Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 | 1 Peter 3:15-18 | John 14:15-21

Grant, almighty God, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy, which we keep in honor of the risen Lord and that what we live in remembrance we may always hold to in what we do through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.

We’re in that period of time in the church when we’re thinking mostly about looking back at what has happened to the world through this mysterious and death and resurrection of a Savior, and when we understand it, when we fully grasp it, there is no other real reaction than to be joyous, to be rejoicing because of what has been given to us.  So I’d like to see if I can capture what is in this set of readings, because there’s something here about the establishment of this new kingdom, this different kingdom that has been potentially there within us for so long but has not been actualized, because something had to happen through someone else’s actions that opened us to a world that we could only dream of before.  It’s a world of peace, a world of wholeness, a world of unity and oneness.  It’s called redemption.  It’s called salvation.

I want to take us back to the beginning of this season, because we’re getting very close to this core season that started with Ash Wednesday and ends with Pentecost Sunday, another two weeks, and what we have in this set of readings throughout this season are some fabulous season are some fabulously insights into what this whole Christian, mysterious thing is about, about a God who enters into our lives to change everything.  And so if we look back at that first reading from the Old Testament — the one I’m talking about at the very beginning of the season is the story of Adam and Eve, and you and I both know now, since we’ve looked at these scriptures so much, that these stories are basically the story of a relationship between humans and the divine, relationship between a divine God and the humans that he created, the crown of his creation, those that are most like him.  And we see in this relationship an evolution that is not just something that happened to the race beginning 4,000 years ago, but it’s the same exact thing that happens to ever human being that encounters this mysterious thing we call life, this life.  And I’m beginning to understand who they are and who God is and why they’re here and the beautiful thing about that first experience of God with his people that tells us so much about who each of us, who each of them are, and God is the God who is this benevolent, loving figure who wants nothing more than that which he creates to flourish in a beautiful place, a garden.  And so we have a dimension of maybe the purest, simplest way that people think about God.  Here is a God that exists that is there for me.  He will take care of all of my needs.  Everything I ever want, he will provide for me, the right weather for my crops, the safety of my children so they grow into adults.  It’s that kind of naïve image of a relationship with a divine figure, like a super-, super-rich uncle or something who’s going to get you out of all trouble.  And so the story begins with that image of a God who creates a garden, and it’s so beautiful, and he just sets it up that way and said, “Here, this is wonderful.  This is for you to enjoy, no work, no effort, just — oh, by the way, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that there’s something here that you have to achieve, which is going to be very tempting for human beings, and that is that you would like to be like me.  You would like to do the same thing I do.”  

Now, when you think about that it makes sense that what we’re seeing is a story evolving where a God has created creatures that are like him, and so if they’re like him, they want to do what God does.  And what God does is create, and so there’s something in human beings that doesn’t want to sit back and simply have somebody take care of them the rest of their life.  They want to create.  They want to be a part of the process.  They want to be like God, but in an oversimplified way, Adam and Eve revealed a dimension of human nature, but in the process, they set up a kind of relationship problem with the divine, which has been going on for creation, and that’s what we live in, that tension.  And what’s our role, and what’s God’s role?  What’s our part in this, and what’s God’s part in this?  And is it possible that we’re there to work together?  The whole story of salvation history is from a God who is taking care of all the needs of his people.  It shifts to a God who is now working with his people to take care of his people.  Does that make sense?  In other words, what the story reveals is a God who not only creates us but invites us to be co-creators, co-sustainers, co-lovers of creation.  So the temptation of Adam and Eve, in a way, was a revelation that human beings want to be engaged in the work, not just receive it, and so we have something that has to shift within human beings.  Something has to change for them to be partners with God, and the change is they have to learn about intimacy, how God has always intended us to be his co-workers.  And the only way he can describe that kind of work is to say, “I’ll show you the power that I have,” and that comes about when Jesus enters into a human form, Jesus, and walks this earth.  We see there finally the model of who human beings are supposed to be, and we see something so exciting after Jesus spends the time that he spent with his disciples and then is ready to leave them in his physical presence, but he’s setting up a relationship with them that is the model that we have to understand is our relationship with God, every human being’s relationship with God.  He empowers us to do the work that he did, that he longs to see accomplished on the earth.  So if there’s anything you can learn about salvation history from the beginning until the end of it, those 2,000 years from the call of Abraham until Jesus rose and returned to his Father, we see this slow transition between a God who is supplying everything for us to a relationship with God where we’re sharing in his work.  

