You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows Him. But you know Him, because He remains with you, and will be in you.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!
We begin today a particular focus on the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Easter Season, our fifty-day celebration, has only two full weeks left in it. That is only fourteen days out of the fifty, and this week we celebrate the Lord’s Ascension as is proper on the fortieth day – Thursday.
We spent the first three weeks of Easter centered on the appearances of Jesus after His resurrection. Then we celebrated Jesus, the Good Shepherd Who remains with us, guiding and protecting us. Then we arrive at this time which can be a bit… confusing.
Rather than focusing on the stuff, the occurrences of that forty-day period Jesus remained on earth with us, we jump back to the Last Supper and Jesus’ pre-crucifixion prayer and instruction as recorded in John’s gospel narrative. We read that last week, this week, and will next week.
We might ask, wait, why are we back there? We ask because we have a very strong sense of the present. As human beings we tend to look backward with perhaps nostalgia, fond memory, and sometimes regret. We also know we cannot predict tomorrow, so what we have is today. That is important because what we do today counts.
Our view as mere humans may seem limited, but there is an alternative. We can stop viewing things in mere human terms and start viewing them in kingdom terms.
What Jesus is telling us in the last supper discourse we are focusing on is the plan for the kingdom, what it will look like. His death and resurrection ushered that in.
In fourteen days, on Pentecost, we celebrate our acceptance of the gift Jesus promised, the Advocate we know, Who is in us and remains with us. He gives us the power and ability to see not just now, but the entirety of the plan Jesus laid out so we may act to bring it about. Let us do that today.
