Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)
Acts
16.16-34 Psalm 47 Revelation 22.12-14 John 17.20-26
Acts
16.16-34
1)
This episode is set in Philippi, a Roman city in
a) Barnabas is no longer with Paul.
b) The narrator says that “we” were present: this is a reference to the Luke the Evangelist.
i) This is the first reference in Acts to “we”.
2)
The divining spirit (Greek = python, from the
serpent guardian at
a) The doomed spirit utters the cry of salvation to betoken his defeat.
3) The fact that the slave’s owners seek the arrest of Paul and his companies illustrates the conflict between the Gospel and material gain.
4) The miraculous release of the apostles from jail is a prelude to the account of the jailer’s conversion, which is the “real” miracle story here.
a) The release itself is inconclusive (Paul is still in the jail).
b) The jailer “set[s] food” before Paul (v. 34). In the Greek this is agalliasis, which connotes a meal shared in jubilant gladness (i.e., as a sign of salvation).
i) The scene in the jailer’s home thus mirrors the atmosphere of the early Church.
Psalm
47
1) An enthronement hymn celebrating God’s kingship.
2)
The language of the hymn reflects the events of
conquest (the references to a shout and the sound of the ram’s horn in v. 5),
and the overlordship of the Lord
over the lesser “gods” of
a) In v. 2, the Lord is referred to as “Most High” and “to be feared”.
i) The Hebrew is ‘elyôn, which connotes a lord over a vassal.
ii) The phrase here translated as “to be feared” is the word “awesome”.
Revelation
22.12-14
1) This lesson is taken from the very end of Revelation, i.e., from the very end of the canon of Scripture.
a) Scripture thus concludes with the following elements:
i) The promise of salvation and threat of judgment (vv. 12-15).
(1) Those who have “washed their robes” are those who have come out of the great tribulation, and who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
ii) Self-identification of the revealing figure, Jesus.
(1) The self-identification includes references to the Gospel accounts of Jesus (e.g., as descendant of David).
(2) The “bright morning star” is the “dayspring from on high” in the “Song of Zechariah” (Luke 1).
(a) The second coming arises from the East.
(i) This is why graves and altars are “oriented” (eastward-facing).
(3) Jesus is also referred to as the “morning star” at 2 Pet. 1.19.
(4) “Morning star” in both Rev. and 1 Pet. is phōsphoros, the star which proceeds the dawn.
iii) Invitation to the water of life.
iv) An oracle of the impending apocalypse.
(1) A response to this oracle: the Greek here renders the Aramaic prayer maranatha, “Come, Lord!”
(a) This ending to Revelation may (like the ending to 1 Cor.) reflect the eucharistic liturgy.
(i) The Lectionary for the Easter season thus ends on this double reference to closure (of the canon of Scripture and of the liturgy).
John
17.20-26
1) This lesson is taken from Jesus’ “High priestly prayer,” in which He prays for the disciples.
a) This lesson is from the end of the long prayer.
2) The emphasis in this section is on the prayer that believers “may be one”.
a) Jesus looks beyond the immediate circle of disciples to those who will believe as a result of their testimony.
i) Unity is grounded “vertically” in the relationship between Jesus and the Father.
ii) Unity is grounded “horizontally” in the command to love one another as Jesus has loved.
(1) These dimensions of unity are not simply and expression of human solidarity or the creation of an institutional church structure.
(a) Rather, unity is grounded in Jesus’ revelation of the Father.
b) Unity extends beyond the circle of the Church.
i) The unity testified to challenges the world, just as Jesus’ unity with the Father poses the challenge of salvation or judgment.
3) Jesus is the one who brings all into community with God (vv. 24-26).
a) The culmination of this unity with God is the sharing of the glory which the Son shares with the Father.
i) The foundation of the relationship between Jesus and the Father is their mutual love (the Spirit).