Seeing Christ; Tasting Christ; Knowing Christ.
(Free Version) Fifth Sunday of Easter- Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
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Our readings this week continue in this theme of the revelation of Christ, in him we see that God is, and who we are. Our readings challenge us to see…to taste…to know Jesus. To know him is to see a whole new world of possibilities.
In our Acts reading (Acts 7:55-60), Stephen has just finished recounting to the Sanhedrin the story of Israel and its fulfillment in the story of Jesus. In his sermon, Stephen emphasizes the ways in which God’s people rejected Jesus and ultimately put him to death. Here, Stephen announces that he sees the heavens open and “the Son of Man,” whom we know to be Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God. This is all blasphemy to the Sanhedrin—that any man, let alone a crucified Galilean, could ever be seated at the right hand of the Father. In their fury, the crowd begins to stone him. There is no trial, no sentence, only violence.
Stephen’s response to their violent rejection of his message and of himself is to cry out to God. He prays two sentences, both which mirror the prayers of the Jesus on the cross. Knowing that Jesus and the Father are one, Stephen prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” After kneeling down and crying out, he prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” In his martyrdom, Stephen prays for the release of his murders.
In our reading from 1 Peter (2:2-10), the author exhorts the church too long for the spiritual milk of the faith. They know the taste of Jesus. They should only pursue it so that they can grow in him. Abruptly switching metaphors, Peter then speaks of a stone rejected by mortals, but chosen by God. Peter is referencing the building of a new temple, with a new cornerstone. The builders thought the stone didn’t fit anywhere, but it actually turns out to be the central component of its foundation. Still, as illustrated in the way the crowd reacted to Stephen, this stone will also cause stumbling.
As Christians, in all parts of the world, gathering together speaking various languages, immersed in various cultures; we are all part of this new Temple. We are living stones. We are part of a movement of people choosing to live differently, even in places where the way of Jesus does not seem to make sense.
This building process happens as we draw near to Christ who is the primary stone that everything else is built around, as we “taste” him in the sacraments. The way that we live is not the way of many of the “empires” of our world that demand allegiance, but are ultimately oppressive. It’s not they way of fame, fortune, notoriety, or materialism, which make big promises but leave us empty.
Jesus does not dominate. He gives His life; and Peter is reminding the church that they are called to a different path. They are called into a new story, a new reality. His words invite us into this same story and this same reality today.
The Christian life is not for the faint of heart. It is not the easy way. But it is the better way. Peter says, “Once you were not a people. Now you are the people of God.” What does Peter want his hearers to do? How are we built into this temple? Come to Christ and receive mercy. As we come to the communion table, we are nourished, sustained, and led to growth by the spiritual food. We “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
In our gospel reading (John 14:1-14), Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Being a Christian means that we often have to live into the absence of God. God is with us, but we still feel his absence because he has not yet returned in fullness. Still, the Christian hope is sure. He will return.
Jesus seems to say that we can ask for big things in prayer, and we can live into those big things which are in line with God’s character. This requires us to exercise our imagination as we are not bound by the limits of what we can see.
C.S. Lewis described how, before he was a Christian, he had two poles in his mind: the rational mind that was concerned with reason and logic, and the part of his mind that was obsessed with poetry and myth. He could never reconcile the two. He always put the Christian scriptures firmly in the myth category. But his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, challenged him to think differently; that perhaps, rather than any myth, the Christian story was the truth on which all myths were based. Lewis became a Christian two weeks later and experienced what he called a “baptized imagination.”
As Christians, we are called to dream of God’s new world, and to realize that it just might not be a dream. We are not to let difficult circumstances cut off our imagination.
May we have the imagination to see Jesus at the right hand of the Father, even when we are dodging the stones of those who have turned to violence, even as they have rejected the one stone who actually matters. May we know our identity as children of God, God’s family, a royal priesthood, receiving mercy along the way as we taste and see that the Lord is good. May we trust in the one who never abandons us, but is making all things possible and all things new.