission of witness and mercy in the world, they needed to fill the ranks by replacing Judas, who had betrayed Jesus. They cast lots and Matthias won over the other candidate, Justus. We know nothing of this replacement disciple except what verses 23 and 26 tell us. Some scholars call him, "one of the seventy." The name itself means "gift of Jehovah." Psalm 69:25 predicts Judas' fate as does Psalm 109:8 insist that his office be filled.
There is one nagging question for me. Notice that Peter begins this process after the Ascension. I wonder if Jesus would want to replace Judas with such cruel remarks as quoted in verse 25? But it does sound like something "gung-ho, loyal, faithful, impetuous" Peter would do!
There must have been a lot of stories about Judas' fate. Luke adds here information not consistent with Matthew 27:3-10. The Aramaic could mean "field of sleep" rather than "field of blood." This place of sleep could be Matthew's "potters field." The crucial thing here is the main function of a disciple is to be "a witness to the resurrection" (v. 22).
The casting of lots as a way to divine God's will sounds like superstition and not solid, dependable faith to me.
The Second Lesson
1 John 5:9-13
Jesus As God's Testimony
The writer of 1 John sums it up near the end of his letter. And it couldn't be more clear. He says, have faith in God's testimony in the person of Jesus. And that testimony is that "God gave us eternal life through Jesus, his son." To have this son is to have life. The whole letter has been written by this author so the reader is certain that they have eternal life (v. 13). It seems to me that this epilogue tries to frame the composition by returning to the opening sentences, which I so delight in (vv. 1:2 and 3).
The Gospel
John 17:6-19
Jesus Prays For His Disciples
We have a summary here of the Johannine concept of Christ's mission and ministry. While that concept recommends it for this final Sunday in the Easter season, it does seem a little strange to me chronologically that after Jesus' ascension we return to the prayer prayed before the Ascension. Still, it is quite inspirational for me to think that Jesus prays directly for his disciples, which would also include us. In verses 6-8, Jesus is claiming that he has helped people see what God is like. (Also see John 14:9.)
William Barclay writes about this passage: "Jesus had two things -- He had belief in God and belief in people. He trusted God and he trusted people. It is one of the most uplifting things in the world to think that Jesus put his trust and confidence in women and men like ourselves." To believe like this is to open up life to its fullest potential.
So these are the things Jesus prays to God for his disciples:
1. That they might find victory.
2. That the evil one's attacks would be foiled off.
3. That they would be always consecrated to the truth.
4. That they would be united.
And it is the fourth one above that I want to question. The World Council of Churches and all ecumenical movements quote verse 11b as the theme for unity between denominations, etc. But I wonder. I wonder if what Jesus was praying for here was that just like he and God were united and one, he wanted his disciples also to be one with God. I'm just not as sure as some church bureaucrats about this meaning those in the various denominations should be one. That seems to limit the variety and creativeness of the Spirit's work in the world. If you think me in error here, you are in the company of the great majority of scholars and theologians of this present age. After saying this, let me add one more theological thought about verse 11. If we were united with our God as Jesus prayed we would be, there then would be a marvelous unity between us. Perhaps it's the only way we can all be united ... in God.
Consider Jesus' description of his disciples in verse 16. Can any of us claim we do not "belong to the world?" Or have we entirely given in to our particular culture so others can't tell the difference between us disciples and any other nice person?
According to verse 18, we are "sent." We must ask where we are sent, if we are going, and what has been the result of being sent in our lives and our congregation's lives?
Preaching Possibilities
The most common way of preaching this last of the Easter season sermons is to begin with the disciples choosing a replacement for Judas and then talk about what they looked for and what is expected of us as disciples. The prayer of Jesus in the Gospel provides solid answers for what is required to be a disciple of Jesus:
1. One who keeps God's word (v. 6).
2. One whom God protects (vv. 11 and 12).
3. One who is united and one with God (v. 11b).
4. One complete with joy (v. 13).
5. One not belonging to the world (v. 14).
6. One sanctified and sent (vv. 17 and 18).
One other approach I have used is to emphasize the prayer element in the John account and give a sermon on disciples as people prayed for and praying. Jesus prays for us and we pray for each other. Talk about what we ought to pray for each other and actually having another person offer a prayer to that effect after each point is made.
