Preparing for Worship - May 21, 2023

The Scripture readings this Sunday bring the Easter season to a close, now that the Ascension of Jesus into heaven has been celebrated on Thursday, May18.

The Psalm is Psalm 68:1-10. “God shall arise” in judgment on “His enemies,… those who hate Him… and on the wicked…” But God’s people “shall exult” with “joy” before the Lord. David, the author, remembers how God brought His people, Israel, out of slavery in Egypt and led them “through the wilderness,” caring for their needs, and brought “His flock” to “a dwelling” place in the promised land. He cared, “in His goodness” even for “the fatherless” and “widows” and the “solitary” and “the needy” - all those who had been “prisoners,” restoring an “inheritance” for them.

In the same way, the Lord cared for the early Christians, after Jesus ascended into heaven. In the First Lesson, Acts 1:12-26, they gathered for “prayer,” asking the Lord’s guidance. God gave it, calling them through Old Testament prophecy to replace Judas, who had taken his life, with a new apostle. They chose two men who had been followers from the earliest days of the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus, and prayed and asked the Lord to lead them to the right choice, Matthias. Matthias then became another key witness to Jesus and His resurrection.

In the Epistle lesson, 1 Peter 4:12-19 and 5:6-11, Peter tells his fellow believers not to be surprised when “trial” and “testing” and “sufferings” come. As Jesus suffered, so His disciples might be “insulted for the Name of Christ” and simply “as a Christian.” They should keep “doing good” according to God’s will and “entrusting their souls to their faithful Creator” and “humbling themselves under God’s mighty hand.” They can “cast all their cares and anxieties on the Lord for He cares for them.” All Christians face some suffering in “resisting Satan” in this life, but “staying firm in faith,” by God’s grace and His “strength and restoration,” we will be “called to eternal glory in Christ.”

Jesus gives these same promise in our Gospel lesson, John 17:1-11. This is called His prayer for us, as our High Priest, even as He would soon return to the presence of His “Holy Father” in heaven and “the glory” He had given up to become our suffering servant and Savior. Jesus knows that we have been called to faith in Him and prays that we may “keep the Word of God” and be kept “one” in faith, “in the name” of our Lord. For “this is eternal life, that we know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” That is enough for us, because Jesus has already accomplished for us all that we need for eternal life.