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March 30, 2008 2nd Sunday of Easter Acts 2:14a, 22-32
We are all witnesses
Rev. Kyle Segars
One would normally read this scripture on Pentecost Sunday, when the swirling fire of the Holy Spirit was the primary focus, but it is here as well on this second Sunday in Easter. As I read it this week I wondered why? I believe it is because Luke wants to show us throughout Acts that the Spirit of God is the ultimate actor and witness to the resurrection of Jesus. It is that Spirit, through the love and grace of God, that is at work in and through these bumbling disciples who are filled with fear, uncertainty and yet, now, the transforming power of the Spirit of Christ.
At this point, think about what had happened to them over the last couple of months. They had entered Jerusalem with such high hopes and the people chanting Jesus’ name - loud Hosannas that shook the very foundation pillars of the Roman garrisons. The people were abuzz over this great prophet and teacher, a descendant of David! Palm leaves had been strewn across Jesus’ path, honoring him as he rode into the city on a donkey, the ride of a king. But then dark clouds had begun to gather over them by midweek, things changing, a sense of unease in the wind that blew down from the Temple mount. They half-remembered that Jesus had said there would be coming days of darkness on the road to Jerusalem, but they hadn’t really focused on it then. Why should they? So many people came out onto the roads to see them; so many seemed to find such life, new life, in the words of the Lord and the deeds that he performed on the way. It had been such a glorious time to be alive, to be a witness of these things. Even those who disagreed with Jesus seemed to respect his grasp of the law. So, as they entered the holy city that day, their hearts were filled to bursting with joy and pride and happiness. Things were moving along and things were going to be different in Jerusalem now! Jesus’ warnings were far from their minds for wasn’t it obvious that he was the Messiah and the people were proclaiming him king and he would take the throne of his ancestor David! Hosanna to the King!
And then by Thursday, such a descent into the depths, such a fall into dread and fear and hopelessness! When Jesus was taken from the Garden, they were terrified! They fled, lied, did whatever they had to - in order to protect themselves. Later, when they heard whispered on the lips of so many people in the streets that the prophet Jesus, yes, the great teacher who enacted a parable in the very temple courts, yes, it was he whom they nailed to a cross as a criminal, I do not think it is possible for us now to imagine the horror, the despair, the emptiness that they felt then. And that when on for some time after the resurrection. They had been tossed around, churning on the angry seas of their emotions, of what they had just lived through. So, they continued to live in utter fear, huddling together for support behind locked doors even though many of them had seen the risen Lord Jesus. As Michonne read for us, they had seen him, touched him, been blessed by his loving presence, but they were still living in fear as his cowering disciples. They did not want to speak of their witness.
I think many of them were just so traumatized by the experience that they could not move, except to eat maybe and contemplate what it all could mean. They felt helpless as well. Now that Jesus was gone, who were they to proclaim the kingdom of God? They were only followers, fishermen, housewives, tax collectors, whatever, no one with real training and eloquence. They were only poor folk who believed in a dead King. Who would listen to them? Now, I don’t want you to think I am beating them down. I don’t want to be too harsh on them because think about what they went through and then think about our own situation. Our own privilege of place and time – for we have all been blessed by this same risen Lord and don’t we still live in fear as well? Aren’t we disciples, followers of the Lord Jesus, afraid to speak our witness now? Haven’t there been times when we have faltered as his disciples? Failed to open our mouths or move our feet when the Spirit has led us into an opportune situation to embody our faith?
I think we all can freely acknowledge that, but then move on into the good news of the Word this morning. The promise to all Jesus’ disciples is that we are not asked to be witnesses on our own. We don’t have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps or follow a well-conceived committee report. We simply have to fall into the gracious arms of our loving Lord and his Spirit that comes to infuse our lives. Those same scared and huddled disciples are now these transformed people in Acts who are boldly proclaiming the good news of God. It happens so fast it almost gives you whiplash. It is not natural, not a human change. It must be the transformation of the Spirit of the resurrected one in their lives.
