In today's reading in Acts, Jesus has been resurrected, but the apostles still think He will have an earthly kingdom, after all the things He has said to the contrary. It seems more likely to them that Jesus will take charge, now that He has conquered death.

Jesus, however, pops their bubble. Again. Whenever the apostles make assumptions, He wakes them up to reality. He explains that it is not for mortals to know God's plans. He tells them to remain in Jerusalem, and wait for the Holy spirit. One of my favorite verses is, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

He says farewell to the apostles, in His own way. He tells them that they will receive the Holy Spirit, and gives them their commission, to be his witnesses, "to the ends of the earth."

Jesus ascends to heaven, leaving the apostles standing looking up at the sky. Then two angels are suddenly beside them, asking them what they are looking at, and urging them to move along. They are rather reminiscent of two policemen at an accident scene. "Move along, there's nothing more to see here."

I can't help being amused by this scene, partly because of a trick we used to play on people as teenagers. You stand anywhere outside and stare fixedly at the sky. Sooner or later, other people will stand and stare up, trying to figure out what you're looking at. After a while, a crowd will gather, all trying to figure out what is in the sky. Then you walk away, all without saying a word. The whole thing is spoiled if they ask you what you're looking at. My best answer was, "nothing much."

The angels in this scene also remind me a lot of the two angels in the tomb at Jesus' resurrection. They, also, asked what the apostles were looking at. I wonder if they were the same two angels.

One other thing I notice. The Holy Spirit doesn't come down right away. The apostles return to Jerusalem and pray, continuously. They seem to have been obedient to the command Jesus gave them to pray always. This close connection to God, it seems to me, is impossible without prayer.

Pentacosta, the Greek word, means "fifty" literally. From the second day of Passover, the Jewish tradition was to count the Omer, meaning they gave grain offerings each day, for forty-nine days, seven weeks, after which time they celebrated Shavuot, or Pentecost. This is fifty days from the first day of Passover, or Pesach. Shavuot was the festival of first fruits. People came from all over to present offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem. After the fall of the second temple in Jerusalem in the year 70, the grain offerings ended, but the celebration continued as a festival, which also became the day to celebrate the giving of the law.

Thus, the eleven, plus the other disciples of Jesus, including Mary, His mother, and other women, who are not named, gathered in Jerusalem, in hiding, waiting for Shavuot. Nearly every festival we have on our church calendar has another mirrored in the Jewish calendar. They are often separated, thanks to the lunar calendar followed by the Jews, but they still correspond. Nowhere does it say that only the apostles, or only the men received the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel reading for today is taken from John. This reading occurs just before Jesus is to be arrested in Gethsemane and crucified. He prays aloud, so the apostles can hear. He asks to be glorified as He was glorified before the world was created, while He was with the Father, for protection for his apostles, and for unity; that they be one as He and the Father are one.

Even couched as a prayer, some of what Jesus says here is shocking, at least to a Jewish community that equates the Messiah not with a godlike being, or someone come to save them by dying to expiate their sins, but with a human prophet/king designated to conquer the oppressors and set up God's kingdom on earth. Messiah literally means "anointed one," and who was anointed? Kings. David was anointed, as was Saul, and any number of kings, some of whom turned against God. Even calling Himself God's son was pushing the limits of what the Jews of His time could accept, or even understand.

We, who have grown up reading and hearing the Gospels over and over are used to hearing what Jesus says, but it must have been difficult for His disciples to accept many things He said. That is why some of His disciples left Him.

It is striking that Jesus asks to be glorified. If He was merely a man, and a prophet, would He ask to be glorified? Not only that, but He claims to have had glory in the Father's presence before the world was created! His capacity to shock runs like a thread throughout his ministry. John does not comment on this. I'm not sure whether His disciples are simply used to outrageous statements, John doesn't think it important, or they simply don't understand. They clearly don't get it on any number of occasions, even after Jesus has risen from the dead.

You would think, knowing as He does, Jesus would be more sad during this prayer. He continuously drops hints for weeks before that He knows He will be crucified, one of the most painful and horrible deaths imaginable, yet here He is, giving glory to the Father, asking to be glorified, and asking protection for His disciples. It is not until Gethsemane that He actually prays as if a heavy burden has dropped on Him.

His prayer that He will be glorified as He was before the world was created brings to mind several questions about His nature, and some church history. Our Nicene creed was written in 325 A. D. Christianity did not become the state religion of the Roman Empire until 360 A. D., by courtesy of Emperor Constantine. There were several groups that believed Jesus to be either totally human, with only God's presence resting on him occasionally, or totally divine, having only seemed to have suffered on the cross. Constantine's rule forced Christianity to create one system of belief, with guidelines on what Christians should and should not believe. After this, Christians began persecuting other Christians for deviating from this doctrine, classifying them as heretics.

This scripture puts to rest several of these heresies. Monarchism, for instance, claimed that Jesus was merely a man. If Jesus had been merely a man, He would not have existed before the world was created. Would a mere man have been called God's son during the Transfiguration, mentioned in all three of the other Gospels? If He was a prophet, then He would be merely a man. Would a prophet, having been spoken to by God, have the bravery to ask to be glorified?

Gnosticism claimed He was fully divine, and thus could not suffer death, which is put to rest by other scriptures that show his humanity. Also, in the 4th century, a heresy called Arianism, not to be confused with the Aryan nation, proposed that Jesus was not eternal, but created by God as the instrument of redemption. This heresy was strong in the Eastern Roman Empire, and was attacked by Sts. Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyassa. It faded after the Council of Constantinople. This scripture also dismisses that claim. If Jesus was together with God before the creation of the world, He would not have been created only for redemption, since Adam and Eve could not have existed yet. There was no reason to create a being whose sole purpose was to redeem mankind before humans sinned. God knows what we will do, but there is that question of interference; the problem of predestination versus free will.

Peter's letter is to those Jews who were in the Diaspora--those who were dispersed from Judea to various places in Asia Minor. He tells them not to be surprised by their sufferings, but to embrace them. They are not to commit crimes, but to rejoice in their sufferings, if they are suffering for the sake of Christ's name. If they are persecuted for Christ, they should not feel disgraced, but joyful. They should entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while continuing to do good.

Peter's letter applies to us even in this age. Often those around us have a negative view of Christianity. Jesus said in several places that His followers would be persecuted. In Africa, China, and some other places, Christians are still persecuted today. As difficult as it is to feel happy while people are making fun of us or becoming angry with us just because we're Christian, Peter explains that we are blessed. This is a tough one for me, though it is rare that anyone attacks me just because I'm Christian, but I try to remember that as Jesus was uplifted by his suffering, so shall we be. This does not make us masochists, but it can give us the courage to bear those times when we need courage.

This is not only Ascension Sunday, but Mother's Day and the feast of Dame Julian of Norwich, one of my favorite saints. After hearing about her, I read one or two books about her, as well as her book, Revelations of Divine Love, and, to my surprise, almost immediately after found this quote in some handouts, I believe from a service at another church:

"Endlessly our courteous Lord sees us in this working, rejoicing."

"For as truly as we will be in the bliss of God, praising and thanking him without end, so also we have truly been in the foresight of God, loved and known in his endless purpose from without beginning. In this unbound love he made us, and in the same love he keeps us and never suffers us to be hurt so that our bliss could be the less."

Another wonderful quote she said the Lord gave her: "I can make all things well; I will make all things well; I shall make all things well; and thou canst see for thyself that all manner of things shall be well."

Blessed assurance, indeed!

Amen