Even When We Don't Get It--May 22, 2023

Even When We Don't Get It--May 22, 2023

So when they had come together, they asked [Jesus], “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority…” [Acts 1:6-7]

To me it is always reassuring to see that even the hand-picked followers of Jesus didn't "get it," and that he was willing not to hold that against them. It's not that I like to gloat in the failures of others, but rather that it says there is hope for me, someone who so often doesn't "get it" either. This is one of those moments. Here are the apostles whom Jesus is about to send out into the whole world with the news of the Kingdom and of the resurrection of Jesus, and they still miss the point of what Jesus is all about. It would be enough to make me worry, if I were Jesus, whether I was making a wise move leaving the movement in the hands of these largely thick-headed followers.

What's the issue? Well, the disciples have seen Jesus throughout his whole ministry, and not once did Jesus indicate that he was about to overthrow the Romans in a violent revolt, or take the crown for himself, or build an army for God, or "take back their country for the Lord," or even impress people with his own glorious power. And beyond that, they have heard Jesus say that the way he would bring about the kingdom was through his death and resurrection, not in spite of it. But the disciples just want everyone else to see that they backed a winner—that they bet on the right horse. The disciples want Jesus to show power as they know power and kingdoms as they know kingdoms, and they are thinking that maybe now, this is their moment to "restore the kingdom to Israel." Now, they think, they'll get their rewards. Now, they'll get their heavenly prizes. Now, they'll get… and then they fill in the blank with their wildest dreams.

Or, maybe they won't get those things, after all, because Jesus just isn't interested in declaring a war of armies with Rome. And Jesus isn't interested in making himself a king like Herod or a governor like Pilate. Jesus has bigger fish to fry—but the way Jesus will go about his work will not look like it is very impressive at all. He is about to leave the work of the Kingdom in the hands of these same former fishermen and tax collectors who just don't get it for so much of the time. No, Peter, there will be no Inaugural Ball. No, James and John, there will be no fire or lightning called down from the sky to show people who's boss. No, Matthew and Andrew, we will not be marching our soldiers and parading our tanks down the streets to strike fear in the heart of our enemies. No, we will let the when and the how and the where of the Kingdom of God be left in the hands of God. God will reign over all things when all is said and done, Jesus seems to say, but it will be on God's terms, not ours. And God seems surprisingly crafty at picking the terms that we least expect—and even that most offend us. 

Jesus just isn't interested in "taking his country back for God" with weapons and wealth, but instead inaugurates God's Reign in the self-giving love of a cross and empty tomb.  And now, despite the fact that his followers still don't get it, he entrusts them to reflect that Reign by speaking the truth and welcoming the unworthies and healing the broken. Peter and the gang are fighting the temptation of picturing a swelling army and the flash of shiny armor and flaming angel swords, and Jesus has in mind something closer to the Island of Misfit Toys. No, children, it's not up to you to tell God how or when or where to "restore the Kingdom." It is all so much intriguing, if also comically misguided, theorizing from these disciples. If they'd have been listening to Jesus at all up to this point, they might have even heard the strange-sounding news that the Kingdom was already breaking out among them like a holy rash.

And yet... it is precisely among these trigger-happy, foot-in-mouthed disciples who seem like failures for a fair amount of the time that Jesus knows the Spirit will come. He doesn't hold back their past [or present] misunderstandings against them, but chooses still to work with this dense bunch of disicples. Despite the fact that they disappoint at every turn—and in truth, so do we—Jesus does not think it's too much work for the Spirit to handle. As much as it is hard for us to be the waiting ones in life, when the word from Jesus is to be patient. But perhaps it is also true that Jesus is doing a good bit of waiting, too—that he is the one patient with these disciples, refusing to give up on them even when it seems they've not been listening much at all, and that Jesus is waiting alongside us until we are ready to receive what he has to give. The Spirit will be poured out on these disciples soon enough when he speaks these words that many of us heard this past Sunday, and Jesus is willing to be patient with this band so that they will be ready for the gift.

In this day, too, our hope is in the same patient, unresentful Christ, who bears with our questions that sound foolish—and often reflect the fact that we've not been paying much attention at all to Jesus. Our hope is that the same Jesus who refused to scrap his whole mission when the disciples still didn't get it (even after the resurrection and forty days' worth of "convincing proofs") is the same Lord over us. We may be stumbling through the process of discerning just what Jesus is up to among us and in us, and yet the story Luke gives us is of the risen Jesus as one who can bear with our rather slow learning curve. Jesus' vision and work will not be held back by our bumbling in the big picture, and yet Jesus is also able to wait with us, to wait alongside us, to wait for us to let our ears and eyes finally be opened to what he has been saying and showing us all along. No, children, the Kingdom will not look like the rise of a political party to wield power for the truly religious people. No, children, the Kingdom will not look like the protection of one country at the expense of all others. No, children, the Kingdom will not look like me getting a cushy, luxurious life while others are left starving and ignored. No, children, the Kingdom will not even be reducible to higher attendance and offerings at my local congregation. Jesus just plain has bigger fish to fry than any of those. But even though we keep missing the point about what it is Jesus intends to do among us and through us, we get an assurance in this story that the risen Jesus bears with us in all our comically-misguided theorizing and will continue to pour out the Spirit to drench us in the power and presence of the Kingdom of God. Yes, even on a day like today.

Good Lord, you bear with us better than we can bear with ourselves. Give us not only the peace of knowing your patience with us, but also then give us open ears and eyes to recognize the Kingdom you are unleashing, the Kingdom you brought near in Jesus, the Kingdom you bring to the world even through the likes of us as we share your Word, your love, and your ways. We ask it in the name of your patient Way, Jesus.