Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 1,6-14; John 17,1-11.

Rev. Neli Miranda

 

Today we celebrate the last Sunday of Easter, which was preceded by the celebration of Ascension Day on Thursday.

In today’s first lesson from the book of Acts (1,6-11), Luke tells us about Ascension Day when Jesus and his community of disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem. In the preceding verses (1,1-5), we learn that Jesus has been with them for forty days teaching about the Kingdom of God. He has also ordered them to stay in Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit: ^“While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father” (1,4). Today, we read that just before Jesus’ ascension the apostles, the leaders of the community of disciples, ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (1,6). Do they continue thinking about and earthly kingdom and seeking positions of power?

  Jesus does not respond to the personal interests of the apostles but tells them that they indeed will receive power, not earthly power, but power from God to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1,8).  Jesus’ last words just before his ascension are truly revealing. The Kingdom of God is not limited to earthly structures or borders but open to all, and Jesus does not want his message to be privatized in Jerusalem but to be proclaimed to all peoples. Therefore, the “power” that the first community is going to receive will move them to be witnesses of Jesus, of his proclamation, his teachings, his mighty deeds, his execution by the violent system, his victory over death, and his victorious ascension.

Interestingly, the Greek word for witness is “martyr”, originally used to refer to those who proclaimed Jesus.  It is the same word we use in English (a transliteration from Greek) to refer to martyrs, those who suffered or were murdered because of their faith in Jesus. The unfolding of this term tells us of the powerful message of the first disciples of Jesus.  It was such a counter-system message that they were handed over to death for Jesus’ sake. They are the first martyrs who transformed the world by witnessing Jesus.

Today, are we really witnesses of Jesus?

Ascension Day was a pivotal moment for the first community of Jesus. It was a significant prelude to the transformation the first disciples would experience. Jesus left them on the threshold of the new creation in which they received the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit, and became a living community among a world of death.

Today, when we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, we prelude our recreation and the Spirit of God moving over us, filling us, and strengthening us to continue as witnesses of Jesus in the world. When we celebrate Jesus’ ascension, we also celebrate his and our victory over a violent system that silences and murders its dissidents. Jesus’ victorious ascension proclaims that dying in resistance is not a defeat but a way to scream at the system that its power is limited.  This celebration tells us that death does not have the last word and that from death life emerges. Jesus’ ascension is the defeat of a system of death!

Jesus knew very well the world in which his disciples lived, a world rule by the Roman Empire that oppressed people and crucified its dissidents. Jesus himself experienced that violent, anti-God system.  So, before his departure, Jesus prayed for his disciples and commended them to the Good Father.

 In today's Gospel we read a section of Jesus’ endearing prayer on behalf of his disciples: “I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours…” (17,9). Jesus asks for his disciples who are also God’s. He prays for those who have left the world – the corrupt system – and entered the Kingdom of God. “They [the disciples] are in the world”, that is, in the midst of corruption, injustices, wars, suffering, and death.  Jesus begs the Father to protect them, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one” (17,11). Jesus’ prayer is that his disciples may be one, may live in unity, as Jesus and his Father are one.

Dear sisters and brothers, this Sunday is a bridge that takes us from the great manifestations of Jesus during Easter, including his glorious Ascension, to the celebration of Pentecost. Are we ready to cross the bridge with the total understanding of the meaning of Easter? How does the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus enlighten us as disciples as we approach Pentecost? For now, let us stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. Amen.

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