Easter 5, 2022

Easter 5, 2022 | May 15, AD 2022 | Acts 11:1-18 | Pastor Andrew F. Weisner |

Acts 11:1-18

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, ³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” ⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. ⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ ⁸But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ ¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; ¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ ¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” ¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Psalm 148

¹Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! ²Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! ³Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! ⁴Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! ⁵Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. ⁶He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed. ⁷Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, ⁸fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!  ⁹Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! ¹⁰Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! ¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! ¹²Young men and women alike, old and young together! ¹³Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.  ¹⁴He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord!

Revelation 21:1-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; ⁴he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” ⁵And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

John 13:31-35

When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. ³²If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. ³³Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Homily

         An important reminder for the Church and a point for proclamation in today’s second appointed reading draws attention one of the Easter scripture passages we heard 4 weeks ago. From St. John’s gospel, chapter 20, we have the famous story of Mary Magdalene going to the garden where Jesus was buried, seeing that the tomb was empty, and then, Jesus shows up to greet her, but she didn’t recognize him; she mistook him to be – who? Do you remember? She mistook him to be the gardener! And, while crying, she said to him, “Sir, if you have taken [my Lord] away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

         Wonder why Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize that it was Jesus standing there talking to her?” We may offer speculations! Here are a few… 1: Well, after all, she was in a GARDEN! It makes sense that there would be a gardener there! A second possible explanation: She was crying; her eyes were full of tears, so she couldn’t see clearly. Ok, that may be; but rarely, if ever, have I seen someone with eyes that full of tears. But this third explanation could be more likely: Mary was there expecting to see Jesus dead. In her heart and mind, she was not prepared to see him alive; she could not recognize him.

         Here is why I think the third explanation more likely: Even now, these many generations and hundreds of years later, after centuries of the Church’s proclamation of the resurrection, unfortunately, many Christians, and even many congregations, go about their lives and their daily, weekly affairs, their worship and their ministries, like Mary in the garden, not really realizing “he is alive!,” not really expecting to see the Lord „show up,“  and thus are unable to see the Risen Lord Jesus and his works around them.

Indeed, it is not easy to live our busy lives, to carry-on our daily routines, to engage in all our activities and affairs, remembering, believing, proceeding with our lives, thinking, “He lives! The Risen, death-conquering Lord, is here among us! Huh-oh! Wonder what he’s going to do next?” But indeed, he is alive, and moving among us; and we, like Mary, sometimes do not recognize him – or, as he emphasizes in St. John’s gospel, do not recognize his works: we sometimes don’t recognize what are his works – among us!

         But the message of his presence is before us in some way every Sunday. For example, again, from the apostle John – who wrote of Mary Magdalene in the garden – we have today from our second reading from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse 3: “Behold!, the home of God is among mortals! He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them!”

         Some of you have heard the story of the man in the town where the flood waters were moving into town and all the villagers were told to evacuate. The man decided to stay put in his house, not leaving, saying he would trust God to take care of him. When the flood waters came, a rescue boat came by and asked the man to get in. “Oh no!,” said the man, “I’m staying here; God promised to take care of me.” The flood waters rose and another boat came by, extending the same invitation, and again, the man refused to leave, saying, “Oh no! God promised to take care of me!” The waters continued to rise and the man was sitting on his roof!, and a helicopter came by. “Get in, Mister, you’re gonna drown!,” and the man refused; “Oh no! God’s gonna take care of me!” So, the man drowned! And he went to heaven, and stood before the Lord, and he questioned the Lord: “Why didn’t you, as the flood waters got so bad, take care of me?” To which the Lord replied: “I sent you two boats and a helicopter; what more did you want me to do!?!”

         Have you ever been sick … and got well? Has your car ever been broken down … and somebody came to help you? Students: Have you ever dropped your all your books and papers, and somebody came along and helped you pick them up? Have you ever been sad, and crying, and a friendly hand touched you kindly on the shoulder, and offered a kind word to help? Have you ever felt overwhelmed by a tragedy (or maybe, tragedy after tragedy!), and people came to your aid, encouraged and supported you, and maybe even offered you food and sustenance? “Behold: God lives among mortals; he makes his home among human beings; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them.”

         Have you ever heard about people living far-far away, in a distant land, who you likely will never meet, and dozens of them – maybe even hundreds – are sick, because they don’t have clean water to drink; and then a group of strangers brings to them, and provides for them the continuation of, clean water, better health for them and their children? “Behold! God lives among human beings…God himself will be with them.”

         Right now, there are churches in dire need of pastors, and there is the need for their education and training; seminary students need places to learn, experienced pastors to guide them, and material support while they learn and work. Thanks be to God for the congregations who say, “Yes, Lord, here I am, here we are; we’ll do it; we’ll invest; we’ll provide the support. We’re willing to have our hearts broken, growing to love a student working among us for a year or more, and then bid them ‚Farewell‘ as they move on to serve others after their period of education and training with us.  “Behold: God lives among human beings,“ touching their hearts to give of themselves to each other and to others.

         Jesus, who was crucified, who died, was raised from the tomb; he now lives. He is alive among us, today and all our days, touching and changing hearts, and anything that is good, it is He doing it among us. He shows up, sometimes unexpectedly, not clearly seen or known. And those who have come before us have claimed that he even shows up disguised as bread and wine. Come, Lord Jesus.

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From: Pastor Andrew F. Weisner
North American Lutheran Church
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina, USA