The Seventh Sunday of Easter

ACTS 16:16-39: Very soon after the establishment of the Christian community in Philippi, the new church became involved in a religious issue, a struggle with divination. In the religious atmosphere of the time, the ability to foretell the future was much in demand. Having no living God into whose loving hands they were able to commit their lives, people turned to soothsayers and magicians whom they thought could tell them what the future held for them. The services of those who claimed that ability were much sought after

One such young woman followed Paul and Silas through the streets of the town. She kept crying out for all to hear: "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation" (Acts 16:16). Her interventions disturbed Paul. Up to this moment, he and Silas had been able to keep their mission out of the public eye. The girl's constant clamor unmasked them. Paul tried to stop her before the whole town learned why they had come. "In the name of Jesus Christ, I charge you to come out of her," he said to the spirit of divination that had been thought to invade her life. The spirit did leave her. As Acts says, "It came out of her that very hour." (16:17-18)

The owners of the girl, who had made a good bit of money through her, seized Paul and Silas and brought them into the marketplace before the rulers. "These men are Jews," they charged, "and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs which it is not lawful for us Romans to accept or practice." (16:20-21) The masters of the girl could not accuse Paul and Silas of exorcism, for Roman law had no clause concerning that practice (Meinardus, Otto F. A., St. Paul in Greece. 1972/1989, Athens, Greece: Lycabettus Press, p 15). The two charges they did invoke were violations of Roman law. They accused Paul and Silas of causing civic disturbance and also of introducing new religious practices into the city.

The first charge, though false, was serious enough, especially since word had just arrived in Philippi that the Emperor Claudius had expelled Jews from Rome because of disturbances and riots they had caused in the city. Here, said the owners, were Jews who had come to our city of Philippi to cause the same kind of disturbances their compatriots were effecting in Rome. The second charge was even more serious. Roman law forbade the introduction of foreign religions into Roman territory. The Philippian authorities acted quickly. They ordered their garments torn off the men, beat them with rods, and threw them into prison. The jailer put them into the inner prison where the worst criminals were kept and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Paul and Silas turned the prison into a place of worship. At midnight, they were praying and singing hymns, when an earthquake rocked the city. The prison, rickety to begin with, shook. The doors clanged open, and the fetters pulled out of the walls. The jailer was certain his prisoners had escaped. He also knew that unless he kept the prisoners safe in jail, his own life would be forfeit. He was about to kill himself with his own sword, when he heard Paul cry out, "We are all here." Relieved, yet still fearful, the jailer cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." That night, the jailer and his whole household were baptized. The Christian church in Philippi had gained another family for itself.

Next morning, the magistrates tried quietly to dismiss the case against Paul and Silas, but these men would have none of it. As Roman citizens (Paul seems to have included both himself and Silas in his remark "men who are Roman citizens," 16:37), they demanded a proper hearing. The rights and privileges of a Roman citizen were important, especially in a Roman colony like Philippi. Roman citizens were exempted from scourging, they were free from arrest in extreme cases, they had some taxes forgiven them, and they had the right to appeal to the emperor himself any charge that might be laid against them. Yet Paul and Silas had been condemned without a public trial, and they had been exposed to public insult before the non-Roman population of the colony. Like law-abiding citizens, they had not attempted to escape from their imprisonment. They demanded and received an apology from the offending officials, who then asked them to leave the city. Paul and Silas complied with the request. From then on, most of Paul's relationship with the church in Philippi came through the letters he sent them.

PSALM 97: The trumpet call of this psalm is found in its first verse: "The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coast lands be glad!"

The habitation of the Lord is then described in terms that remind us of the Exodus event. "Clouds and thick darkness are around him; righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne. Fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about. His lightnings lighten the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth." Hyperbole? Certainly. Poetic license? Yes. But the truth remains: Righteousness and justice are the foundations of God's throne. To be righteous, just, moral in all our dealings with one another is not a matter of personal choice. We are to act in this way in the world because God acts this way in relation to all the peoples. God is the righteous, just, and moral God. "The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory."

The psalmist introduces a theme that we need to hear, especially in the Easter season. "All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols." The idols we make are not those of wood and stone. They are idols of the human heart, worshiping something that is not God as if it were God. It is centering our lives upon something that is less than God. We can put money into the central place in life that belongs to God alone. We can put ambition there, we can put family there, we can put our job there. Easter reminds us that God alone is central to our lives, the God of Jesus Christ, who came as a babe, who died on a cross, who rose from the dead to be with us forever. The psalmist gives us our reminder: "all gods bow down before this God."

Because this is so, we rejoice as the season of Easter is upon us once more. "Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of thy judgments, O God. For thou, O LORD, art most high over all the earth; thou art exalted far above all gods."

With verse ten, the psalm tells us the implications of worshiping the God of Jesus Christ. "The LORD loves those who hate evil; he preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart." The psalm concludes with a verse worthy of its beginning: "Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!"

