First Reading: Acts 17:16-31
16Now while Paul was waiting for {Silas and Timothy} at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Psalm 66:7-18
7Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise to be heard; 8Who holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip. 9For you, O God, have proved us; you have tried us just as silver is tried. 10You brought us into the snare; you laid heavy burdens upon our backs. 11You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; but you brought us out into a place of refreshment. 12I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows, which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble. 13I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams; I will give you oxen and goats. 14Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me. 15I called out to him with my mouth, and his praise was on my tongue. 16If I had found evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me; 17But in truth God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. 18Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld his love from me.
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22
13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Gospel: John 14:15-21
15{Jesus said,} “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Rock Bottom
St. Peter, in our Second reading for today asks, “Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” The answer is: lots of people. Anyone who has read even a smidgen of history, or who has worked in corporate or public service, knows that too often people who are zealous to do good get abused. And you don’t have to be a Whistleblower to experience retribution, you can simply be someone who speaks truth to power. Take for example Ignaz Semmelweis (pronounced, Ignas Simmelvise).
Ignaz Semmelweis isn’t exactly a household name, but he is important to our health and healthcare system. Ignaz was the Hungarian-Austrian medical doctor who realized that physicians should wash their hands. He didn’t know the reason, but he realized that if he went straight from performing autopsies to delivering babies, mothers became sick and died more frequently. He also concluded that doctors were somehow carrying sickness and disease from sick patients to otherwise healthy patients. No one at the time knew why, but where he could convince doctors to wash their hands before attending a patient, the mortality rate fell drastically. And how was he treated for being eager to do good? His research and findings were resisted and argued against.
European doctors in the mid-1800 felt that washing their hands between patients was a waste of time because it took too long. Semmelweis refined his thinking, conducted experiments, offered statistics, and also started cleaning the instruments that doctors used in surgery. No one then understood germs, but people wouldn’t accept the clear evidence of his findings. For decades, the medical establishment in Europe, and around the world, not only dismissed his findings, but reviled him personally. Thank goodness we know better today and hygiene among medical professionals and sterilization of equipment is a top priority. Anyone who has challenged the status quo has learned that abuse can be the result, even when they’ve done nothing to deserve ridicule and abuse. Take the Old Testament patriarch Joseph for example.
Starting in Genesis chapter 37 we find the story of Joseph. Most of us can easily recall the highlights of this Old Testament leader, of how he was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery, of how Potiphar’s wife lied and falsely accused him, of how he was thrown into prison, and of how he was forgotten by the Pharoah’s cupbearer and of how it took two additional years before he was set free and made ruler in the land of Egypt. Joseph is an example of perseverance even when all seems lost. Think about it.
First, and most importantly, we see God’s hand at work from the very beginning. Joseph has two dreams foretelling the future. First, the brothers are harvesting wheat in the field and their bundles of wheat bow down to his. Next, Joseph sees the stars of heaven and 11 stars bow down to his star. Of course, this prophecy comes true when the brothers bow down to Joseph once he is made a ruler in Egypt. And what was his treatment for his telling of the dreams, his brothers hated him and became jealous.
Because of their ill feelings, they later cast Joseph in a pit and then sold him to slave traders who took him to Egypt and sold him again to Potiphar, a high official in the Pharoah’s army. But when you read this passage closely, the writer makes it clear that because Joseph was faithful in his duties and to God, he not only prospered and was promoted, but God prospered Potiphar as well. But this would all come to an end when Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him of inappropriate sexual behavior, and he is thrown into prison. However, this isn’t the end of Joseph.
Even after being betrayed a second time, Joseph continues to remain faithful not only to his duties, but to God, and God continues to bless Joseph even in prison where everything is put into his charge. The Bible tells us, “the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did” (Gen. 39:21-23). But his trials weren’t over, soon the Pharoah’s cupbearer and baker displease the Pharoah and they too found themselves in prison. But God’s plan was still in motion.
Both the butler and baker had a dream and Joseph is given the wisdom to interpret them. Three days later, on the Pharoah’s birthday, the butler and baker were taken from the prison, and true to the interpretation, the cupbearer is restored, and the baker is hanged. But God’s timing and our timing isn’t the same, is it? Despite Joseph’s plea to be remembered by the butler once he is restored, the Bible tells us that the cupbearer forgot about Joseph. The good news is God didn’t forget about Joseph and despite being betrayed a third time, Joseph continued to remain faithful in his duties and to God and finally, in God’s perfect timing, the Pharoah has two dreams, and the cupbearer finally remembers Joseph and once again God gave Joseph the wisdom to interpret the dreams.
We know the rest of the story. The Pharoah not only listened to Joseph but puts him in charge of storing up for the 7 years of famine that was to come and as a result, not only was Egypt saved, but Joseph’s family as well. The story of Joseph is a reminder; even in the most trying of times, even under the most difficult of circumstances, God has not forgotten us, God has not abandoned us, and God will prosper the work of our hands when we remain faithful.
Our psalmist for today was correct when he penned, “Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise to be heard; who holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip. For you, O God, have proved us; you have tried us just as silver is tried. I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows, which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble. Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me. I called out to him with my mouth, and his praise was on my tongue. If I had found evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me; but in truth God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld his love from me” (select verses from Psalm 66).
Both Joseph and our psalmist understood that when we’re faithful, even in the midst of trying times and unforeseen circumstances, God is always faithful, always remembers His promises, and “The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps. 121:8), and will prosper the work of our hands. Which begs the question, what about us? Are we being faithful, are we fulfilling our priestly duties in our everyday lives? Or are we more afraid of what others might think? Do we worry more about the effect our witness of the gospel might have on us than we are about sharing the gospel even in the face of ridicule and persecution? Who or what are we afraid of?
Peter knows the answer to this question, “Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” He even gives us another example of how to live, even in the face of persecution. Here Peter reminds us that it was “Christ who suffered.” Jesus suffered and was put to death for doing good. Some ethicists quip that no truly good deed ever goes unpunished. I’m not talking about helping an elderly person across the street; that’s just courtesy. I’m talking about speaking out against sin even when it seems that society, as a whole, is openly embracing sinful behavior.
Peter goes on, “But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated.” The truth is, we’ll get all kinds of grief for the sake of our faith and for doing what’s truly good. But we must continue to be zealous to do good anyway, because God will be with us and bless us even while we endure antagonism or opposition. And Peter offers two ways to prepare for the difficulties that converge upon us when we live for Christ and do what’s right. These are also two ways that God will bless us.
First, Peter says, “In your hearts bless Christ as Lord.” This means our faith must be active inside us. We must practice an internal worship, an intentional turning to Christ’s presence within us. Christ invites us into a personal relationship, our part of which the church across the ages has named “piety” or “spiritual discipline.” We must receive God’s grace daily in order to receive the power to live for God. “In your hearts bless Christ as Lord.” The second way to prepare for the difficulties is to “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:16).
Pastor Dawn shared with me an experience she had this past weekend while flying back from Ohio. The plane she was on was a commuter type with two seats on each side. She said as she looked around, the plane was only half full. No one was beside her, so she thought it was going to be a nice flight home. Before long the steward came around and began inviting people who were sitting beside another person to move to empty rows. Soon there were no empty rows, and no one had anyone seated beside them. However, right before the cabin door was closed, a young gentleman boarded and suddenly Dawn found that the man’s assigned seat was next to her. She was now the only one on the plane to have someone sitting beside them.
At first Pastor Dawn was a little irritated, but soon she and the young man struck up a conversation. As they talked, she revealed that she was a pastor and asked the young man about his faith background. The man replied that he was baptized, confirmed, and grew up in the Presbyterian church but no longer felt like he believed in God. He then made this statement: show me God and I’ll believe.” For the next 45 minutes Pastor Dawn was able to share her experiences of God’s love and presence with him.
Just before they landed Pastor Dawn asked the young man this question. What are the chances of you sitting next to me on this plane on this trip? She went on to explain the events that occurred before he boarded, of how no one had anyone sitting beside them and it was that seat that he was seated in. As they got off the plane, the young man thanked pastor Dawn and gave her a big hug and told her he appreciated her taking the time to remind him of God’s grace.
God works in wonderful and mysterious ways and sends us to share the gospel at unexpected times and places and we must be ready, “to preach the word in and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). We must be ready speak. Today, our society is much like that of the early church, where people don’t automatically become Christians. Too many Christians think that the church in America will grow today as it did in the 1950s. In case you missed it, the 1950s are gone.
If the Christian faith is to survive, it won’t be because the culture around us is friendly to Christianity and potential members will all of the sudden pour through our doors no matter what we do or don’t do. For those Christians who have been convinced that all we need is actions, because “Our deeds show our faith,” my question is, how good do we think our deeds are? Even Jesus talked about His faith. No one wants a faith that’s just words, both are important, and Christianity can’t survive without words being spoken from the source of our hope.
Notice that Peter doesn’t mention our faith or our love, but he mentions our hope. “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” Hope is how we view tomorrow. For Peter, hope is important in defining us as a Christian. Hope means we look for God’s grace each day, no matter the circumstances. Having hope as a Christian means not being bogged down with despair or dominated by despondency. Christian hope means not being threatened by tomorrow being different than today. Peter notes that hope is an important distinction about our Christian faith. We need to be ready to share the hope we have and hold in Jesus with others, whenever the opportunities arise. We must be ready to give an account for the faith that is in us.
In the original language, the word “account” means “a reasoned account, a summary.” Peter instructs us to offer an explanation, a reason that we’re a Christian. Here something else you need to consider: Students don’t really know something if they’ve only memorized it. They must put it into their own words to show they’ve grasped the concept. We need to put our explanation for our Christian hope into our own words and this means we must take the time to think these things out. Before a job interview you anticipate the questions that might be asked so you can answer without too many “ahs,” gasps, “you knows,” or awkward silences. The same is true of our witness for Christ.
Terry Anderson was the Associated Press Bureau Chief in Beirut, Lebanon, when he was captured at gunpoint March 16, 1985. He was held captive for nearly seven years. He describes himself at that time as a lapsed Roman Catholic who, just six months before he was captured, returned to his faith. Once in confinement, he begged his guard for a Bible. Having received the Bible 24 days into his captivity, he read it through fifty times. His fellow captors tell how Terry helped them survive and how he kept up their hope.
Throughout his terrible suffering, he believed that Christ was with him. If Christ could reach the imprisoned spirits in Noah’s time, Christ could reach Terry Anderson’s cell in Beirut. For a time, Anderson traveled the world to promote peace. In his lectures, he would tell the amazing news that God was with him and that he’s forgiven his captors. He learned how, as Peter instructed, to bless Christ in his heart. He now follows Peter’s teaching by giving an account of the hope that is in him.
It was his faith in God that brought Terry Anderson through imprisonment and led him to forgive his captors. We know that not everyone will want to know about the hope we hold in common with our fellow Christians. But it’s our call to be ready to share the gospel and speak truth to power when needed. St. Peter reminds us, we’re to honor Christ in our hearts and be zealous to do good, part of which is to give an account of the hope that is within us.
In our gospel reading for today, Jesus gives us this promise, He will dwell with us and will be with us. He will never leave us as orphans. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Daily prayer and study of God’s words are necessary for us to understand what we believe and prepare us to give an account. We don’t have to worry about getting all our words perfect, we can trust that the Holy Spirit will help us as we share God’s good news. We must be prepared to share God’s love and mercy to anyone who will listen; it could mean the difference between life or death for someone.
Amen.