McGregor Exegesis
Pentecost
Acts 1:6-14
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11
The Maypole Dance
If there were a golden thread from your heart to the heart of Christ, then as
Christ ascends, you would be drawn close to all the other hearts thus tethered,
something like a Maypole Dance. The ascension brought the disciples together in
one place side by side looking up, remembering his last words, "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 1:8) The vision, then, is that the ascension will draw together hearts in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and from the ends of the earth -- who
knows, perhaps finally the whole human race. Peter encourages each heart now
bound to Christ to endure what it takes to persevere in this legacy. The
Psalmist visualizes God high enough that there is a direct line of sight between
God and everyone -- flat earth, remember. And Jesus prays that these hearts
bound to him will be one, will be side by side, because he is returning to the
Father, he and the Father being one.
"Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone
to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) It is this unity created by the golden cords to the
ascended Christ that most threatens the existence of that roaring lion. Have you
seen the way lions snare a water buffalo? They don't dash into the herd. They
look for an individual separated from the herd. The herd is superior in strength
to the lion and will trample her under foot. It is the unity for which Jesus
prays that keeps us safe from the grand predator. It is our unity not our
doctrinal purity that protects us. It is our gathering for worship not our
placid thoughts in a fishing boat that manifests our safety from the chaos
threatening the world. (Too long, we have thought that the scattered sheep were
as safe as the gathered sheep.) It is the unity that God gives us in answer to
Jesus' prayer that is the hope of the human race.
Why has the human race proven superior to all the threats of nature? Our jaws
are not stronger than those of the tiger. We can't run like the deer. We aren't
agile like monkeys. We aren't able to adapt by mutation like bacteria. Why are
we so dominant? We are able to pull together to meet both opportunities or
threats. It is our unity that is our strength, our unity and our ability to
transcend the circumstances. This God-given strength is extended by our unity in
Christ to withstand evil, our most corrosive threat.
Instinctively, the human community pulls back into the handiest tribe when
confronted with the predator -- Suni, Sheite, Jocks, Freaks, Gays, Straights,
Dallas Cowboy Fans, what have you -- everyone seeking the safety of unity, but
needing a truly saving unity, the one for which Jesus prayed, the one for which
the church endures, the glorification of God in Christ, a completed Maypole
close-binding all human kind.
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
The Resurrection As Final Judgment
"They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those
who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself
to them." (John 14:21)
"While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all
people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have
the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he
has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)
"He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also
he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times
did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building
of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water."
(1 Peter 3:18-20)
"You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs; you let people ride
over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us
out to a spacious place." (Psalm 66:11-12)
Judgment is implicit in the Resurrection. It is significant that it was Jesus
who was raised and appeared to the disciples and not either thief crucified with
him. Implicit is God's judgment on whose commands are final -- not those of the
thieves, not those of the Romans, not those of the Pharisees, but the
commandments of Jesus. Which commandments John has in mind is a big question
because Jesus doesn't appear to have been long on commandments. His commandments
are short and broad. "Love one another as I have loved you." "Believe in God;
believe also in me." These two would top John's short list. Indeed, they might
be the list.
In his sermon to those in Athens, Paul explains that the resurrection of Jesus
means the end of ignorance as a legal defense for idolatry. He says in so many
words, "You had an excuse for coming up with all these gods and their statues
when it was just one invisible God's claim against another, but now that Jesus
has been raised and shown to us, you have only two alternatives: to embrace
Christ or reject the one and only God revealed in Christ. Against the eternal
consequences of this latter choice there will be no appeal.
Peter, preaching on the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection, uses the
figure of another watershed event, the flood, in which only eight people of all
those on earth were saved. Presumably, the resurrection of Jesus will divide
humanity in a way that includes more than eight on the saved side, but to a
church that was minuscule in its surrounding culture and threatened with
extermination, eight might have been a reassuring number -- eight saved and all
the rest swept away. Now, that is terrifying judgment. Ah, but you could be one
of the eight. That is resurrection.
Being one of the eight, or whatever number God chooses, is the reason for
celebration in Psalm 66. The horrible human suffering that God permitted is set
aside by our emergence into God's promise. The resurrection of Jesus is the
fulfillment of God's promise. Through faith in Christ we emerge from the
suffering of this life into God's promise.
