Sermon Response to Scripture proclaimed for Years ABC, Ascension Day: Luke 24:44-53; (Ephesians 1:15-23; Acts 1:1-11) At Zion Episcopal Church By The Reverend Sarah E. Saxe on May 5, 2016 Witness What is the job description of the Messiah? Well according to the website messiahfactor.com The Messiah must have the correct genealogy by being descended from King David. He must be anointed King of Israel He will return the Jewish people to Israel He will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem He will bring peace to the world and end all war And he will bring knowledge of God to the world. In the beginning of Jesus ministry, the disciples struggled with this description, because at first appearance Jesus doesn t seem to meet all those qualifications. First Jesus himself does not present a family tree of his lineage. Now Luke does offer one for him at the beginning of his Gospel, but Jesus reinterprets the understanding of genealogy. He claims to be sent from God by referring to himself throughout Luke s Gospel as the Son of Man. Second, Jesus hasn t been anointed in the traditional sense but rather at his baptism when the Holy Spirit descends on him and we hear God say that Jesus is God s beloved Son. And he hasn t returned the Jewish people to Israel in the physical sense but rather expands that understanding by talking about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus didn t rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, shifting focus instead to the Temple of God being himself. Jesus hasn t brought peace to the world and ended all war, rather saying in Luke s Gospel that wars are a necessary precursor for the end times to come. And that last item the Messiah will bring knowledge of God to the world. Well I think Jesus most certainly did that, but again it was a new knowledge. A different knowledge of God from what the first disciples thought. During his ministry, Jesus taught the disciples that he did fit the job description by showing them how to interpret the teaching about the Messiah according to God s job description not the human one. Today s reading from Ephesians provides us with God s job description for the Messiah. Now the funny thing about job descriptions whether you use the original one from Jewish tradition or the later one from Christian tradition - is that even though the person meets the qualifications, it doesn t describe how he will get the job done. Typically, the CEO of a company sees the big picture and often the workers do not, they aren t privy to it. But that doesn t stop them from guessing. How will Jesus as Messiah and CEO make Israel an independent nation again, bring peace to the world and bring knowledge of God to the world? And as Jesus approaches, one of them asks: Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? Are you going to claim your kingship now and make everything right?
And again Jesus patiently teaches them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Huh? And once again he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know. But now that you are risen and you ve been hanging out with us for 40 days, isn t it time to get the job done? To wage the rebellion? And Jesus, their Messiah, their CEO, instead gives them their job description. You are to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father when you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. You will be clothed with power from on high. And then you will proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. You will be witnesses of these things, first in Jerusalem and then expanding out even to the ends of the earth. So as usual Jesus says the unexpected. You need to get to work, not by waging war but by bearing witness, by proclaiming repentance and forgiveness. While you wait for me to return, that s what you must do. It s up to you. And up Jesus goes. And while the disciples are standing around in shock, two men in white robes appear: What are you doing looking up to heaven? they say. He ll be back. So off they go to Jerusalem. They don t quite know what the CEO has planned but they are following orders. Go and wait. And while they wait they worship with great joy they continually bless God in the temple. They fulfill the first part of their job description: go to Jerusalem and wait; and they do this for 9 days.
And that s what we have started to do tonight. On the Day of Pentecost Jesus fulfills his promise. The Holy Spirit descends and empowers the disciples to do the rest of their job. (Pause) In 2000 years, the job description of a disciple hasn t changed. We are told not to stand around gazing heavenward but to go and do our job. And what is our job? To evangelize to spread the Good News, by bearing witness. And what are we bearing witnessing to? That Christ has died, Christ is risen and has ascended into Heaven; and that Christ will come again. Bearing witness wherever we are and whenever we have the opportunity. What else is our job? To proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins. Clothed with power from on high we are able to do this whether or not we think so. This power from on high is within you. At your Baptism each of you received a new life in the Holy Spirit. You have been given the power. And each year on the Day of Pentecost we relive the moment when Jesus promise to his disciples to us - was fulfilled. And each Sunday that power is strengthened when we eat of his body and drink of his blood as he commanded us to do. Until Jesus comes again, our job is to keep waiting, keep worshipping, and keep working. And our work is to bear witness with our words, with our actions, with our gestures, with our prayers. To bear witness, not just to Jesus death and resurrection but to why he died and was raised - to forgive the world - to wipe the slate clean of past, present and future sins. We are to proclaim that forgiveness. But I think there s something more here.
Ephesians gives us God s description of the Messiah. And Jesus reinterpreted the human description of Jewish tradition but I wonder was he only interpreting it for himself? Now that he has ascended into heaven; now that he has given the disciples their job, how will Jesus get the Messiah s job done? Let s review the job description of a Messiah as reinterpreted by Jesus. The Messiah doesn t need the correct genealogy but rather needs to be sent by God as God s Son. Are we not, through our Baptism, adopted as children of God sons and daughters of God? The Messiah must be anointed King of Israel by being baptized and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Have we not also been baptized and empowered? The Messiah will return the Jewish people not just to Israel but usher in the Kingdom for the whole world. Have we not been told to spread the Good News by bearing witness? The Messiah will rebuild the Temple of his body. Are we not Christ s body on earth? The Messiah will bring peace to the world and end all war. Haven t we been told to proclaim a message of forgiveness and to love our neighbor? And the Messiah will bring knowledge of God to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Isn t our job to evangelize? So it seems as though we are messiahs in the sense that Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, continues to work in the world, fulfilling both his job description in Ephesians and his job description of Old Testament teaching and Jewish tradition. Through us God continues to work for an end to peace, continues to work to spread knowledge of God, even as we wait for our Lord and Savior to come again.