May 17, 2026 "Revealing God's Glory"
- pastoremily5
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
Seventh Sunday in Easter
Acts 1:6-14
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
John 17:1-11
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
from the one who is glorified in us. Amen
Well we have reached the end of the season of Easter,
and today on the seventh Sunday of Easter
we stand in the middle of the middle
as Jesus ascends to the Father.
Behind us lies Jesus’ death, resurrection
and forty days of resurrection appearances,
ahead of us lies Pentecost
and the birthday of the church
today we have Jesus saying good bye again,
well perhaps less good bye and more au revoir (until we see each other)
but it’s more than that
it’s a passing of the torch or mantle if you will.
When we join them today
Jesus and the disciples are gathered once again on Mount Olivet,
the Mount of Olives
and the disciples ask
“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Even after all the unexpected things they’ve been through
they are still thinking in the traditional sense of the messiah
as a conquering king
and given their location
they can be excused for asking once again.
According to the prophet Zechariah (14:4-9)
the day of the Lord will come
when the messiah is standing on the mount of olives
“And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” (Zech. 14:9)
It’s as if the disciples are asking “are we there yet?”
‘Nope’ says Jesus
‘and don’t even try to guess or focus on it,
it’s not for you to know
but that’s okay because you’ve got more important things to focus on’
“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
and then as they are watching
he is lifted up to heaven.
When the disciples look back on this later,
they will realize that Jesus’ ascension to heaven
mirrors the only other ascension in the scriptures,
that of the prophet Elijah,
and not just for the fact
that both went to heaven while alive (2 Kings 2).
Elijah’s ascension marks a transition of prophetic power,
remember Elijah has an assistant, Elisha,
who also doesn’t want his mentor to leave him
but knowing that it is coming
asks for a double portion of his spirit,
Elijah grants this only if Elisha sees him ascending to heaven
which he does,
and when Elijah is out of sight
Elisha looks around and finds Elijah’s mantle or cloak
which he had used to do miraculous things,
and picking it up
Elisha finds that he now has the power of his mentor,
he now holds the mantle of power,
the power has transitioned from the one who ascended
to the one left behind.
This is what Jesus is trying to get the disciples to understand
as he parts from them,
that his power will continue with them,
that they will be his presence in the world,
his witnesses.
This is what Jesus is trying to convey
in his farewell address and prayer in the gospel of John,
we have part of the prayer for our gospel today
and yes it is a feat a linguistic gymnastics
that takes more than one hearing to untangle
but the jist of it is this:
while he has been on earth, he, Jesus,
has been the revelation of God’s glory for the world
and now that Jesus is returning to the Father,
God’s glory will be revealed in the world
through the disciples
who Jesus has claimed as his own.
“And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world…”
Jesus is passing on the mantle of revelation to the disciples.
In other words,
they will be his witnesses,
the power of God will be revealed in and through them,
though the community now known as the body of Christ,
and as members of the body of Christ
we are the revelation of God’s glory in the world.
What an awesome responsibility,
what a sobering one,
and it’s one we have not been left alone to do,
that’s what the gift of the Holy Spirit is about,
to be with us and to show us the ways to reveal God’s glory in the world,
and thanks be to God for the Holy Spirit
because time and again
we get distracted by our own agendas, prejudices, preferences,
our limited understanding of the world,
and time and again the Spirit directs us toward where God is,
where God wants us to go.
As the disciples on the Mount of Olives see Jesus taken up to heaven
they stand there with their mouth agape
long after they can no longer see Jesus,
and God sends two messengers,
angels, men in white robes
who stand beside them “They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
They redirect the disciples' attention,
don’t keep looking up to heaven,
that will take care of itself,
your focus needs to be on earth,
you’ve got a job to do.’
We, who have been claimed by God in the waters of baptism,
have a job to do,
to share God’s glory with the world,
we do this in our intimate relationships
with family and friends
loving with Christ love
and practicing forgiveness,
and we’re called to engage with the wider world
in ways that share the grace and mercy, the glory of God.
It could be through volunteering
working for justice,
seeing and supporting the humanity of all our neighbors
especially those the world has discarded.
And if we wonder if we’re doing it right,
well we shouldn’t be surprised when there is pushback,
or fiery ordeals as Peter calls them,
a sign that the love of God
is disrupting the corruption and greed of the world
that fights the witness and glory of Christ.
We shouldn’t be surprised,
but we always seem to be,
and God is there
to receive our fears and anxieties, to care for us
so God brings us to the table and feeds us,
restoring, supporting, and strengthening us.
And then God sends us out again,
and we go knowing that we are not alone,
the spirit and the glory of God go with us
as God is glorified in us. Amen
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