Because it is the last Easter season sermon, I will do something I think we often don't do enough. That is to summarize the message for the entire season.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by picking up the story of Jesus' passion with the empty tomb and glorious Easter. Describe your church's worship and attendance that day.
B. Move to describing that Easter has continued these seven weeks and Sundays and that we have learned much.
C. Summarize the sermons of Easter
1. Second of Easter: We, too, are Easter people who can have doubts like Thomas and can work through them to believe and be changed.
2. Third of Easter: We are to be witnesses to the Christ out of the empty tomb and alive. We have a task to witness to the forgiveness of our sins.
3. Fourth of Easter: We have an alive shepherd who cares for us as a good shepherd cares for his sheep.
4. Fifth of Easter: We, like Philip, must take the Easter Gospel out into the world and we must live it out by loving each other.
5. Sixth of Easter: God has chosen us to be "Friends of God" just like there used to be "Friends of the King." This means we have closeness with and to God.
6. Ascension of our Lord: The new age of Jesus with us in Spirit has begun. We are sent out as witnesses.
7. Seventh of Easter: We are prayed for by Jesus and are united in out mission and discipleship.
Prayer For The Day
We thank you, dear God, for this season of Easter, which has instructed and inspired us to be your disciples. We ask that we might so be united in you that we are united here in our congregation. Send us out also as witnesses to your resurrection and ministers of your grace and mercy. We pray in the name of the one who also prayed for us, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
It was during the great snowstorm of 1973 when Mansfield, Ohio, was covered with many feet of snow. James Truley drove his truck into a snowbank and became completely covered. He survived by eating snow in the cab of his truck. His brother came to Mansfield looking for him and found the truck on State Route 13 inside the city limits after several days. I met Truley at the trauma center and he told how sheriff's deputies and National Guard went right over the top of him without knowing it. Finally the airport snowblower uncovered his truck. The lost was found. How many are still in the cold waiting for our discipleship to uncover them?
At a men's retreat I was presenting on discipleship, I made my usual plea for disciples to witness to their faith not only for the purpose of bringing others to the gospel, but also for the effect that witnessing has on the person who does the witnessing. For the more we witness, the stronger we believe and the better we become at witnessing and the more certain is our ownership of the gospel.
After the lecture David Lindberg, a retired faculty member of the Lutheran seminary at Chicago, reminded me of how it was for Greek actors years ago. They all wore masks to represent whatever character they were playing. It is said, according to David, that wearing the mask not only affected the audience, but also had a profound effect on the actor who wore it. Looking out the eyeholes of the mask, the actor saw the audience's reaction to the mask and so was shaped even more into the part he was playing. So, the gospel does change and shape us as we relate it to another person. Reason enough for a witnessing congregation.
One married woman, who is the first one in her family to become a Christian and must live with her old Buddhist father-in-law, was forced to decide what to do when we had the national Chung Yeung holiday, the time Chinese all go out to the graves of their ancestors. He asked her to help him prepare the necessary foods for the offering. She did not want to do it as a Christian, but felt she should help her old father-in-law. Privately, I advised her that Saint Paul faced a similar problem with food offered to idols. I told her to help the old man to carry out his customs including getting him to the graves and simply to explain it to God in her prayers that night. God would understand and might even enjoy the variety. And just maybe it was the same God with a different name and way of approaching a different people anyway! This blatant heresy seemed helpful to her and her pastor husband who didn't know what to do from his rather fundamentalist theology.
According to Helena, Montana's The Independent Record, the 1988 Pinocchio Award from the National Liars' Club Hall of Fame went to farm columnist Russ Hoy, who said: "The 1988 drought was so bad that the Baptists were sprinkling and Presbyterians were using a damp cloth for baptism. The Lutherans were passing out rain checks and at least one Roman Catholic priest was trying to turn wine back into water! Authorities had banned water skiing in the Platte River because it was kicking up too much dust."
Our denominational differences must be as outlandish to God's Holy Spirit and those outside the church as well.
Alive and out of the grave, the risen Christ is witnessed in the real world.
Theme For The Day
Jesus prays for his disciples. We review the gospel lived out in the season of Easter.
