In the Flesh: Sent Out In Jesus' Name

Though the official celebration of the Ascension was this past Thursday, many churches celebrate this event on this Sunday. Looking at the summary of this event s found in the first chapter of Acts (see Acts 1:1-11), we consider Jesus' parting words to the disciples who were present that day. What did it mean for them to watch Jesus go up into the heavens? What did he expect from them? What does it mean for us still today?

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On this Sunday we celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Traditionally, the Feast of the Ascension was actually this past Thursday, forty days after Easter Sunday. Our Scripture today tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples over a period of forty days, and so the celebration in the church follows that statement literally.

Of course, if you read even a few of the more well-known Bible stories, you know that the number forty occurs frequently -- the flood that lasted forty days and forty nights, the forty years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness, the forty days that Moses spent on the mountain with God, the forty days that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness after his baptism. It occurs frequently enough that we might begin to suspect that the number is being used in a figurative sense instead of a literal one. Kind of like when we say “the last time I saw you, you were knee high to a grasshopper” we simply mean someone was much smaller the last time we saw them, the number forty as it appears in scripture seems to represent a lengthy period of time. I have heard it said that it is meant to represent a time sufficient for things to happen -- the flood lasted long enough to accomplish its purpose, the Israelites wandered in the desert long enough for God’s purposes to be served, Jesus spent long enough with the disciples for them to be prepared for what was next.

In the Flesh: Chosen Family

This week, we continue to see the effect that the disciples' encounters with the risen Christ in the flesh had on their ministry. But we also consider the fact that the disciples showed up in the flesh for other people. In doing so, the disciples extended the body of Christ, including yet more people into the family (see Acts 10:44-48).

At the same time, our story today makes it clear that even while the disciples went forth spreading the word, God is the one still at work. God is the one who chooses us, who invites new people into the family, who extends the family beyond the boundaries we might set.

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As we have been since Easter Sunday, we continue to consider today how the encounter with Jesus continued to affect the disciples and those they encountered in turn. Even so, today’s story is a little bit different. We find Peter speaking to a mixed group of believers, both those who are Jews (the circumcised) as well as those who are non-Jewish (the Gentiles). There is no appearance of Jesus in our story today. And yet, we know that Peter is only there because of his encounter with Jesus in the flesh. That is the event that strengthened him for his ministry, and prompted him to be in this place.

Looking back in this chapter, we are told that the non-Jewish persons referred to in our story are a Roman Centurion and members of his household who were already believers in God. This Centurion supported those in need among the Jewish people and prayed constantly. A messenger from God, an angel, appeared to this man and told him to summon Simon Peter to come to him.

The next day about noon in another town, Peter is on a rooftop praying. While praying he becomes hungry. He has a vision of a giant linen cloth lowering from heaven. On the cloth are animals of every kind, some considered clean, some considered unclean. A voice from heaven tells him to get up, kill, and eat. Peter protests that he will not, for he has never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice responds, “Never consider unclean what God has made pure” (Acts 10:15, CEB). This happens three times before servants from the Centurion arrive to invite Peter to come to the Centurion’s home. Peter agrees to go with them, understanding that the vision he had is about more than just food. Arriving at the Centurion’s home, Peter enters into conversation, talking about all that he has understood about God’s love for all people.

Our reading today opens as Peter finishes speaking and the Holy Spirit falls on everyone present, Jews and Gentiles alike. The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the Spirit had been granted to these Gentiles, these outsiders. But Peter points out that they can’t deny the evidence of God’s gift to these people. If God has included them, who are they to deny them entry into the community of believers in Christ?

One of the things that Jesus tried to make clear is that we are all one family with God as the head of the family. The reaction of the other Jewish believers who traveled with Peter makes it clear just how difficult the implications of this were for them to live into. Even today, I think many of us have likely had the experience of hearing or being told that certain people do not belong in the church for some reason. And yet, we continue to see evidence of the Spirit even among those who others might exclude.