REVELATION 22:12-14. 16-17, 20-21: In their lively hope for the quick return to them of Jesus Christ, these verses speak for themselves. The best we can do with them is to annotate them, so that some of the phrases will be more clear.

13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega." These are the first and last words of the Greek alphabet. Using them in this way means that Jesus Christ is all in all; everything in the universe belongs to him.

14: "Those who wash their robes" may be a misinterpretation of the text. Goranson, ("The Text of Revelation 22.14," NTStud 43 (1, '97) 154-157) suggests that this should really be translated, "those who do his commandments." I think this translation fits the context much better than the other. Those who do his commandments have access to the tree of life and may enter the unguarded gates.

16: "I am the root and descendant of David." This writing by a Jewish Christian emphasizes the relationship between Jesus and the kingship of David.

I characterized "the bright morning star" at another place in these lectionaries, but I will repeat here what I wrote then: "John the Seer was imprisoned on Patmos, and his sentence was that of working in the penal stone quarries located on that island. Each morning as John was dragged to the quarries, he would look up into the heavens. On its dark blue canvas, he would see the morning star. It stood out from the other stars. It was bright, very bright. It was close to him. It moved around the sky and seemed to beckon him home. He began to say to himself, 'That morning star is like Jesus Christ. He stands out from all the other stars. He shines very brightly. The morning star tells me that a new day is about to break. Jesus Christ tells me that too. Behold I make all things new. Jesus Christ represents the resurrection and the life to me. Jesus Christ,' said John aloud, 'Jesus Christ is the bright morning star.'"

Verse 17 is an invitation to share in the riches of Christ. It is cast in liturgical form. The leader of worship issues the invitations, and the congregation responds appropriately.

20-21: At the end John, who testifies to these things, says in behalf of Jesus: "Surely I am coming soon." The congregation responds, "Amen. Maranatha." "Maranatha" is an Aramaic word for "Come, Lord Jesus." It seems to have been a liturgical word, for Paul used it to close his letter called First Corinthians. Paul used it as the antithesis to the word "anathema," "cursed," that which is given over to destruction. For Christians "anathema" is not the operative word for their lives, though many of them seem to have been sacrificed to the god Roma and thereby were cursed and destroyed. Their operative word is "Maranatha," the Lord is at hand, and he will be with them soon.

It will surprise you to learn that only here and in the next verse is the phrase "Lord Jesus" used in the whole of the New Testament.

John expected this authoritative message of his to be read in all his churches. It was to be read on the Lord's Day, when the Christian people gathered to worship. John could not be present with his congregations in person - he was imprisoned on Patmos - but he could smuggle this writing out to them from his prison. Imagine the growing surprise on the faces and in the minds of those who heard it spoken for the first time!

JOHN 17:20-23: Near the end of his prayer before he goes to his cross, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus prays that his followers "may all be one." That prayer was necessary for the church. At the time the gospel was written, the church was fragmented into many groups. There were Peter and his followers, James and the brethren, Paul and the apostles with their congregations, and John and Philip as leaders of the Christian Hellenists. These groups differed with each other over many issues of faith. The whole church had been upset over the question of circumcision and of whom to invite to the supper of the Lord. They had even harmed each other physically. The party of James had differed so drastically from the party of the Hellenists in Jerusalem that they had set Stephen up for martyrdom. The Christians in Rome at the time of the fire under Nero had actually turned each other in to the authorities as those who caused the fire. These Christian groups were far from "one" in their understanding of the faith and their approach to one another.

The unity that John's Gospel has in mind is not an hierarchical unity but a theological one. "That they may be one as you, Father, and I are one." The oneness for which Jesus prays is that which reflects the "oneness" between the Father and the Son. (I will use the words that John's Gospel uses and not transliterate them into "Jesus" and "God.") The Father and the Son are one in purpose and function: the words the Son speaks are the words God would speak, if God were here; the things the Son does are the things God would do, if God were here; the Son bears the Father's power of attorney and can enact contracts and covenants that bind the Father to them.

The prayer involves a number of subtle points. The Son prays that his community will mirror the relationship that the Son has with the Father. More than merely mirror this relationship, the community will experience this oneness as they share the life of the Father and the Son. They do this so that all the world will know that the Father has sent the Son into the world. Because the community testifies to the oneness of Father and Son, the world itself will be brought into this new relationship.

The Son expects the Father to fulfill this prayer: "You have given them my glory," the Son says of the Father. "You have sent them into the world, you have loved them; now keep them in your love, sanctify them with your glory, let them be one, as you and I are one." Jesus, "the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart," prays that God will be present in the life and mission of the Christian community. The Christian community itself takes on a new identify: from this time on, it is that group of men and women whom Jesus has selected and for whom Jesus prays.