Expectant Sunday
THE SUNDAY AFTER ASCENSION
This past Thursday evening we observed and celebrated the feast of our Lord's ascension into heaven. And I attempted to draw out the theological implications of this glorious event, which is forever recorded in St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles. As Christians, we believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and forty days later was lifted up into the cloud and taken into the heavens where he is rightfully enthroned as King over all of creation. The theological implication being that Jesus Christ, the perfect man, has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe to one day dwell with Him in body and soul. But this first Sunday after Christ's ascension is in some ways more pastoral than theological. Today, we are being led to consider what it means to wait on the promises of God.
Since the earliest days, this first Sunday after the Feast of the Ascension has been known as Dominica Expectationis, Expectant Sunday. As it is the only Lord's Day between His Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost. Expectant Sunday is meant to represent the period during which the Apostles were obeying the command of their Master, when "He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father" [Acts 1:4].
Jesus told his disciples to wait for the promise. The promise was the baptism with the Holy Ghost, which would be fulfilled ten days later on the first Pentecost. Our Lord said to them "John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." The last command he gave them on earth was a directive to await the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Jerusalem. What was Jesus asking of them in making this request?
First, they had to exercise self-denial. The Lord commanded them to go back to Jerusalem and wait there. Jerusalem, back to the place where their Master had been crucified. Back to the city where they had to hide behind locked doors fearing for their very lives. Back to the memory of their former cowardice and bouts of unbelief. Of all the places in the world, they were told to wait in Jerusalem! And this they did, by denying their natural inclination towards safety. They made an active choice to go against every human instinct- dying to themselves- and returned as Jesus had commanded.
Waiting for God to act and fulfill his promises, no matter how hopeful we are, is a difficult path filled with many crossroads. "Should I jump ship and take another course?" Or, "Have I waited long enough, maybe it’s time to take action?" And sometimes we simply decide it’s better to just give up. We typically don't wait well. But God allows us to wait on him to accelerate the process of dying to self: dying to self-determination and impatience.
And yet, we are called to be content with God's provision and timing in our waiting. Contentedness and patience are challenging (I know). They are difficult because they are contrary to fallen human nature. Even contrary to sons and daughters regenerated by the Holy Spirit. To wait patiently on the Lord, as the writer of Psalm forty, is to deny our natural inclinations and cling to patience, “waiting patiently for the Lord who will incline and hear our cry.” Deferring to God's wisdom: waiting on his timing and provision even when we find ourselves back in our 'Jerusalem.' We are to die to impatience and the Spirit of discontentment, which quickly suffocates the soul, casting ourselves upon God's grace, timing, and provision.
And, our waiting should be filled with confident expectation. Confident because of hope. Hopeful because the One who promises is faithful; he will keep his promises; he will not keep us waiting forever. Waiting means anticipation, expectation, a confident hope that something will take place. Ultimately, waiting on the Lord is like waiting on the sun to rise— we shall not remain shrouded in darkness for the day will break. Remember, "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Surely the apostles expected Jesus to keep his promise to send the Holy Spirit as evidenced by their return to Jerusalem. Though potentially at risk for their lives, they were confident that in Jerusalem the Spirit would be given unto them as promised.
They were expectant, confident, and hopeful because they knew and trusted Jesus. They knew he would deliver. For, their ability to wait on the Lord was wholly derived from their sure confidence in knowing who God is. You see, we will wait an eternity if we are confident in the character and nature of the One who promises. Beloved, hear this: He who promises is faithful and trustworthy, "with [Him] there is no variation or shadow of turning." Why then, would we ever doubt the God who moved heaven and earth to redeem us from death, and by sacrificing himself, has brought us into everlasting life? Why be skeptical of the Covenant-Keeper who remains faithful even when we aren't? Why give up on Him from lack of patience and run ahead on our own instead of looking to our father Abraham, who (as the writer of Hebrews reminds us), waited patiently and received what God promised him (Heb 6:13-15).
Why question His wisdom, His love, timing, and understanding of every situation even when we find ourselves in the longest of exiles? He will hear and act. So instead, let us wait expectantly and with great confidence because we know God: his nature, his purposes, and his love. Friends, here the writer of Hebrews once more who exhorts us to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful" (Heb 10:23). If you call God your Father, then you know Him, and he knows you, the endure patiently and wait with hopeful expectation, for the promise will come.
St. Peter makes a remarkable statement in today's epistle writing: "The end of all things is at hand." Now, we don't often think of the resurrection and ascension of Christ as the beginning of the end of the world, but in reality, this is precisely what it signifies. We are living in the End of Days. You see, the supreme event of history has already taken place, Jesus has overcome death and ascended into heaven. These last days are but an epilogue to the climax of history which has already occurred; Christ has ascended! An epilogue of time given for people to come to terms with the Christ-Event and its meaning for their lives. Thus, our present life is marked by waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the grand finale of all of human history. So like the apostles, we live waiting in expectancy, between his ascension and imminent return, hoping for the promised One to come and judge the quick and the dead, and when he does, we fully expect him to finally put things back to rights and settle each and every account.
But our waiting for the promised return of Christ is not spent passively, but sober and alert, actively devoted to prayer and good works. Hear St. Peter again, "The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer." The waiting life is watchful. Watchful unto prayer at all times with vigilance and humility and sobriety. We are to have our wits about us, remaining temperate in both mind and body; temperance facilitates vigilance, and both aid our prayers. The waiting life is not only prayerful but does the work of God. "And above all things," says St. Peter, "have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." Love never waits, it acts, it does with great fervor. It is a sustained, constant, and sometimes strenuous effort, but a love stretched to its limits is often what's necessary when times are tough when patience is waning, and hope begins to fade. Tough love "covers a multitude of sins."
What does this mean? From whom are sins covered up? We know that only God does the covering activity in forgiveness, which King David had experienced on such a deep level of which he sings in verse one of Psalm thirty-two, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Peter is not saying that our love atones for or makes up for our many sins or anyone else's. Instead, he is talking about love overcoming, overwhelming, and overriding a multitude of sins and winning the day!
We are to continually love our brothers and sisters in Christ who may be hard to love and may even wrong us. Why? Because Christian love forgives and indeed overlooks a multitude of sins. This same apostle once asked our Lord, "how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Mt 18:21-22). Beloved, we wait expectantly, hopefully, prayerfully, and with fervent charity.
The baptized life is one lived in anticipation of Christ's return, awaiting the consummation of all things, the end of the age, and the dawning of eternal life. But, until then, we will wait a million times for other things to pass. Waiting to graduate. Waiting to hear whether we got the job or not. Waiting for this and for that. And we will wait a million more times on God. Will my son ever return to church? When will the Lord get me out of this or that circumstance, hardship, or suffering? Everyone will experience their own "back in Jerusalem" moments, just as the apostles who waited for the promised Holy Spirit.
Beloved, waiting on God can be a very difficult thing to do. This is why we need to die to our base inclinations; confident and expectant because we know the One who promises; fervent in love, and we need to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to perform his sanctifying and uplifting work of grace to enable us, who by our very nature, are earth-bound sinners to become heaven-bound saints by grace. For the true home of the pilgrim people of God is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. And there, in Jerusalem, promise awaits. Hear the words of Isaiah:
“And thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
And there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.” Amen+