As many of us grow up and grow older, we may move out of our family home and find new places to live. We develop relationships with others that may go beyond what we might think of as friendships. Those closest to us may become like family, but unlike the families in which we are born, these are the families we choose for ourselves, our chosen family. 

For some of us, these families may grow up around similar interests. I have played sports with people who became my brothers and sisters. I’ve had friends so close that they know all of my deepest secrets and love me just the same. In seminary, there was a group of us who all lived in the same apartment building who would gather at least once a week for a communal meal to talk about our studies and what was going on in the world. We have stayed in touch long after we all graduated and went into ministry in different places. Our kids think of each other as cousins. We became family.

As I think about this idea, I am reminded of the recent musical, The Greatest Showman. While a little light on the historical accuracy, the movie does a great job of highlighting the ways in which groups of people become family, a family not defined by birth but by the ways we choose to be together. The character of Barnum in the movie pulled together a group of people who were considered outsiders, at best, by the rest of society. These people existed on the fringes of society and were often excluded and ignored, and sometimes they were physically abused just for their existence. Barnum taught them to be proud of who they are. He included them when others would exclude them. He even brought in a man from high society who came to realize that this group of people others would choose to exclude are as worthy (if not more worthy) of his affection as those who are like him. At the end of the film, we see that family takes many forms, each as important as the other.

For many believers, the church becomes a family. Many of us are like minded, holding one another up in good times and bad, supporting each other when we are in need. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, united by a common mission -- to spread the love of God as shown to us in Jesus Christ.

This is largely what our story today is about. About becoming united in our mission. But there is an important difference here that I think is sometimes easy for us to overlook. Often when we think of the idea of chosen family, we think of those we have chosen to be around, those we have chosen to associate with. We are the ones doing the choosing. But our story today makes it clear that those who make up the church, those who are believers, are a little bit different. 

We are God’s chosen family. And, just as Peter told those who traveled with him, we don’t get to decide who is a part of that family. God chooses to include us all in this family. Not just some, not those that meet our criteria, not those that follow only certain rules of ritual cleanliness. God chooses both those we might choose to include as well as those we would exclude.

For those of us here in the United States, in addition to being a day on which we come together to celebrate God as shown to us in the person of Jesus, today is also Mother’s Day. This is a day we acknowledge and celebrate the mother’s in our lives. We remember those who have nurtured and provided for us in the role of mother. For many of us this may be our birth mother. For others of us, the role of mother may have been played by someone else, someone that we chose or maybe someone who chose us. And for many people this is a day of joyful celebration.

At the same time it can also be a difficult day for some people. We may remember the mother who is no longer with us, the mother with whom we had a strained relationship, the mother we never knew. It is also a day to acknowledge that there are those who wished to be mothers who were unable to be for some reason. It is a complicated day, a day made more complicated when we think back to how it began.

While not officially recognized as a national holiday until 1911, the push for a day when mothers would join together to work for peace so that their children would not have to go to war began in the ruins of the American Civil War. The initial proclamation made in 1870 called on mothers to be the ones to push for peaceful settlement in all conflicts. It was the daughter of one of these earlier women that pushed for the creation of the holiday in memory of her mother. As the celebration began to spread around the world, people quickly began to acknowledge that it is not only birth mothers who nurture and provide in the same way, but there are many people who participate in the act of mothering -- grandparents, neighbors, friends, school teachers, even the church, to name a few, all play a role in the form of nurture we so often associate with mothers.

In Scripture, there are places where God is described with qualities we often associate with mothers. God as a nursing mother. God as a mother eagle. God as a mother hen, gathering in her chicks to protect them. God chooses us and includes us in the family.

In the middle ages, many mystics described God as a mother. One of the most well known, Julian of Norwich, was an anchorite in England in the late-14th century. She had a series of visions of God and was one of the first published women writers in England. She even developed the mothering image further, referring to Mother Jesus in her writing.

As we go into our week, I pray that we will remember that God chooses us, God includes us, God nurtures us, God protects us. God is our mother, and she makes us part of one family.

