Easter 7 Ascension

“Holy Father, protect them”

Rev. Margaret Raven

Readings:

Acts 1: 6-14: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  

John 17:1-11: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

I don’t know about you, but I find it incredibly reassuring that right before going out of the door to go to the Garden of Gethsemane…tohis arrest and to his death by crucifixion…Jesus is thinking ahead to the short and long-term needs of the disciples…the massive challenges they will have to confront in the next hours, days and weeks….without him there beside them.

John’s gospel shows us Jesus identifying what is going to be necessary. 

Then Jesus asks God for just that - he prays for it, confidently… explaining the situation and the reason for his request: first,he tells God the disciples are now a Godly group: “..they have kept your word…..and know in truth that I came from you……I have been glorified in them”; second,Jesus identifies the disorientation, grief and leaderlessness the disciples will have to face alone, far from homein very high stress and always life-threatening situations ….” And now” he reminds God,  “I am no longer in the world but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.”; so, finally, he petitions God to allow the disciples the same open, mutual, loving relationship with Godself that he, Jesus, has learned to rely on during his mission on earth. He knows the disciples will need this so he specifically requests it from God on their behalf:

“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,so that they may be one as we are one.”

What a huge gift to give to the disciples!   These days we call it Assurance.  Blessed Assurance.

Jesus has anticipated normal human frailties.The intimate and united team of disciples he has trained up could easily collapse in shock and mistrust once they witness betrayal, arrest and realize they are now leaderless. It must not happen.Exposed to menace fromtemple police and Roman militarypersecution they might scatter, hidefor personal safety and never, ever meet up again. The Godly group needs assurance and protection in order to survive. There is going to be an extended leadership vacuum. There will always be opposition to the Gospel. Much reliance on prayer as a way of life is the only sure way to survive intact and move forward. After all, this Jesus Movement post-resurrection must consolidate itself, must thrive and must grow in order to continue the work begun by Jesus…..

Now you have all worked in charities, businesses, small and large organisations and volunteer groups. You and I, we are familiar with the power-struggles, the ideological battles,the strategy disagreements, the tempestuous resignations and threats to resign…along with the inevitable personality clashes which bedevil fledgling organisations and leaderless groups.Jesus anticipates that an enhanced, personal trust and prayer relationship with God is essential both to protect the disciples as individuals and as Godly group as well as to enable them to get beyond interpersonal disagreements in order to continue to function as an effective team with shared values, goals and beliefs. In fact he asks for them to be given the same prayer-relationship, trust-relationship and support- relationship with God that Jesus himself relied on during his earthly mission.

What an awesome gift!   To become somewhat like Jesus in their relationship with God?!  You know that gift is available to us too don’t you! “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one”.

It is no wonder then that as we move from the pre-resurrection and pre-ascension account given by the writers of John’s gospel to the post-resurrection and post-ascension account given by the writers of the Acts of the Apostles we find the early church is now calling the disciples “apostles”. A disciple is a trainee and a follower of a holy person. An apostle is a messenger of God, a leader, a preacher, teacher and evangelist – trusted and anointed by God as a pioneer leader in their own right. The disciples transformed into apostles are so important to early Christianity that they are all named  (quote Acts 1:13,14). The Godly group is not only identified but described as “constantly devoting themselves to prayer” just as Jesus had requested of God…not acting but praying, thinking, discussing, meditating, sharing, listening to each other carefully in those early days post –resurrection and post-ascension.

However, the narrative makes it clear there are limits on the role and function of the apostles - God is authority in history and in space-time….

So, the apostles are to have nothing to do with secular power-political groupings ……all the nationalist, revolutionary, apocalyptic and millenarian movements drawing on the rhetoric of kingdom of God, Israel, Jews or Israel as chosen people of God……”It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” says Jesus just before the ascension. In other words: Forget about a date for the coming in of the kingdom of God. “Your task is to be my witnesses”. Do not use your power for other purposes.

The apostles are to witness to Jews and Gentiles. God is for all people. The gospel is for the whole world, for all nations and ethnic groups. The role and function of the apostles is to be witnesses for and of Jesus“in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The Holy Spirit will come and give you power to fulfill this task says Jesus to the apostles…. and to us.

If we are willing to move out of our culture of self-protecting privacy into the greater intimacy of getting to know others on their terms….trusting them to the point where we are willingly sharing our story with others……  We can pray and ask for this.