First Lesson
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Matthias Added As A Witness
As the disciples geared up to do their mission of witness and mercy in the world, they needed to fill the ranks by replacing Judas, who had betrayed Jesus. They cast lots and Matthias won over the other candidate, Justus. We know nothing of this replacement disciple except what verses 23 and 26 tell us. Some scholars call him, "one of the seventy." The name itself means "gift of Jehovah." Psalm 69:25 predicts Judas' fate as does Psalm 109:8 insist that his office be filled.
There is one nagging question for me. Notice that Peter begins this process after the Ascension. I wonder if Jesus would want to replace Judas with such cruel remarks as quoted in verse 25? But it does sound like something "gung-ho, loyal, faithful, impetuous" Peter would do!
There must have been a lot of stories about Judas' fate. Luke adds here information not consistent with Matthew 27:3-10. The Aramaic could mean "field of sleep" rather than "field of blood." This place of sleep could be Matthew's "potters field." The crucial thing here is the main function of a disciple is to be "a witness to the resurrection" (v. 22).
The casting of lots as a way to divine God's will sounds like superstition and not solid, dependable faith to me.
The Second Lesson
1 John 5:9-13
Jesus As God's Testimony
The writer of 1 John sums it up near the end of his letter. And it couldn't be more clear. He says, have faith in God's testimony in the person of Jesus. And that testimony is that "God gave us eternal life through Jesus, his son." To have this son is to have life. The whole letter has been written by this author so the reader is certain that they have eternal life (v. 13). It seems to me that this epilogue tries to frame the composition by returning to the opening sentences, which I so delight in (vv. 1:2 and 3).
The Gospel
John 17:6-19
Jesus Prays For His Disciples
We have a summary here of the Johannine concept of Christ's mission and ministry. While that concept recommends it for this final Sunday in the Easter season, it does seem a little strange to me chronologically that after Jesus' ascension we return to the prayer prayed before the Ascension. Still, it is quite inspirational for me to think that Jesus prays directly for his disciples, which would also include us. In verses 6-8, Jesus is claiming that he has helped people see what God is like. (Also see John 14:9.)
William Barclay writes about this passage: "Jesus had two things -- He had belief in God and belief in people. He trusted God and he trusted people. It is one of the most uplifting things in the world to think that Jesus put his trust and confidence in women and men like ourselves." To believe like this is to open up life to its fullest potential.
So these are the things Jesus prays to God for his disciples:
1. That they might find victory.
2. That the evil one's attacks would be foiled off.
3. That they would be always consecrated to the truth.
4. That they would be united.
And it is the fourth one above that I want to question. The World Council of Churches and all ecumenical movements quote verse 11b as the theme for unity between denominations, etc. But I wonder. I wonder if what Jesus was praying for here was that just like he and God were united and one, he wanted his disciples also to be one with God. I'm just not as sure as some church bureaucrats about this meaning those in the various denominations should be one. That seems to limit the variety and creativeness of the Spirit's work in the world. If you think me in error here, you are in the company of the great majority of scholars and theologians of this present age. After saying this, let me add one more theological thought about verse 11. If we were united with our God as Jesus prayed we would be, there then would be a marvelous unity between us. Perhaps it's the only way we can all be united ... in God.
Consider Jesus' description of his disciples in verse 16. Can any of us claim we do not "belong to the world?" Or have we entirely given in to our particular culture so others can't tell the difference between us disciples and any other nice person?
According to verse 18, we are "sent." We must ask where we are sent, if we are going, and what has been the result of being sent in our lives and our congregation's lives?
Preaching Possibilities
The most common way of preaching this last of the Easter season sermons is to begin with the disciples choosing a replacement for Judas and then talk about what they looked for and what is expected of us as disciples. The prayer of Jesus in the Gospel provides solid answers for what is required to be a disciple of Jesus:
1. One who keeps God's word (v. 6).
2. One whom God protects (vv. 11 and 12).
3. One who is united and one with God (v. 11b).
4. One complete with joy (v. 13).
5. One not belonging to the world (v. 14).
6. One sanctified and sent (vv. 17 and 18).
One other approach I have used is to emphasize the prayer element in the John account and give a sermon on disciples as people prayed for and praying. Jesus prays for us and we pray for each other. Talk about what we ought to pray for each other and actually having another person offer a prayer to that effect after each point is made.
