Readings

Today’s psalm begins “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered.” That sounds good, and the following verses remind us of why that’s good:

5 Father of orphans, defender of widows,

6 God gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners into freedom;

9 You sent a gracious rain, O God, upon your inheritance;
you refreshed the land when it was weary.

10 Your people found their home in it;
in your goodness, O God, you have made provision for the poor.

It’s not hard to imagine the apostles remembering this psalm as they pose that question to Jesus: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” But Jesus parries the question, and attempts to redirect their attention. “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.” “To the ends of the earth”—that eventually includes even Wisconsin.

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” That question continues the tug-of-war that’s been going on throughout Jesus’ ministry: what Jesus is about vs. what his followers think he should be about. John the Baptist: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Mat 11:3) James and John when a Samaritan village refuses to receive them: “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luk 9:54) (That, by the way, is the danger Jesus’ ascension introduces. James and John’s question goes nowhere because Jesus is there to rebuke them. But when Jesus isn’t around?)

And it’s the same tug-of-war driving much of the action in the Old Testament. Back to our psalm: “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered.” God’s people, whether Israel or the Church, tend to assume that “his enemies” and “our enemies” are interchangeable. Tend to forget that God’s enemies are normally us. From the prophet Hosea: “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early.” (Hos 6:4)

The Book of Jonah captures it perfectly. The Ninevites: no problem. They respond immediately to Jonah’s preaching, putting even the animals in sackcloth. Jonah: big problem, furious that God isn’t destroying the Ninevites as Jonah had threatened. And so the book ends with God’s question hanging for Jonah—and us: “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jon 4:10-11)

Paul in Romans: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10). But “enemies” is now in our past? Consider the confession we make at every Eucharist: “we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.” Let’s say that we never stop needing forgiveness.

Back to Jesus: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” Power, not to bring down fire on unwelcoming Samaritan villages, but to “be my witnesses.” “Witnesses:” that’s an interesting choice of words. Not “my interpreters” or “my theologians.” My witnesses: attest to Jesus’ words and deeds. The apostles—like us—are still trying to understand what it all means, but understanding isn’t the point. Attest to Jesus’ words and deeds, follow Jesus, invite others to follow Jesus.

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” We are works in progress, every parish a construction zone (in which hardhats should be mandatory?). That doesn’t surprise Jesus. But it does have Jesus praying for us. From today’s Gospel: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Notice Jesus’ language: not “that they know you,” but “that they may know you.” It’s not a done deal. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part” (1Co 13:9). Or, as the Chilean priest Segundo Galilea writes, “Knowing and being converted to the God of the Gospel is a task for one’s whole life and for everybody.” Jesus: in for a dime, in for a dollar. Having taken on our humanity, Jesus will bring that humanity to glory.

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Pulling back the camera, recall that line in Isaiah from the Lord to the Servant: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49:6). That “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered” turns out differently than we imagined, more interestingly than we imagined. The apostles are thinking too small. There’s a whole human race that needs its humanity restored, both for the sake of the orphans, widows, prisoners, poor in today’s psalm, and so that it can properly steward all the Lord’s good creation. That’s a project worthy of our attention and energy, a project in which we’re called to be not the managers, not the commentators, not the sales force, but the witnesses. Amen.