In the Flesh: Proclaiming

Today, we take another step away from the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus to look at how those encounters affected what came next. We started this last week with one of the letters attributed to John. We were able to look at one of the people that knew Jesus most closely and to consider the story he told about Jesus and what Jesus called us to do and to be in the world. He was someone who knew Jesus intimately and who we can be certain was present for at least some of the appearances of Jesus.

Our reading from Acts today (Acts 8:26-40) gives us a look at a different disciple. Here we meet a man who may or may not have followed Jesus during his life, but one who most definitely committed his life to the work of the disciples in the period shortly after Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances. What impact did Jesus' life, death, and resurrection have on this man? How was he empowered to go forth into that world?

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In our story today, we continue to explore how the disciples’ encounter with Jesus in the flesh after his resurrection had a profound effect on all that came after. Today’s story moves beyond the Twelve apostles that we are most familiar with to show us a different follower of Jesus.

Our reading opens with an angel appearing to Philip. Now you may recall that there is a Philip in the gospels that was first a follower of John the Baptist and later one of the Twelve apostles. However, tradition tells us that this Philip is a different one. 

Jumping back a couple of chapters to chapter 6 of Acts, we find that members of the Greek-speaking community had raised some issues with the Apostles. It seems that the Jewish-speaking leadership had been neglecting the needs of Greek-speaking widows and others in the distribution of food and other ministries of the early Christian community. The Apostles tell the Greek-speaking believers to choose seven from among their own to be ministers within their community. Though it seems to be a misreading of the text, these Seven eventually came to be known in Christian tradition as the first deacons. (That's a conversation for another time.)

Among these seven is a man named Philip. It is this man who is greeted by an angel in our story today. The angel tells him that he should travel a certain road at a certain time that day. And so he sets out.

At the same time, an Ethiopian man is on his way home from Jerusalem. He happens to be traveling the same road. As he travels, he is reading from the prophet Isaiah. He is apparently reading it out loud, for when the Spirit nudges Philip to get closer, Philip hears the Ethiopian man reading from the prophet. And so he calls out to him.

Now, as I think about the world we live in today, I try to consider how people might respond nowadays to such an interjection. Imagine you are walking through a park and you see someone reading on a bench. What happens when you go over and ask, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” Better yet, imagine you are the one reading when someone else comes over and asks you that question. 

I kind of doubt that any of us would react as the Ethiopian does in our story today. Rather than get annoyed at best or angry at worst, the Ethiopian responds with a question of his own. How can I understand this if there is no one here to explain it to me? And then he invites Philip to climb up into the chariot with him. The Ethiopian is reading a passage from Isaiah and asks for Philip to help him understand. The text says that Philip proclaims the good news of Jesus to him. He shares all that he knows and has experienced of Jesus’ story. He helps the man to see how Jesus is the one spoken of by the prophet.

Inspired by what he learns, the man asks for Philip to baptize him in some water they are passing on the way. As the Ethiopian comes up from the water, the Spirit takes Philip away. Philip continues to preach the good news of Jesus throughout the region.

When we think of proclamation or proclaiming something, I think we tend to have a similar idea in mind to what we think of as witnessing. Looking up proclaim in a dictionary, we see that it means “to announce officially or publicly” or “to declare something one considers important.” I think this fits with the idea of the traveling evangelist or the public witness we often think of in regards to our faith. When we think of proclaiming our faith or proclaiming the good news, we think of going out on the street corner or holding up signs at sporting events or large gatherings to tell people what we think they should know.

And yet, that is not quite the meaning of either the words used in our text today, which we can perhaps tell by the context. Philip did not stand on the side of the road yelling out for all to hear. He did not confront the Ethiopian man with tirades about right and wrong or a sinful world in need of saving. 

While a public declaration may be our sense of proclamation, the Greek root translated as both preaching and proclaiming here is the root εὐαγγελίζω (euangelízō) which means to share good news. In fact, this word can be broken down further into the prefix, εὐ-, meaning good, and αγγελία (angelia), meaning message or news. Αγγελία is also the root of our word, angel, meaning messenger.

