Sermon 5/28/06
After Easter: Disciple and Apostle - Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-53
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today is one of those Sundays in the Christian calendar that can’t seem to find its place. It’s a transition Sunday. We’re technically still in the season of Easter, the Great Feast which lasts Fifty Days, but it’s May, and we’re feeling like Easter was oh-so-long ago. We’re at the end of our sermon series, where we’ve been seeing what we can learn from the disciples as they struggled to find their places in ministry after Easter. We’re about ready to celebrate the Church’s birthday, Pentecost, which is next Sunday, but we’re not quite there yet. We’ve got some unfinished business yet. As far as the scriptures go, Jesus has been spending all this post-Easter time as the resurrected Christ, hanging out with the disciples for a few more weeks. He’s not the same Jesus that taught and walked with them everyday exactly. He’s the resurrected Christ. But he’s not yet returned to God’s home, and the Holy Spirit thing that Jesus has talked about hasn’t been received by the disciples yet. We’re moving from Easter to Pentecost, but we’re stuck today on Ascension Sunday, a Sunday not very high on our list of holy days, somewhere between point A and B.
Stuck in the middle, between Points A and B, is exactly where the disciples seem to be today. Our two scripture lessons today come from one author – passages from the gospel and from Acts both written by Luke, who writes to explain Jesus’ ministry and the infant church that Jesus’ early work births. In our text from Luke, Jesus reminds the disciples that his time with them has been a fulfilling of the law and the prophets and the psalms – Jesus brings into fullness all the promises laid out by God in God’s story with the people. And then, we read, Jesus “opens their minds to understand the scriptures,” a conversation, like the one in our text about the road to Emmaus a few weeks ago, we’d all surely like to have overheard. Then Jesus tells the disciples the task: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem, in Christ’s name. He tells them they have a little bit of time yet before they begin, while they wait to be “clothed with power from on high,” but then they will be ready to begin their work.
Our scene from Acts overlaps somewhat with our passage from Luke, but the focus is the same. Jesus has gathered with the disciples and is speaking to them about the kingdom of God. He tells them to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. But still, they have questions. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He tells them not to worry about that, but to concentrate on the coming of the Spirit, and the fact that they will be witnesses of Jesus’ work to the ends of the earth. Then he leaves them to return to God, and they watch him go. Finally, a messenger from God rouses them, asking, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven?” urging them to trust that Jesus will still be a part of their lives.
So what’s so important about these passages? What’s so important about these accounts of Jesus’ last moments on earth with the disciples? What message is there here for us? I think the answer lies in a discreet, subtle shift in language. Throughout Luke’s gospel, the twelve are referred to as disciples. The word disciples means ‘students’ – and indeed, the disciples are students of Jesus and his teaching, his message. But in Acts, even though we start with the same scene, Luke, the same author, uses a different word to characterize essentially the same group of people. In Luke we had disciples. In Acts, we find them called apostles, a word that means “ones who are sent.” Actually, the full title of the second volume of Luke’s account is called, “The Acts of the Apostles.” Same people, different titles. Suddenly, those who were students are something else altogether, ones sent by Jesus for a specific purpose – to continue the work Jesus began, by preaching about the kingdom, about repentance and forgiveness.
Perhaps, in such a state of chaos following the death and resurrection of their teacher, it would have been easy for the disciples to not want to move from their comfort zones. Were they ready to go out and be messengers of the good news? Certainly, the disciples had bumbled through years of Jesus’ teaching, barely seeming to get it at times. Even in this opening scene from Acts, the disciples exhibit that they still don’t get everything – someone asks, “Now are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” In other words, now are you going to be real kind of king that leads a military coup? After years of Jesus saying that he’s not that kind of king at all, they still don’t get it. Can the baby church possibly survive guided by such dense leaders?
