A Sermon preached on Sunday 12 May (Easter VII) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, 1 John 5:9-13, John 17:6-19
How good are you at waiting? I’m not. I can’t just sit there wait for the doctor or for somebody to come or for the traffic jam to end or someone in authority to take a decision. At the very least, I need to do something to keep my mind off the waiting: I need to read, to do some tasks, or I “need” waste some time on my phone!
I can’t help feeling that Peter is also not a very good waiter either. We have already got to know him as someone who can be quite impetuous. He is a man that wants to get on with things, especially if he is a bit nervous or afraid or does not fully understand what is going on. Immediately after recognising Jesus as the Messiah (Mark 8), he begins to rebuke Jesus because of his teaching that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected and be killed and after three days rise again. At the Transfiguration (Mark 9) his very practical, if naïve, suggestion was to build three shelters—one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And now, “in those days”, the days between Jesus’ Ascension and the Pentecost event, he gets a bit impatient too and needs to take action.
According to the Book of Acts, during his many post-Resurrection appearances, Jesus had ordered the remaining disciples not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. And just before his Ascension, when his disciples had asked him, “’Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He had replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 1:6-8)
So, Peter and the disciples are waiting, waiting for the promise of the Father, waiting to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them …. And not knowing quite what that means or for that matter when it would happen. All they know is what they have to do when that power comes: they will be called to be witnesses not only in their own country, but to the ends of the earth and, in the words of Luke’s Gospel, to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations. (Luke 24:47)
Peter is a very practical person, not an academic theologian. So rather than reflect on what has just happened, or wait prayerfully, he wants to do something. His most immediate concern is to bring the disciples up to full strength again. We can tell that he and they still had a narrow view of Jesus’ mission, and what is now their mission. If we are to restore the kingdom to Israel, Peter thought, then having 12 Apostles - the number of Israel’s ancient tribes – is a good idea. 12 is an important symbolic number, and it was also Jesus’ choice of disciples – in all four gospels (even if the names do not always agree). It’s not a coincidence by the way, that the traditional number of vestry members is also 12! Peter probably thinks that he will need they will need as much help as possible for the task ahead.
Jesus told them that their task is to be witnesses, and who better than an eyewitness, one of those people who had been with the 12 throughout Jesus’ ministry “until the day he was taken up from us.” (As an aside, this need for an eyewitness is a little ironic when we hear in today’s Epistle from 1 John 5:9 that “If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater!”)
Anyway, Peter’s speech to the 120 helps reminds us that it was never just the 12 who were following Jesus around, but quite a crowd. We also know from other places in the Bible that the group was made up of both men and women. It's a pity that Peter restricted the choice of replacement apostles on that day to a man, if he’d gone for a woman that would have saved us a lot of time and bother later on in church history. But that would be asking a little too much of a fisherman from Galilee.
The method of replacement – casting lots – is one that is not uncommon in the Bible. After narrowing down the candidates to a shortlist of two, they pray and draw lots as the best way of bringing God directly into the final decision. It's a method the Coptic Church still uses when they choose their Pope. And so, Matthias is added to the 11 apostles and then vanishes from scripture. This is the first and last time we hear of him by name, although according to legend he later ministered in and died in Ethiopia.
And as it turns out, God’s plan for the future of the Church, that future that began at Pentecost, was not quite what Peter expected. The way I read the Pentecost story, it was not just the 12 apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, but all of the believers present – both brothers and sisters. And very soon, as Shelly told us last week, non-Jews will receive the gift of the Spirit, and the Church will be opened to everyone. Even later, a new Apostle, Paul, one who was definitely not part of the community when the Lord Jesus went in and out, will take on a leading role. His first appearance, as a young man named Saul (Acts 7:58) is when Stephen is stoned to death. And yet it is his missionary journeys that will dominate the second half of the Book of Acts. The Spirit moves the Church with new power and new direction and new insight and new people into completely new directions.
I am not saying Peter’s actions were not a mistake. They were good for the morale of the believers, helping them cope with the waiting period. Choosing someone new to take Judas’ place also began to make clear that the leadership was not going to be restricted to the original few, just to a small, eventually dwindling and elite in-group. There would be room for new leaders and for expanding that leadership core, first to Matthias, later to Stephen and the 6 other proto deacons, even later to Paul, and then to all the other leaders – women and men – who we get to know in the Book of Acts and in Paul’s letters.
Of course, the original disciples were important. A whole section of what we call the Priestly Prayer of chapter 17 of John’s Gospel is devoted to Jesus praying for them. They were chosen by the Father – you gave me them from the world – Jesus says. He prays that they will be protected from the evil one, he prays that “they may be one, as we are one;” hoping for the same unity of purpose that Jesus has with his Father. And he sends them into the world, as he was sent into the world.
And yet, as much as I understand Peter, probably because I see some of my own weaknesses in him, my take is that he and we should not overestimate ourselves. Pentecost would have happened even if Peter had not organised an election. Yes, we are sent on a mission, but it’s God’s mission. Yes, God wants us to act, but ultimately the key action is the one that has already happened, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. Jesus has won the victory; the work of the disciples and ours is to continue that work, taking the words we have been given, living by them, and bringing them into the world where they can bring change.
I will continue to plan and organise and think ahead. But the lesson I take from today is still to be ready to be surprised, to be ready to listen, to be ready to change. There is a time for action, but as a wise man – one of my Bible Study participants - said this Wednesday – sometimes it is best to just pray and wait!
Amen.