As we look at today’s story with this in mind, we perhaps begin to get a different picture of events. Rather than shouting what he thinks the Ethiopian should believe from the side of the road, Philip enters into a conversation with the man. Yes, he approaches the man, but he approaches him to open a dialogue. Philip was not told specifically what to say who appeared to him. The Spirit did not technically tell him to speak to the man. Philip was told first to be in a particular place, and once he had arrived, he was told to approach the carriage. He was not told to say any particular thing. It is only because he approached the man and opened a dialogue with him that he had the opportunity to share what he knew. He learned what the man was searching for and knew that he had the means to help him. Philip listened to the prompting of the Spirit and found himself right where he needed to be.

That sharing is the other important part of our story today. You see, the Ethiopian was already a person of some faith. We are told that he had been in Jerusalem to worship. But it seems he wanted to know even more. He was curious. It is not likely that an uninterested person would even have a scroll of the prophet Isaiah’s writings, much less that they would be reading them in an attempt to understand them. Even more than that, the Ethiopian man seemed to have a good grasp of what Isaiah was saying, at least on the surface. He knew that Isaiah was speaking of a suffering servant, perhaps even that he was speaking of the Messiah. What he sought to know was who that person was specifically. Was Isaiah referring to himself? Or was he talking about someone else?

This is the point at which our translation tells us that Philip proclaims the good news of Jesus to the man, but as I suggested, I think it is more accurate to say that Philip shared the good news with the man. The man already knew what the scripture said, but he was looking for more. Who specifically does the prophet refer to? Philip is able to tell him about Jesus and how Jesus is the one to whom Isaiah refers. He surely tells the man all he himself has learned from the other disciples and the apostles. Perhaps Philip been a follower of Jesus before his death. While we know the Apostles numbered twelve, there were numerous other disciples of Jesus who are not always individually named. It is quite possible Philip had been a follower of Jesus; perhaps had even been present at one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances considering some of those appearances simply mention that the disciples were present.

While we can't know that for certain, the story that Philip shared with the Ethiopian man was certainly heard as good news, so much so that the man asked to be baptized at the first sight of water. Philip gave context to the information that the man already had, helped him to see how Jesus is the one about whom the man was reading and wondering. Philip had his experience of Jesus to help him give context to the longing that the man appeared to have.

Augustine wrote of our hearts being restless until they find their rest in God. Blaise Pascal wrote about the empty imprint within us left by a memory of God, a space that cannot be satisfactorily filled by anything but God. There was even a song called “God-Shaped Hole” that came out in the late 90s that is about this very idea.

The Ethiopian man had a longing to understand, but he didn’t know all he needed to know. He didn’t have the knowledge that Philip had to help him fit everything into place. After opening a dialogue with the man and being asked to help him understand, Philip shared what he knew about Jesus. 

Today, Ethiopia has one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world. It all started with this chance meeting between Philip and the Ethiopian man traveling home. The fact this man was a eunuch and a court official for the queen means both that he was well-placed to share what he had learned as well as proof that God often chooses the people who might otherwise be rejected or overlooked as bearers of the message.

As we consider our modern world and what it means to proclaim or share the good news, what do we learn from this passage? What does it mean to follow the Spirit’s prompting? How might our world look different if entering into dialogue was our starting point?

How can we help give others the context and information they need to understand that divine longing within them?

Philip showed up in the right place and the right time because he followed the prompting of the Spirit. He didn’t know why he was there. He didn’t show up with a specific agenda. He showed up and listened to the man that he met along the way. He listened to his needs, his frustrations, his longing to understand, and then he shared what he had with the man in order to help him.

How does this help us understand proclamation better?

How does this help us see our calling to share the good news perhaps differently than we have before?

As we go forth today, may we realize that sometimes the Spirit sends us forth with very clear instructions, and sometimes, like Philip, we simply go where we are sent and figure out what people need after we get there.