In our Acts passage, Peter’s first sermon and the first proclamation of the gospel of the early church, he says that these disciples, once fearful, are now the witnesses to Jesus’ whole life, his death and resurrection. Just look at the transformation of Peter himself, the same one who not a few weeks ago was denying Jesus is now boldly proclaiming him to the gathered throng in the streets. Peter and the rest are witnesses now, no longer hiding behind locked doors. And they are witnesses, not in their own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, witnesses in the spirit of the risen Lord who was crucified and buried. Witnesses in word and deed to the risen Lord alive in their own lives and out in the world. The Spirit is directing Peter here, giving him the words and the courage, even when he did not feel that he could do such a thing. It is a wonderful example of the transformation wrought in an individual life by the spirit of the risen Lord. And that is what the whole book of Acts is about – the ongoing ministry of the Word in the world – the Spirit of Jesus within the members of the new community called in his name. The Word empowers them, even in their own inadequacies and opposition, to explode across the world with the good news.
And that transformation that we see in their lives is wrought by the same Spirit that lives in our midst even now. So, I ask myself, are we being the witnesses God has called us to be here in this time and place? Should there be a difference between their transformation in the Spirit and our own if it is the same Spirit of Jesus Christ among us? Or do we sometimes simply forget our first love and our joy in the Lord?
I’m sure the disciples didn’t really want to do what they had been called to do – I mean, it was a hard road and it would be a harder one ahead, as Acts and church tradition tells us. The presence of God’s Spirit, the Spirit of resurrection, is not always pleasant or easy in our lives. It is not our own voice speaking an octave lower, but completely other. It is God’s voice in our lives, challenging us because God wants a people of God’s own.
I believe we should recognize the good news that it is God’s promise to uphold and bless us his church, but it is our business as the community of the faithful to speak the Word, the good news with boldness everywhere and at all times – in all situations in which God has led us to be his witnesses. Have we not witnessed the power and promise of Christ’s presence in our individual lives? Are we proclaiming that to the world around us in how we speak and act? Now, I freely admit it is not easy. But Jesus never promised that. He only promised to walk with us along the way.
So Peter and the others here witness to the words of God, witness to the voice of God and no other. Even though many mocked them, they held firm to what most thought and still think is foolish. That this man Jesus that was crucified as a criminal was and is the Messiah of Israel. That was blasphemy then and if one pushes it, blasphemy now! Many in that crowd of people thought the disciples were crazy people drunk before noon! But as the psalm Peter quotes declares, he will name as Lord no other name on his lips than the name given by God in his mercy and grace – and he interprets that as the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Peter says he is the King who was murdered, Messiah who died but has now risen through the great power and mercy of God the Father which David prophesied of in that same Psalm. That is what Peter speaks to this crowd no matter what people thought or how it made him look. And he knew that the only way he could possibly be doing it was through the transformation of the Holy Spirit.
So, here in Acts 2 are the concrete results of Easter represented to the world, and we sitting here this morning are inheritors of that same gift of the Holy Spirit. We are gathered here by God’s mighty hand to proclaim the same thing Peter did – that a man named Jesus is our Lord, crucified Messiah but raised by God the Father for our sake. We are reminded every time we read this scripture of that change that has taken place within each of our hearts and lives in order that we might be about the business of the church. We have all been called to be witnesses of God’s love in Christ Jesus, forever being molded and jerked about by the Spirit of God. So, I ask – the members of Christ’s body gathered by the Spirit here in Beulah, Michigan – are we truly ready to pray that the Spirit open our hearts and guide us as a community of faith? Are we ready to step forth in faith and pray, from the depths of our being, Come, Holy Spirit? Are we ready to be obedient, whatever that may mean here in this place, to the movements of the Word in our collective lives? Are we ready (scary I know) to be guided by the gospel that is not self-derived or self-controlled? I pray we can all sincerely say yes to Jesus breathing his Spirit upon us. Let us be the witnesses we have all been called to be. Amen.
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