That the resurrection is judgment is clear enough. That it is final judgment on
us is challenged by God's steadfast love. Like a frustrated parent, God has
said, "All right, that's it; we're having no more of that!" So, here came the
flood. But the children began acting up again -- and right soon. "All right,
that's it; we're having no more of that!" And Moses had to stay in the
wilderness another forty years. "All right, that's it; we're having no more of
that!" And Israel fell. "All right, I'm telling you for the last time!" And
Jerusalem fell. Peter says that Jesus, "made alive in the spirit", went and
proclaimed to those spirits who were on the wrong side of the judgment in the
flood. Proclaimed what? Certainly not a taunt. Surely a message of hope. And if
a message of hope, then their sentence was not final. Oh, oh, here comes
purgatory. Can God really live with final damnation? As long as there is one
human being left to love, won't God find a way to love? And as long as there is
one human being left alive, won't there be that behavior God can't tolerate.
We can rest assured that the resurrection of Jesus is the final judgment on the
identity of God, the nature of power and the eternal potential for human beings.
Since we now know that the essence of God's power is love, we have even less
assurance that the saved are only eight or only any number at all.
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
The Blood Bank
A bank is a wonderful invention. Imagine! A safe place to put something, so that
when you need it you can come and get it. So much the better, if when you come
back to get it, there is more of it. The original blood bank was founded by
Jesus, the first depositor, first president and chairman of the board. Stephen
appears to be the second depositor. A young man named Paul was watching as he
made his deposit, investing his blood on behalf of the church. Stephen would not
be a member of the church on earth when his deposit was redeemed, but all the
rest of us have been. Do not be afraid to invest your blood on behalf of the
church. Where else does an investment stay so good so long?
One of the characteristics of a bank is to have a great stone building, dressed
stone with Roman columns in front. At least that was the tradition of the past.
It represented permanence, dependability and safety. I opened my first account
in such an edifice. Peter visualizes the church that way, a building made of
stone. He lived in the presence of great stone architecture, Herod's temple,
Caesarea by the sea. He could picture the church as such a structure and the
more permanent because it was made of spiritual stones, made of you and me with
Christ as the head of the corner the one who sets the building's orientation to
the world. It is more durable because it is a spiritual building; it is more
durable because it is an all-volunteer building, not made of conscripted stone.
"...if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him..." (1 Peter
2:3-4) It is God's building.
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places," Jesus says. (John 14:2)
This house is both the church militant and the church triumphant, the church on
earth and the church in heaven. Stephen knew his life, his blood, was secure in
God's house in either case. He could stay true to his witness on earth because
of his dwelling place with the church on earth. He could stay true to his
witness to the death because of his dwelling place with the church in heaven.
God had given him a bank where he could deposit his blood, his life, and rest it
save and secure. His life would become a capital investment forever. I find it
more meaningful that my life be a capital investment forever than that I sit on
a cloud and play a harp forever.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to
myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:3) What other
future does a disciple want than to be with the master. This is the secure
investment of one's life, not the self-centered notion of paradise for the sake
of pleasure. Trust this end. Trust this bank for the deposit of your life's
blood. Trust the bank because of the identity of the founder or trust the bank
because of the performance of the founder, but trust this bank. People are
always looking for the ultimate bank, the place where they are sure their
investment will be there in the time of need.
"Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that
I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the
Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."
(John 14:12-14) When you bank of Jesus, you can draw on his account. What a
deal!
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
Trust
It's about trust. "...they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute
the proceeds to all, as any had need." (Acts 2:45) "Even though I walk through
the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me..." (Psalm 23:4) "For it
is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering
unjustly." (1 Peter 2:19) "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and bandits..." (John 10:7-8)
These were the early astronauts strapped in their seats, counting down, headed
for an imaginary window in the sky. Committing their lives to a vehicle that
could dash them to pieces or leave them stranded in space, they trusted the plan
and the planner. They trusted the end and embraced the means. Lift-off pressed
them against another dimension of life. Stage one and stage two of the booster
dropped off and returned to earth. They, however, had escaped earth's gravity.
They were in the world but not of it.
