6th Sunday in Easter, April 10, 2015

Collect for the Day

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflections: We are naturally resistant to letting go of the good we want in exchange for the surpassing good hidden in God. It is, after all, difficult to trust in “things that surpass our understanding.” Yet such trust is exactly what faith is about: trust. Trust that our idea of the world is not the last word, trust that the great heart at the center of the universe beats with a love we cannot even conceive, and promises fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams.

First Lesson: Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Reflections: Following immediately on the heels of the account of Saul’s conversion, Acts 10 is a complicated story about yet another kind of conversion. Through divine inspiration, Saul’s eyes were opened to the truth of Christ—the very one he was persecuting. And Peter’s eyes were opened to the artificial barriers constructed to set “our people” off from “those people out there.” The people of God, however, turn out to be all people, regardless of who they are. And we know from the teaching of Jesus that God’s people are especially the people we habitually exclude.

Psalm 98 Cantate Domino

Sing to the LORD a new song, * for he has done marvelous things.

With his right hand and his holy arm * has he won for himself the victory.

The LORD has made known his victory; *

his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, *

and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands; * lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

Sing to the LORD with the harp, * with the harp and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn * shout with joy before the King, the LORD.

Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, * the lands and those who dwell therein.

Let the rivers clap their hands, * and let the hills ring out with joy before the LORD,

when he comes to judge the earth.

In righteousness shall he judge the world * and the peoples with equity.

Reflections: Even the psalmist, long before the time of Jesus, understood that God is more than a tribal or regional God, but cares for all.

Epistle: 1 John 5:1-6 

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  

      This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. 

Reflections: In both John’s letters and the Gospel of John we find that “belief,” “faith,” “love,” “commandments,” and “obey” are richly interwoven. The connections between these themes seem circular—unlike the straightforward arguments we are taught to make today, with a logical sequence of claims and supporting statements. Passages such as these are of a different sort and have to be approached in a different way.

One thing I have learned through my years of teaching English language. The way we write is governed by cultural norms—and they can vary widely. These scriptures come to us over millennia, as well as from cultures vastly different from our own.

But more than that, these scriptures are complex and difficult because the reality they point to transcends logic. We are not intended to analyze this sort of writing point by point, but to immerse ourselves in it, to swim in it, to develop gills and breathe it in. Such is in fact the traditional approach of lexio divina, sacred reading. 

Gospel: John 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Reflections: Jesus’ final discourse in the gospel of John, which spans the last meal and the betrayal in the garden, weaves the great themes of love—God’s love for us, our love for God, our love for each other—faithfulness, and presence. They not separate things, but aspects of one reality.

But we cannot enter this divine dance if we just try hard enough—nor can we really believe something simply because we choose to (although we can be pretty good at hiding our doubts from ourselves). No, it is God who loves us, who chooses each of us, who invites us into Life.