We don’t need to look to heaven to find God’s clarity, God’s presence, God’s guidance: the reign of God is in you and me and here it is on earth as it is in heaven.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Seventh Sunday of Easter, year A
Texts: John 17:1-11; Acts 1:6-14
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
There’s a lot of looking up to heaven in our readings today.
The women and men who climbed the Mount of Olives with Jesus only to see him ascend just stand in place, looking “up to heaven.” Until a couple angelic-looking folks in white robes chide them.
And Jesus, the night of his betrayal, after three chapters of teaching, encouragement, commandment, exhortation following the footwashing and meal, “looked up to heaven,” John says, and began to pray.
They’re two very different ways of looking. The disciples are looking up to heaven because that’s the last place they saw Jesus. They look up because with Jesus they had answers to their life. They knew God’s presence. They had direction and guidance and a purpose. And now, just as they’ve gotten used to having him back, he’s left them.
But Jesus is looking to heaven in prayer to complete his work of bringing heaven to earth.
This prayer in John 17 is all about the unity of God with us. Jesus prays of his oneness, as God’s Son, with the Father, the First Person. He’s already promised to send the Holy Spirit. But now Jesus specifically prays that the unity of the Triune God’s life be extended to us, that we’ll be brought into the intimate heart of the Triune God. Will be one with God, as God is one. Right here and now, on earth. As in heaven.
So we don’t need to look to heaven for answers.
These first believers shared our anxiety and confusion about life, about the world, our worry about injustice and oppression that was beyond their ability to fix. About things that felt beyond their comprehension or coping. And Jesus helped them find answers, was God’s wisdom and clarity in anxiety or confusion.
But Jesus promised that we would not be orphaned. That the Advocate, the Spirit, would come and teach us what we need to know when we need to know it. He said there were things we might not be able to handle right now but as we live in Christ, the Spirit would keep showing us new things.
We have the same gift the first believers did – the Spirit of Christ with us, helping our understanding and clearing our confusion. We don’t need to look to heaven for answers when the Triune God is with us here.
And we don’t need to look to heaven for God’s presence.
That Jesus ascended away from them must have been a shock and a sadness to that little group. He was God’s presence for them. Being with him made them know God, feel God in their lives. Jesus said, if you know me, you know my Father already.
But Jesus promised that we would not be orphaned. He said “I am with you always, to the end of all time.” He said, “don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. The Holy Spirit is coming to you and will be in you.” That’s Christ’s gift: God is as near to you as your heart. Even when you can’t always feel God, as we learned last week. The Spirit lives and moves and breathes in you, and in God you live and move and have your being.
We have the same gift the first believers did – the Spirit of Christ with us, God in our hearts and lives. We don’t need to look to heaven for God when the Triune God is with us here.
And we don’t need to look to heaven for guidance, for purpose.
As hard as it was for them to follow, to get it right, and not make mistakes – and they made plenty – those women and men who first followed Jesus at least had him there to guide them. To invite them to a path of love of God and love of neighbor. To call them to their purpose in life. They knew why they were created and what they were created for, and if they struggled with that, Jesus would help them see again.
But Jesus promised that we would not be orphaned. He said that the same Spirit who fills us with God’s presence and clears our confusion will also guide and direct us. And he left all his teachings to shape that guidance and direction. Love God and love your neighbor. Love your enemies. Feed Christ’s sheep. Tend the flock. Be Christ’s presence in your life. And what that means for you, how that looks, the Spirit will give you. Always.
We have the same gift the first believers did – the Spirit of Christ with us, showing us the way to walk, our purpose as Christ in the world. We don’t need to look to heaven for guidance and direction when the Triune God is with us here.
“Why do you stand there, looking up at heaven?” we’re asked. “God is here with you.”
You pray this prayer as often as you pray anything, that God’s reign include you and that God’s reign will come “on earth as in heaven.” That God’s will will be done “on earth as in heaven.”
Every moment, every day, every breath. Every thought, every action. All are lived in God, who lives in you. Who clears up confusion. Who is present in every thing you are and know. Who guides and leads you.
So when you do finally get to heaven, living in Christ’s great promise of life with God after you die, it will be familiar ground, beloved territory, because you’ve been living in heaven with God here on earth, and have been God’s blessing to bring heaven to earth for the people you’ve loved and served and cared for.
You are not alone in this world. No one is. And in that heavenly truth, you will find abundant life here, on earth.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