First and foremost, they trusted the identity of the risen Lord, the "good
shepherd", the "gate of the sheep". They trusted the proposition that he first
called them by name, then led them like a shepherd, then died for them so they
could get in. The shepherd became the gate. They trusted him more than they
trusted the commonly perceived reality around them. Walk through the darkest
valley? Never mind. In pain and suffering? Wear it like a badge. Don't know
where your next meal is coming from? Eat with glad and generous hearts. These
are astronauts in pressurized suits able to sustain their lives in the most
hostile of environments, even to exult in spite of the danger.
These are people who have seen something the earth-bound don't see. These are
people who have seen the risen Lord. They aren't just the disciples, not just
the five thousand, the ones who are reported to have seen the very realistic
version of the risen Lord. No, these are also the many thousands who "have not
seen and yet believed". They have seen the risen Lord only through believing.
How can we apprehend their testimony? How can it be conveyed? How can we live as
they did? Only by strapping ourselves into the seat. Only by submitting
ourselves to the vehicle. Only by yielding to the violence that is required to
break free from the earth. Only by trusting the planner and the plan. Don't
expect to see what they saw if you don't go where they went.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35
Believing Is Seeing
God is on the move in all of these texts, not out in space somewhere but right
here, in this very room. "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all
together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush
of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."
(Acts 2:1-2) "Then I called on the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, I pray, save my
life!'" [And the Lord did.] (Psalm 116:4) "You know that you were ransomed from
the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like
silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb
without defect or blemish." (1 Peter 1:18-19) "When he was at the table with
them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes
were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight." (Luke
24:30-31) God is all about, saving people's lives, ransoming people, filling
people with God's Spirit, walking beside people to the table, but only those who
believe can see him.
It was not to Pilate that the risen Lord appeared. It was not when he and his
wife sat down to dinner in their compound on Mount Zion. It was not to the
Jewish authorities that he appeared. Ooo, how satisfying it would be to us for
him to have appeared to Annas or Chaiaphas, to make them grovel, but he did not.
How satisfying it would be for us to have the corroborating evidence of the
resurrection from a hostile witness, but we do not, because only those who
believe can see. Nowhere is that message more clear than in the Gospel of John.
Consider the end of the story of Jesus' healing of the man born blind (John 9)
or consider Jesus' words to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (John 20:29)
It was in the context of a communion meal, a believers’ meal, that the disciples
recognized the one who had accompanied them toward Emmaus. Otherwise, the risen
Lord was just another guy on the road.
The Psalmist believes in God's saving power, believes in God's involvement in
his life. That is why he can see himself as the recipient of God's gracious act
when he recovers from grave illness or threat. "The snares of death encompassed
me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish." (Psalm
116: 3) That is why he can come to worship with joy and thanksgiving visualizing
God's receiving his libation. "What shall I return to the LORD for all his
bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the
LORD..." (Psalm 116:12-13)
Luke tells us that a Jewish audience heard Peter preach on Pentecost, and three
thousand of them believed, were baptized and received the Holy Spirit. Then, we
presume they could visualize the resurrection. Then they could see the risen
Lord in at least that sense. Why didn't the rest of Jerusalem see anything? Why
was it not the Jewish faith in Jesus that evangelized the Roman world? Why has
it always been that only those who believe in the risen Lord see him? Perhaps
that is exactly the way God wants to be seen, by believers. Perhaps God has no
interest in being seen otherwise. Perhaps there is no value in God's being seen
otherwise. Perhaps "seeing is believing" puts humans in charge of what is seen,
and God can't be in that relationship to God's creation. I don't know. What I do
know is, when it comes to God, "believing is seeing".
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31
Blessed Be God, And Blessed Be Us
If Peter had preached his sermon for a homiletics class instead of for his
audience in Jerusalem, he would have been in even bigger trouble. He would have
raised the exegetical hackles of the teacher and everyone committed to preaching
the plain and obvious meaning of the Scriptures. Does this mean that there are
times when a deep devotion to the understanding of a text in its original
context blinds one to the Word of God, just like an absolute devotion to the
observed reality might blind one to the resurrection of Jesus? Peter's
interpretation of Psalm sixteen is outrageous, but so is the resurrection claim.
Thomas will have nothing of it. Why should he? His commitment to the observed
reality is deep. It is deep, but the risen Lord is not impressed with it.
