The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A), May 8, 2005
BCP: Acts 1:(1-7)8-14 or Ezek. 39:21-29; Psalm 68:1-20 or 47; 1 Pet. 4:12-19 or Acts 1:(1-7)8-14; John 17:1-11
RCL: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36; 1 Pet. 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
Since it is implied in the lectionary that the lesson from Acts will always be read in Eastertide, churches will hear either the lesson from Ezekiel or the lesson from 1 Peter, but not both. Yet both lessons introduce the intriguing themes of suffering and judgment.
On the one hand, suffering happens as a judgment and the result of abandonment by God after chronic infidelity. "All nations will see my sentence when I inflict it and my hand when I strike [the House of Israel] ... I treated them as their loathsome acts of infidelity deserved and hid my face from them" (Ezek. 39:21, 24). Suffering is also a result of persecution for fidelity. "In so far as you share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad" (1 Pet. 4:13). In this case, suffering serves to harden the faithful in anticipation of judgment. "The time has come for the judgment to begin" (4:17a). Intertwined with these themes is the promise of blessing. "If you are insulted for bearing Christ’s name, blessed are you" (4:14a). Even the unfaithful in Ezekiel are told that "they will forget their disgrace and all the acts of infidelity which they committed against me ... When I display my holiness in them for many nations to see, they will know that I am Yahweh their God" (Ezek. 39:26-28).
On the Sunday between the Ascension and Pentecost, the tie between these themes is the promise of the coming of God’s Spirit. The lesson from Ezekiel culminates the prophecies about punishment, suffering, and blessing with the words, "I shall pour out my spirit on the House of Israel." In 1 Peter we learn that the reason that those who suffer persecution are blessed is that on them "rests the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory" (4:14). The lesson from Acts is marked by the anticipation of the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that "not many days from now, you are going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (1:5).
The foundation upon which all these powerful messages rest is the reality of the passion and resurrection of Jesus, who provides the meaning of all life in the lesson from John. Just an hour or two before his arrest, Jesus prays to the Father. He prays about glory (mentioning that word five times in 11 verses); power over all humanity; eternal life in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, sent by the Father; revelation of dependable and unchangeable truth (the teaching the Father gave to Jesus (see John 17:8); and ultimate victory (17:4).
Look It Up
How does the battle imagery in both selections from the Psalter for this day match the rest of the lessons?
Think About It
How are the themes of judgment, punishment, and even abandonment in today’s lessons from Ezekiel and 1 Peter consistent with God’s mercy and redemptive love?
Next Sunday
Pentecost (Year A), May 15, 2005
BCP: Acts 2:1-11 or Ezek. 11:17-20; Psalm 104:25-37 or 104:25-32 or 33:12-15,18-22; 1 Cor. 12:4-13 or Acts 2:1-11; John 20:19-23 or John 14:8-17
RCL: Acts 2:1-21 or Num. 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37b; 1 Cor. 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39