Because it is the last Easter season sermon, I will do something I think we often don't do enough. That is to summarize the message for the entire season.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by picking up the story of Jesus' passion with the empty tomb and glorious Easter. Describe your church's worship and attendance that day.
B. Move to describing that Easter has continued these seven weeks and Sundays and that we have learned much.
C. Summarize the sermons of Easter
1. Second of Easter: We, too, are Easter people who can have doubts like Thomas and can work through them to believe and be changed.
2. Third of Easter: We are to be witnesses to the Christ out of the empty tomb and alive. We have a task to witness to the forgiveness of our sins.
3. Fourth of Easter: We have an alive shepherd who cares for us as a good shepherd cares for his sheep.
4. Fifth of Easter: We, like Philip, must take the Easter Gospel out into the world and we must live it out by loving each other.
5. Sixth of Easter: God has chosen us to be "Friends of God" just like there used to be "Friends of the King." This means we have closeness with and to God.
6. Ascension of our Lord: The new age of Jesus with us in Spirit has begun. We are sent out as witnesses.
7. Seventh of Easter: We are prayed for by Jesus and are united in out mission and discipleship.
Prayer For The Day
We thank you, dear God, for this season of Easter, which has instructed and inspired us to be your disciples. We ask that we might so be united in you that we are united here in our congregation. Send us out also as witnesses to your resurrection and ministers of your grace and mercy. We pray in the name of the one who also prayed for us, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
It was during the great snowstorm of 1973 when Mansfield, Ohio, was covered with many feet of snow. James Truley drove his truck into a snowbank and became completely covered. He survived by eating snow in the cab of his truck. His brother came to Mansfield looking for him and found the truck on State Route 13 inside the city limits after several days. I met Truley at the trauma center and he told how sheriff's deputies and National Guard went right over the top of him without knowing it. Finally the airport snowblower uncovered his truck. The lost was found. How many are still in the cold waiting for our discipleship to uncover them?
At a men's retreat I was presenting on discipleship, I made my usual plea for disciples to witness to their faith not only for the purpose of bringing others to the gospel, but also for the effect that witnessing has on the person who does the witnessing. For the more we witness, the stronger we believe and the better we become at witnessing and the more certain is our ownership of the gospel.
After the lecture David Lindberg, a retired faculty member of the Lutheran seminary at Chicago, reminded me of how it was for Greek actors years ago. They all wore masks to represent whatever character they were playing. It is said, according to David, that wearing the mask not only affected the audience, but also had a profound effect on the actor who wore it. Looking out the eyeholes of the mask, the actor saw the audience's reaction to the mask and so was shaped even more into the part he was playing. So, the gospel does change and shape us as we relate it to another person. Reason enough for a witnessing congregation.
One married woman, who is the first one in her family to become a Christian and must live with her old Buddhist father-in-law, was forced to decide what to do when we had the national Chung Yeung holiday, the time Chinese all go out to the graves of their ancestors. He asked her to help him prepare the necessary foods for the offering. She did not want to do it as a Christian, but felt she should help her old father-in-law. Privately, I advised her that Saint Paul faced a similar problem with food offered to idols. I told her to help the old man to carry out his customs including getting him to the graves and simply to explain it to God in her prayers that night. God would understand and might even enjoy the variety. And just maybe it was the same God with a different name and way of approaching a different people anyway! This blatant heresy seemed helpful to her and her pastor husband who didn't know what to do from his rather fundamentalist theology.
According to Helena, Montana's The Independent Record, the 1988 Pinocchio Award from the National Liars' Club Hall of Fame went to farm columnist Russ Hoy, who said: "The 1988 drought was so bad that the Baptists were sprinkling and Presbyterians were using a damp cloth for baptism. The Lutherans were passing out rain checks and at least one Roman Catholic priest was trying to turn wine back into water! Authorities had banned water skiing in the Platte River because it was kicking up too much dust."
Our denominational differences must be as outlandish to God's Holy Spirit and those outside the church as well.