Rather, the risen Lord is impressed with those who can abandon their commitment
to certain aspects of the observed reality in order to believe in what God has
done. Finally, faith is dependent neither on the observed reality nor on the
Bible as a part of that observed reality, but wholly on what God has done.
Indeed, what God does changes the meaning of the Scriptures that precede God’s
act.
What God did in the resurrection of Jesus is change the expectations of everyone
who hears and believes. King David’s expectation postmortem was to rest with his
ancestors. The Pharaoh of Egypt expected to take his place with the immortals,
but none of the people who built his tomb had such an expectation for
themselves. The Stoics trusted that some divine spark would return to God but
nothing one could call a self. The Essenes may have had a vision of the
resurrection of a cadre of heroes from the cosmic conflict, but not a place at
the throne of God for you and me. No one had such an expectation until God
created it with the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection is not a
manifestation of wishful thinking on the part of first century Mediterranean
people but rather a new hope that was created by the creator. “Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a
new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead...” (1 Peter 1:3) “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have
seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’"
(John 20:29)
Blessed be God and blessed be us because of the resurrection of Jesus.
God created new expectations. If I might be raised with Christ to a heritage
like his, then maybe I should have a say in the government of my country, not
Caesar. If one person can be raised to reign with Christ, then why not “one
person, one vote”? And, if I can expect to be raised with Christ, then why can’t
I die a death like his, for the liberation of human beings. Blessed be God who
transforms expectations by giving hope. Blessed are we when the hope of the
resurrection transforms our expectations for ourselves and the world.
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10
He Is Risen! -- He Who?
What I always tell myself in preparing an Easter sermon is, "Don't gild the
lily." "You can't improve on the text; you can only serve it and offer it up."
(Of course, that applies to all sermons, but most especially to this one.) Some
churches don't celebrate Easter. They consider it an unnecessary accretion to
the original Sunday worship which was no less than a weekly celebration of the
resurrection and anticipation of Christ's coming in glory. If Easter is to be
more than a creature of tradition, a kind of atonement for under-emphasizing the
resurrection the other fifty-one Sundays, then it needs to be the service in
which we look at nothing but the resurrection. Fine, but what do you say after
you say, "He is risen!" You say, "He who?"
When Peter preached, "He is risen", he also addressed the question, "He who?"
"You know the message he [God] sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by
Jesus Christ he is Lord of all." (Acts 10:36) Who is it that has been raised? It
is the person you meet by reading the Gospel backward from the resurrection.
Peter does this in large brush strokes: "That message spread throughout Judea,
beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing
good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We
are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to
death by hanging him on a tree..." (Acts 10:37-39)
In fact, it is the person you meet if you read the whole Hebrew Scripture
backward. "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Acts 10:43) Who is it that is
risen? It is the one the disciples knew. It is the one the prophets knew. It is
the one God knew from the beginning of creation. And, if you don't know this
one, you don't know the significance of the words "He is risen." "He is risen"
does not refer to the son of the widow of Nain, nor to the daughter of the ruler
of the Synagogue, nor to Lazarus, but to the one who is risen never to die
again, the one who is risen to reign forever.
"Who he is" is tied to "that he is risen", and "that he is risen" tells us who
he is. This is to read the Gospel forward from the resurrection: because he is
risen we know that "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus..."
(Luke 2:1) and we know that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God." (John 1:1) Peter moves from the resurrection forward
in his sermon when he says, "God raised him on the third day and allowed him to
appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses..."
(Acts 10 40-41) Yes, witnesses, and to what do they witness? That he is risen
who ... and then they go back and tell the story of his life knowing who he was
but making it clear that they didn't know who he was before the resurrection.
Beginning with Mark and culminating with John, the witnesses tell the story of
Jesus ever more as the one who is risen. Indeed, in the Gospel of John, Jesus
starts out risen. "Risen" is a given throughout the Gospel. "Risen" is a given
when the beloved disciple enters the tomb. "Believing" is the event, not the
resurrection.
So, you can't know Jesus as the Christ apart from his resurrection, and you
can't know the significance of the resurrection apart from knowing the identity
of Jesus. Therefore, preach the two in equal measure lest the risen Lord be
confused with a butterfly.