One of my favorite books is Christopher Moore’s hilarious novel, Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. (1) The book takes a comical look at what Jesus, called Joshua in this book, might have been like as a young child, a teenager, a young adult, coming to terms with his identity as Messiah, all from the perspective of Biff, Joshua’s best friend. In the book, once Joshua has begun his ministry, he gets ready to send the twelve out to the towns and villages to preach. Here’s the scene: Then [Joshua] made the call: “Okay, who wants to be an apostle?” “I do, I do,” said Nathaniel. “What’s an apostle?” That’s a guy who makes drugs,” I said. “Me, me,” said Nathaniel. “I want to make drugs.” “I’ll try that,” said John. “That’s an apothecary,” said Matthew . . . “Apostle means ‘to send off.’” . . . “That’s right,” said Joshua, “messengers. You’ll be sent off to spread the message that the kingdom has come.” “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?” asked Peter. “No, now you’re disciples, but I want to appoint apostles who will take the Word into the land . . . I will give you power to heal, and power over devils. You’ll be like me, only in a different outfit. You’ll take nothing with you except your clothes. You’ll live only off the charity of those you preach to. You’ll be on your own, like sheep among wolves. People will persecute you and spit on you, and maybe beat you, and if that happens, well, it happens. Shake of the dust and move on. Now, who’s with me?” And there was a roaring silence among the disciples . . . Joshua stood up and just counted them off . . . You’re the apostles. Now get out there and apostilize.” And they all looked at each other. “Spread the good news, the son of man is here! The kingdom is coming. Go! Go! Go!” They got up and sort of milled around . . . Thus were the twelve appointed to their sacred mission.”
The disciples, I’m sure, had their doubts and fears and questions about becoming apostles. But if their fears kept them from becoming apostles, where would we be? If they never felt ready enough to be ones sent, to be the ones to take over the preaching and the teaching, who would hear the good news about the kingdom of God? Recently, I was talking with some folks about continuing education and reminded of a story I once read on CNN about a student who had been in college for 12 years named Johnny Lechner. (2) It’s not that he just can’t complete the requirements. Indeed, he has credits to graduate in 5 separate program areas – Communications, Health, Education, Women's Studies, and Theater. Lechner was set to finally graduate this year, but withdrew his application to graduate 6 days before the ceremony, saying he realized he’s never studied abroad in his 12 years. Maybe he should do that too. His University is so sick of having him as a student that they implemented a so-called “slacker-tax” – students who take too long to graduate have to pay double tuition. Still, Lechner is sticking around. Lechner just likes college. He likes learning. And I can relate to that. I love learning too. I always loved going to school. And there’s always more we can learn, isn’t there? That’s why as a pastor, and probably many of you in your careers, I am required to do a certain amount of continuing education each year. My learning is not just finished because I have a degree to show for my time.
But, can I ever learn enough to feel like I know everything I need to know to be a pastor? When I first was starting at my first appointment, almost five years ago now, I had some real moments of panic before my first day. I wasn’t ready for this. Sure, I’d been to a lot of school, but what did I know about being a pastor? I couldn’t have responsibility for a whole church! What was I thinking? Was there still time to back out? But I didn’t back out, not because I suddenly found some burst of confidence, and not because I suddenly felt like an expert, and not because I knew I would do everything right. I became a pastor because, from the start, I felt called by God to do so, sent by God to this place in this time. I had to transition from being a student of ministry to being a minister.
I think we all experience this struggle, if in our own unique ways. In the church, we are sometimes very good at discipling, and not very good at apostling. I mean that we are very good at nurturing our members – taking care of those who are inside the church family already. If you walk through the doors of this church, we will welcome you and invite you to be part of us. We’re good at being students of the scriptures. We’re good at being in fellowship with one another. We’re good at growing in discipleship, nurturing the faith journey from infancy to adulthood. We’re really good at being the church for the church. But are we as good at being the church for the world? Are we as good at being apostles – being sent – as we are at being students of God? Are we as good at going out into ministry as we are at the ministries that serve those who are already members? Are we willing to answer God’s call once we hear it, or will we insist that we are not ready enough, not prepared enough to be sent?
This past week at General Conference, we voted on a change to the mission statement of the United Methodist Church. The official mission statement of the United Methodist Church, and really, the Christian Church in general, was “to make disciples of Jesus Christ.” That’s our purpose of course. But we just voted to add a short tag. Our mission now is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In other words, our discipleship won’t accomplish much if being disciples doesn’t lead us from Point A to Point B. If being disciples doesn’t equip us for something, if being a student doesn’t help prepare us for a purpose, why bother? If being a disciple doesn’t lead us to apostleship, if being with Jesus doesn’t lead us to spreading the gospel, how can the world be transformed? How will others find out about God’s love? How will we get from Point A to Point B?
We’re all working at discipleship. And we never have to stop being disciples. We’re always students of the living Christ, seeking to be like him, molding ourselves after his spirit. But we have to start being apostles too. The message has to be delivered. The good news aches to be preached. We are the witnesses. We are the ones sent. We are the apostles. So come, let’s go together – from Point A, to Point B.
(1) By Christopher Moore, pp. 376-377.
(2) http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/10/perpetual.student.ap/index.html