Fifth Sunday of Easter - Video of Divine Service and Text of Sermon
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer
Fifth Sunday of Easter
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
The Collect of the Day serves to move us from our Praise of God to our reception of the Living Word of God. The Collect prepares us to listen to God’s Word by collecting the general themes of the appointed Scriptures for the day. I was particularly struck by the request imbedded in the prayer: “Grant that we may love what you have commanded and desire what you promise.”
God does command us to do and not do things. Commands are demands intended for obedience. God’s commands do not always come natural to us. They may very well chafe against our impulses and preferences. It requires personal discipline for courage and for restraint. God’s demands are for your betterment and for the betterment of the community. By community, I mean the community in which you dwell and work and worship. Community is as small as our immediate family and as large as the world.
I detect several commands in Peter’s first letter to the whole church. I want to focus on the commands of today’s lection. The first is, “like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.”
Some scholars suspect that most of Peter’s first letter was originally a sermon preached at a Divine Service where people were baptized, perhaps even a service similar to Easter vigil or Easter itself. His letter indicates that baptism is not something that one simply receives and then you forget about it. In baptism you receive faith in Christ and his promise of forgiveness and life everlasting. As God speaks through Peter, God commands us not to neglect the gifts that come through this means of grace called Baptism. He commands us to yearn for that which makes us grow into the gift of salvation conferred upon us. The pure spiritual milk is regular reception of that which we receive through Christ’s church: Liturgy, hymns, prayer, the Word of God, the Sacrament of the Altar, the lifelong friendship and support of the community of saints. Through all of this we grow, we mature spiritually to meet the challenges that lay ahead.
Being a part of the Church is not always easy. Being attentive and receptive to God’s work in and among us is not always easy either. It often takes a command to move us to the place where we can grow in love.
The second command is, “be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I suspect most of us do not generally think of ourselves or our church in terms such as “priest” or “sacrifice.” The truth of the matter is that we should think in these terms. In the Old Testament, what is a priest? A priest represents God. A priest also represents himself and the people he serves before God. He is an intermediator between God and people. The priest is the identified person who conducts the liturgy, prayers, and sacrifices. He speaks for God. He speaks to God for the people. He is in the middle.
The church in every age, and especially in an unchurched age such as now, serves a priestly function. We are priests before unbelievers and believers. We are priests as individuals and as congregations. We are visible representatives of the one true God. Our church gatherings and church buildings are visible signs of the presence of the one true God in our land. The church speaks for God. We declare to the world that God exists and desires that all come to faith. The Church declares that there is a moral order and a right and wrong that is embedded in God’s creation and it comes from the Lord. The church declares that in this world, there is grace and forgiveness and so much more to life than meets the naked eye. There is a future beyond this world.
The priestly character also means that we intercede for, we pray for, those who do not yet have faith in the Lord or know the grace of God in Christ Jesus’ cross and resurrection. We do not have to wait for an invitation to be the mediator between the world and God. We are, by virtue of our baptism, in that position. We are commanded by God to be that which we already are. Pray, intercede, act on behalf of the world, so that they know God’s presence among them.
A third command is this: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” To proclaim the excellencies of the grace and workings of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, means that we use words, images, music, to communicate to a world that thinks it is just fine where they are. We are commanded by God to explain that the world is, in its natural state, in darkness, and that cross and resurrection of Christ Jesus is the means to God’s marvelous light. It takes a command to tell people that they are not well, they are lost in spiritual darkness, they need the love and forgiveness of Christ that comes through the cross, and that there is a much better way to live in this world.
The commands of God lead to the promises of God. We desire what the Lord promises. Peter preaches of the stone that was rejected is now the cornerstone. Christ’s rejection is for you. Christ’s suffering is for you. Christ’s cross is for you. Because of Christ, you receive unearned, unmerited, grace. Christ earns the forgiveness you cannot earn. Christ merits the love of God that you do not deserve. On account of Christ, you are reconciled to the Father. On account of the cross, the Father does not see our sins, He sees Christ. On account of Christ Jesus, we receive mercy and grace. We are called into the promise of His marvelous light.
In the Gospel of John, we receive an additional promise. The mercy and grace of Christ continue on into eternity. The separation from God, the darkness of our natural state, the sin which perpetually deceives, is overcome through Christ. The Holy Spirit creates faith within us to believe in Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Through Jesus, we are assured of eternal life under God’s care. We have a place in heaven forever. We desire that His promises are fulfilled with in and for us.
The Collect of the Day says, “Grant that we may love what you have commanded and desire what you promise, that among the many changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joys are found…”
My goodness, there are changes in this world. War, rumors of war, technological inventions, mass communications, mass disruptions. There are more changes and potential changes than we can possibly list. What keeps us steady? What keeps us from living in perpetual fear? How can we have joy and peace and love, when it can all be taken away so quickly? When our hearts are fixed on that which does not change, then we can know and dwell within the elusive joy, peace, and love. Christ’s cross, the Father’s promises, and the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work of creating faith and drawing us further into holiness and mission, is our foundation. God keeps us steady. His commands lead us into love. We desire what he promises. He is our foundation and our hope.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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