The Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A), April 20, 2008
BCP: Acts 17:1-15 or Deut. 6:20-25; Psalm 66:1-11 or 66:1-8; 1 Pet. 2:1-10 or Acts 17:1-15; John 14:1-14
RCL: Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Pet. 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
 
What is it like to be with God forever? What does it mean to know God as he is? These are questions pondered at nearly every Christian funeral. And in a fair number of these funerals, this Sunday’s gospel provides the basis for speculation.
 
Jesus sets the apparent context for discussion early on. Speaking of his imminent ascension, the Lord assures his followers, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places ... [I] will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2, 3). So apparently one has to die in order to know and to be with God. Right?
 
Not quite. Having gotten the disciples’ attention, Jesus quickly shifts gears to the here and now. “Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’” The Lord replies, “If you know me, you ... know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” (14:7-9, 11). Those who know the risen Savior are already with God forever; they already know God as he is.
 
This translates into our own lives fairly easily. The apostle Paul assures us that all baptized people constitute the body of the risen Christ today (1 Cor. 12:27), and this is echoed in today's second reading: “Now you are God's people” (1 Pet. 2:10). We who are members of the risen body are even now with and in Christ, the perfect image of the Father. We who now center our lives around “the apostles’ teaching and fellowship ...the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:43) already know God as he is.
 
Look It Up
How does the epistle for Easter Day (Col. 3:1-4) relate to this Sunday’s gospel?
 
Think About It
What are some of the ways in which we “see [God's] hand at work in the world about us” (BCP, p. 372)?
 
Next Sunday
The Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year A), April 27, 2008
BCP: Acts 17:22-31 or Isaiah 41:17-20; Psalm 148 or 148:7-14; 1 Pet. 3:8-18 or Acts 17:22-31; John 15:1-8
RCL: Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:7-18; 1 Pet. 3:13-22; John 14:15-21