Reflections on the Readings from the Sunday after Ascension

Ezekiel 39:21-29; Psalm 47; 1 Peter 4:12-19; John 17:1-11

During times of natural disaster, plague, sickness, and other great calamities, Christians famously and infamously offer their own interpretations of those events; and come to the conclusion that God is judging a particular place or people for their actions. We likely remember some leading Christians arguing that the excessive party culture of New Orleans attracted God’s wrath in the form of a perfect storm, or perhaps we remember those who believed the Aids epidemic was a judgment wrought by God on homosexuals for their behavior. Thinking like this is a mistake, a fact witnessed in both our Old Testament and New Testament readings for this Sunday. The critical error Christians make when they think this way is summarized in the words of the Apostle Peter, “judgment begins with the household of God.”

If we take Scripture seriously, we see that God is still active in this world, and this activity at times takes the form of judge, though that is a difficult pill for modern people to swallow. However, God’s judgment is not a vindictive force for retribution, exercised against the enemies of the church so that Christians may delight in the suffering of their enemies. Instead, God’s judgment is, to borrow the language of Ezekiel, to deal with God’s people “according to their uncleanness and their transgressions.” God’s judgment is a purifying force for God’s people, it shakes us to our foundations, and forces us to take seriously and confront our own idols and misplaced trusts.

The fact of God’s judgment beginning at the doors of the church for the purpose of exposing our idolatry has been all too present in my thinking lately. As weeks and weeks of significant dates and events for Christians passed by during this pandemic, it was impossible for me not to feel that some kind of judgment of God’s people was taking place. After all, consider some of the features that define Christians. One is togetherness, a physical togetherness that is not mediated by pen and ink, or a screen. There are the sacraments, which can really only be received physically or not at all. There is love for one another, especially a love that crosses generational boundaries; a kind of love that carries significant dangers for certain people in our current moment. What an irony that we were unable to celebrate holy week together. Occasions that culminate in the celebration of Christ’s victory over the forces of death all passed us by, ironically for fear of that very force. Our celebration was compromised, and took place in small private expressions, if at all. Holy Week is always a time of highs and lows for Priests, but this Holy Week was different, it did not have any ups to it. So it has been difficult not to sense that the Church itself is under judgment; that we are given a trial meant to shake us to our foundation.

Before saying more, I want to clarify that I do not know for certain what God’s purposes and plans are in the midst of this season of trial. Scripture is ultimately clear about the limits of human beings to understand why certain events take place as they do, we cannot without God’s help. With that being said, it remains true that this season of trial has hit the church particularly hard so that we are not wrong to see it as a time for purification. After all the church is not perfect, if we believe the church to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So God’s people are left wondering what to do in times like this one, for which I would like to make some suggestions.

First, we grasp the logic of the Apostle Peter: “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” Understand that suffering is a window into the earthly life of Christ himself, it is our greatest point of contact and connection with Christ’s own life; outside of the life we have in the church through the sacraments. Wristbands asking “what would Jesus do” were once very popular, though most of us who wore them probably did not think to answer the question they posed with “suffering.” Yet, Scripture consistently refers to our Lord as one who suffered.

Secondly, we remember the great grace and comfort that accompanies us in our times of trial. The Apostle Peter has this to say, “For it is the time of judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Do you think this season is hard for Christians? Imagine how difficult it is for the one who does not know Christ! Who does not have the hope of heaven, and life with God as their aim and their goal! Judgment begins with the household of God, but trial and suffering are universal. The one who has not suffered has never lived. We are given the gift of enduring these times strengthened and nourished by God’s loving and gracious presence.

Finally, we remember the meaning of Christ’s ascension to the right hand of God the Father. Jesus finally had to leave his Disciples and rise back up to the glorious life he enjoyed with his Father before all creation came into being. What does this mean for us in our suffering now? While offering reflections on the prayer life of a Priest to seminarians, Archbishop Michael Ramsey had this to say of Christ’s continual prayers for his people: “He prayed on earth: he goes on praying still. The nights of prayer, the prayers a great while before day, the prayer of the garden, are somehow not of the past alone.” This is one way of saying that Jesus continues to do the same things he did on earth for those he loves, but now in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. What Jesus did he still is doing. He intercedes for us, cares for us, prays for us as he does in John 17. He still loves us and feeds us, just as he did his disciples during their last meal together. Jesus does all of this still, now as a human being who sits at the right hand of God the Father on our behalf, he is there for us.

While we do not know with any certainty whether the time we are now in is an intentional judgment from God on our church, on the church universal, or on anyone else for that matter; we can acknowledge that we are in a time of fiery trial and testing. The purpose of this test is not like that of a school examination, to see whether we will pass or fail, but through God’s grace to shake us to our very foundations until all that is left is a love for God that stands the test of time. So we entrust our souls to our faithful Creator.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Matt