Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
As Philip approached the Ethiopian official’s chariot, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Isaiah 53. That experience led me to think back to the times we overhear things. We overhear conversations and arguments. Back in the days before Air Conditioners, we heard people talking inside and outside of homes. Now that the cell phone is in everyone’s hand, we are forced to hear at least one side of the conversation to the person they are talking to. Some of this can be quite entertaining. For example, not long ago I was in the grocery store. While walking through the soup aisle, a grandmother was talking to a grandchild via facetime or some other visual and audio medium on the cell phone. I could not help but smile when I saw her talking because her face was lit up and she was clearly talking to a beloved but distant grandchild and was using language reserved for the grandparent-grandchild relationship. She was so enraptured by the experience that she was parked, with her cart, in the middle of the aisle. There was no way to get around. Well, I wasn’t going to disturb that moment!
When we walk by a house, we might hear the TV or the radio playing. Sometimes, when a car passes by, we discern that the occupants are enjoying an audio book.
In all the times when you overhear words, when was the last time any of us heard someone reading scripture out loud outside of church? I suspect that is a rare occasion. Especially, if the person is reading to himself, not for a group.
These days, most of us read silently. We read books, even sacred books, silently when we are alone or even when we are reading in a public setting. So, the Ethiopian man reading Scripture out loud to himself will strike most of us as odd.
In the ancient, Mediterranean world, it was common for people who are reading by themselves to read out loud. Reading silently is what would stick out like a sore thumb. In 2019 Meghan Cox Gurdon published a delightful book called The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction. Ms. Gurdon began to read out loud for an hour each day with her children before the first one was born. She had six children. Even though some of her kids are in their 20s, reading stories out loud continues to be a regular part of their evening. So, in telling her story, and encouraging the practice of reading out loud to children, she provides all kinds of information. For example, Alexander the Great of the fourth century BC, confused his generals regularly because he would read letters and communications silently. It was quite odd. And, some 600 plus years later, St. Augustine recalls in book 6 of his Confessions, that Bishop Ambrose of Milan had the strange habit of reading silently. “When he read, his eyes moved over the pages, and his understanding ferreted out the sense, but his voice, his tongue, was inactive.” (6.3.3)
My point is that what the Ethiopian official is doing is not unusual in that time frame. And thank goodness for him and for us, he was reading out loud. As this gave Philip the conversation starter that he needed.
The Ethiopian is reading from Isaiah 53:7-8. “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” These two verses are from a section that begins in Isaiah 52:13 and ends 53:12. This is the fourth of the four servant songs in Isaiah. (Isaiah 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) This particular servant song describes a servant who suffers.
The Ethiopian Official is befuddled by what Isaiah is saying. Who is Isaiah describing? In order to answer this, Philip draws on the recent intensive teaching that Jesus gave to all the disciples during his resurrection appearances in those forty days between the Resurrection and His Ascension. Jesus taught the disciples to interpret the Scriptures Christologically. At this point, there is no New Testament, so all the Apostles had to work with is the Old Testament. Jesus taught them that he was talked about from the beginning. Already in Genesis 3:15, Moses records God’s promise to Adam and Eve that the Messiah is coming to save us from the destruction of Sin, Death, and the Devil. The promise of the coming Messiah is repeated in the Psalms and the Prophets. The fourth servant song speaks of the servant who suffers in behalf of others. His suffering and death is for our salvation. The prophet Isaiah is the launch pad by which Philip can say that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth who is the Son of God incarnate born for us and our salvation. Jesus, our suffering servant, suffers and dies on the cross for our sakes. He substitutes himself for us to make atonement for our sins. Jesus is held accountable for the sins we commit. His substitutionary atonement brings forgiveness to us. We receive the gift of His forgiveness through faith.
The Holy Spirit was working through the Word and through Philip’s catechesis to create faith. The Ethiopian is moved from confusion to faith in Jesus as the Christ. The inevitable outcome happens. When they come upon water, Philip baptizes this new convert in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
All of this happens because the Ethiopian is reading out loud and has the humility to welcome the guidance that the Lord just sent him in the Apostle Philip. Our encounter with the Ethiopian official ends there. However, there must have been more that happened because the church grew in Ethiopia and remains present to this day, 2,000 years later.
I think it is important to say out loud that baptism is not the end but the beginning of the Christian life. Just as confirmation instruction is not the end, but just the beginning of our adult life in the church. For the church is where we experience the ongoing work of God’s grace upon us.
Going back to my earlier question, when was the last time that you heard Scripture being read out loud in a public setting? I am pretty sure that for most of you, it was the last time you were in church. If you have family devotions where Scripture is read out loud or meet regularly with friends for Bible study, Bravo! Keep it up! That is wonderful supplement to what happens here.
During the Divine Service or during the prayer offices of Vespers or Matins, you cannot help but notice that a consistent component of the service is a designated time for the Scripture to be read out loud by a single reader. During that time, we ask that God help us to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest God’s Word to our spiritual edification.
Through the process of hearing the Word read out loud, along with the creeds, the hymns, and the liturgy, the Holy Spirit is strengthening our faith. Our faith is strengthened because amongst other things, we are all growing in the bond of love through the presence of the Word. In addition, the vocabulary of faith entrusted to the church continues to be nurtured and our minds are renewed and furnished with God’s instructions and promises.
When Philip baptized the Ethiopian official, the Ethiopian returned home with both a clearer understanding of the Old Testament and with the promises of Christ’s cross and resurrection upon Him. Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you.” He dwells with us through His Word and through His Sacraments. Out of this close relationship with the Lord we learn how God wants us to live and what God sees as priorities in our life.
The Lord says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Pruning here is literally cleansing.
To be baptized is to receive the forgiveness of our sins. We return to the promise of baptism every time that we say to God, “I have sinned against you and my neighbor in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done and what I have left undone.” Our Lord takes that confession of sin and on account of the cross exchanges it with His gift of forgiveness.
What is the fruit of which Jesus speaks of? The fruit is how we respond to God’s grace. We have faith in Jesus Christ. We live with hope that is grounded in the cross and resurrection. We live with love toward God and toward our neighbors. Additional fruit of the vine is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. More fruit of the vine is to speak charitably of others. More fruit of the vine is live with forgiveness in our heart rather than vengeance. The list goes on.
Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” We dwell in the Word, we dwell in Christ, because we know that apart from Christ Jesus, any good “fruit” that we try to grow, or exhibit, will always be tainted by our sinful and selfish natures. Yet, when Christ is the driving force of our lives, the keeping of God’s commandments hardly seems to be an effort at all. For it is Christ and the Holy Spirit who are doing the work through us.
As we continue our Christian walk, we dwell in the Word of God, which is said out loud for all our ears to hear. Jesus leads us on. He teaches us. He brings the good fruit forth with faith, hope, and love.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment