Faithful Presence: Embody Hope

2nd Sunday Pentecost June 2, 2024

Texts for this sermon are Ephesians 1:15-21 and Luke 24:44-53

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, [18] so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, [19] and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

[20] God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, [21] far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. (Ephesians 1:15-21)

I like what Michael Bush, of Erskine Theological Seminary, says about this passage:
Adjectives and adverbs carry much of the weight, lifting abstract and spiritual-sounding concepts higher and higher, until the reader is unsure precisely what has been said but feels certain it is significant.  (Feasting on the Word, YrA, vol2, p509)

Yes, something significant has been said. And whether we get every detail or not, it inspires us and that inspiration ignites hope.

To comprehend this inspiring prayer and understand the nature of this hope, we go back to the Triumphal Entry; that splendid day when Jesus’ disciples watched as he entered the City of God to claim his throne and their own place with him.

Jesus had invited them to leave their routine lives and carried them through three years of unexpected, interesting, engaging, confusing, 
challenging, mind-blowing experiences and lessons. He’d given every indication he was the one Promised -- the Messiah. And now, all would culminate in the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.

And then they slammed into Good Friday. An inexplicable day that dashed their hope. The future they’d thought was at hand evaporated. What did their lives mean now? 

Nothing prepared them for Easter morning. Jesus had tried to tell them but they just couldn’t absorb what he said.

But Jesus rises from the grave, joins them for meals, spends time with them
and then takes them to the mountain top only to leave them again. But this time was different. This time, 

Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures,  
and he told them that they would 
be clothed with power from on high 
referring to the baptism by the Holy Spirit.

So they returned, joyful, to Jerusalem and spent their time in the temple, praising God. Praising God because while Jesus didn’t say to them what Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians, Jesus conveyed to them the same truth: that God’s “immeasurable power” had been at work all along, that God had given them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that they would be enlightened and that that enlightenment would equip them to know the hope to which they were called.

Triumphal Entry
Good Friday
Easter
Ascension

These highs and lows, these hope inspiring, hope dashing events mirror
the cadence of our lives, do they not? Our lives are mapped by times when God is close and our way clear and times when God feels far away and our way mired with doubt and dismay, followed by a fresh awakening of God’s goodness and love.

What we all would do well to remember, is that our hope is not grounded on the ups and downs of our lives though having gone through a few of those cycles can help us hold steady. No, the grounding of our hope is God and the work God has accomplished through Christ.

Ephesians tells us God gives us grace, peace, spiritual blessings, forgiveness, redemption, knowledge of God’s will, an inheritance, the Holy Spirit, wisdom. And that through Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to remain faithful, are showered with spiritual blessings, and can comprehend that God chooses us -- seeks us -- longs for us.

And in light of this, we are to believe, to walk in a manner worthy of God’s 
great grace and work, with humility, gentleness, patience with others; we are to seek 
unity, wisdom, love, and exhibit goodness and righteousness.

Ephesians tells us that there is nothing that is outside of God’s reach; that all things are under Christ’s authority. So as we face times of darkening shadows or think whatever hard thing is too much to bear or that there will never be a better day, we can claim the Easter reality and Ascension Promises of the God who loves us and has all things in hand.

In the words of Samuel Wells, we’re talking about a God of a pining, aching, longing, yearning heart seeking to be with us now and always, and willing to go to any lengths to make it so. 

And as we claim this hope? We will display this hope. And this hope is contagious.
A contagious, faithful presence radiating from us to others.

L Quanstrom