So let’s look at that first reading, because it’s a beautiful image of how God empowered human beings to be like his Son.  So here’s Philip.  Philip is one of the disciples.  He is now empowered to be like Christ, like we all are, and so what he does is he goes to do this work of sharing the life of God that is in him, that effects great change in people.  So he comes, and he starts accomplishing that which only a human can do in and with the power of God.  So what does he do?  He drives out unclean spirits, and everybody that’s paralyzed or crippled is cured, and there’s great joy in the city.  Okay, that means that here’s the impact of this resonating power that’s inside of Philip, that’s inside of you, inside of me, that God has placed there by living within us, resonating through us his power.  And what I love is these two images really cover the basic struggle human beings have.  There is this thing that gets in us that possesses us.  It’s basically a lie, and it’s all the things that the world might teach us that we would say that, if we do these things, we’ll find joy.  But none of them produce what they promise, so we’re possessed by some addiction, some kind of negative spirit that we think that is going to lead us somewhere, and it can’t.  And he comes, and he just destroys the power of that image.  And the other thing he does is he looks at someone, and he knows that their body is supposed to function in a certain way, use that as a symbol of their very essence.  It’s supposed to function in a certain way, and there is this thing that gets in the way of being who we’re called to be.  It’s called evil, but it tends to limit us, and so a crippled person is a person who has a gift that he or she is called to share with the world, but something keeps them.  They’re crippled.  They’re blocked, and he comes to destroy that.  So think about it.  Here’s the Spirit of God in Philip that comes into a community and frees people from all the negative things that go on, particularly that judgmental voice that constantly tells us we’re no good, all the limitations that we place on ourselves.  “I can’t do it.  It’s too difficult.  I’ll fail.”  All those things are obliterated by this Spirit that comes in, and so — I don't know what Philip must have felt like, but he knew somehow this thing that he had in his experience of this God/man is now in him.  And he had great joy, great enthusiasm for what he was doing, and so what happened is, when Philip goes back to headquarters, in a sense, and sees Peter and John, and they realize, “Okay, these people, we want them to have the same thing you have, Philip, so they can do the same work you do, and so we’re going to come down, and we’re going to do something that seems strange.  But we’re going to lay our hands on someone so that the presence of God in us will move, through our hands, into that body of that person.”  

Now, think of the image of that.  God’s Spirit dwells in Jesus.  Jesus gives it to his disciples.  His disciples then, in turn, give it to those that he serves.  They, in turn, give it to one another.  That’s the mystery that we have to embrace.  We have this Spirit within us, and the interesting thing is you would think this Spirit would be so well-received.  We would see that, if we could just tell people, “If you’d turn to this power inside of you, it will empower you to do this,” why would there be people resisting that?  Well, there were people resisting it, and they were the people running a kind of operation called the temple.  And when they saw the freedom that was in these people, a source that they weren’t the cause of the source, being able to achieve the things that they made people do certain things in order to receive that shadow of religion, they were angry at the fact that they were no longer needed, in a sense, no longer required and no longer had power.  It’s so interesting that at the beginning of this incredibly exciting and enthusiastic response to the Spirit of God within human beings ministering to each other, when they saw that, they were so threatened by it.  The only thing they could do was kill him.  So think about it.  The first 300 years of Christianity, 300 years, people that were living this life risked their life by living it.  It’s incredible.  There’s that much resistance in the world to nothing more than a God who’s willing to enter into us and to accomplish the things that we long to receive, allowing human beings to be the conduit through which they receive it.  It seems so attractive and so beautiful.  No matter how much you thought you were losing your control, you’d surrender to it eventually.  That’s what’s happening as we move closer and closer to the fullness of people understanding who they are and the gift of the Spirit within them. 

And so we go to the gospel now, and the gospel is making this kind of clear statement to his disciples of what’s really happened.  He came into the world to show people who they can become.  Now he said, “I am leaving you, but I’m not leaving you in any sense of making you somehow less effective because my physical presence is not here.  No, just the opposite, I’m going to make you even more effective and more empowered by returning to my Father, and when I return to my Father, then there’s this Advocate, this Holy Spirit, this power, this creative force that’s going to enter into you, that’s going to enable you to become the healer I was in your life.”  And I don't know how the disciples responded to that, but it’s so clear that this is the statements that we have from Jesus as he’s ready to leave and set this up, this thing we call church, religion, the kingdom.  He’s trying to make it so clear what it essentially is.  It’s about you being so appreciative and so thankful for what God has given to the world through Jesus, his presence, and it’s all couched in the most mysterious way in saying it’s not about here’s the powerful person.  You get to be powerful when you get his energy, and then you become him.  I don't know.  It’s not about something that’s personal to us.  It’s something communal with God, and so we don’t really own it.  We don’t possess it, and if you are given a gift constantly like that, on a moment by moment kind of way, the natural thing in a human being is to be filled with awe and with thanksgiving and with reverence.  And that’s the final message of Jesus to his disciples.  “I give you me.  I give you me, because I love you, and I want you to experience the joy that I have when I heal people.  I want you to know that you are essential to my work, every one of you, and if you understand that, you’ll know, you’ll feel what I’m giving you.  You’ll be appreciative.  You’ll love me, and that’s it.  If you love me, then I can come to you.  I can’t come to you as some kind of objective force like a pill that you take in and all of a sudden you become strong.”  No, this is a personal relationship that goes on moment by moment, and it’s a sign that the God who is using you to be a co-creator, to be an instrument of his artistic gift of desiring that everything he creates find fulfillment — when you’re in that world, it’s so attractive and addictive if you grasp it, and that’s my longing always, to help you to see the mystery of what this whole salvation history is about, a God living in you, a Spirit flowing through you that he is that radically heals and transforms everything it touches.

Father, the depth and the awesomeness of your message is hard for us to fathom.  It’s hard for us to hold it consciously in our hearts and live it as fully as you’ve invited us to.  Please bless us with this Advocate, this Holy Spirit, this force that is you.  Let us surrender to it so that it can use us as a free conduit, generously offering ourselves and our talents to accomplish the goal that is in your heart, the fullness of your creation coming to all that you intended it to be.  And we ask this through Christ our Lord, amen.