Acts
1: 15–17, 21–26; Psalm 1; I John 5: 9–13; John 17: 6–19
This is the homily given
at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, May 13,
2018.
“TO KNOW GOD
AND TO MAKE GOD KNOWN”
(Homily texts: Acts 1: 15–17, 21–26 & John 17: 6-19)
To
know God and to make God known…..
This
statement would encompass everything we are doing here during service this
morning, and it would also encompass everything that we set ourselves to doing
in the everyday world in which we move, day in and day out.
To
know God…..Two of our Scripture texts for this morning make clear just how
important it is to come to know God, and to know God personally as God is
revealed in the person, work, teachings, life, death and resurrection of God’s
only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Our
reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles relates to us the choosing of
a replacement for Judas Iscariot after Judas had committed suicide in the wake
of his having betrayed the Lord, Luke, the writer of the Gospel text which
bears his name as well as the Book of Acts, relates to us the process for the
choosing of Judas’ replacement. But the text also tells us about the
qualifications for the two persons who were nominated: The main qualification
was that Justus (who was also known as Barsabbas or Joseph) and Matthias were
both disciples of the Lord throughout the Lord’s earthly ministry. St. Peter
states this qualification by saying, “….one of the men who have accompanied us during
all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the
baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us….”
So
the important point here is that these two men had had the virtually the same
training and exposure as the inner circle of the twelve Disciples (who would
soon become Apostles) had had.
By
this process, both Justus and Matthias had come to know God through their
witnessing of all the things that Jesus did and taught.
By
the same measure, the original twelve Disciples had come to know God through
their interaction and discipleship of the Lord. In our Gospel text for this
morning, we hear the Lord’s prayer (often known as Jesus’ “High Priestly
Prayer”) that they will remember, as they go out into the world, that He has
made known to them everything that the Father has given Him. Furthermore, the
Lord prays that these twelve (minus Judas eventually, but then with Matthias)
will be convicted of the truth that He, Jesus, has come from the Father, and
that the choosing of these original twelve is the act of the Father in giving
them to the Son.
To
know God, and to make God known…..
The
process of coming to know God ourselves is designed in such a way that we are
called to make God known to the world.
Again,
we turn to our texts which are appointed for this morning.
Peter
states that the reason for the choosing of a replacement for Judas is so that
the one chosen will be “a witness with us to his (the Lord’s) resurrection.”
This “witness” of which Peter talks will involve, eventually, martyrdom for
each of the Apostles (except one, tradition tells us). The word “martyr” comes
to us from the Greek, where it means “witness.” The members of this original
band of the Lord’s followers were committed to spreading the Good News so
fervently that it eventually cost them their lives.
The
Lord’s charge to His disciples carries with it the mandate to go out and make
God known to the wider world. In His prayer, Jesus prays, “As you have sent me
into the world, so I have sent them into the world….”
The
charge given to that original group of followers now comes to us.
One
of the main things we are doing here in church this morning is to come to know
God more and more deeply and more and more fully. After all, how can we share
the Good News of God in Christ if we, ourselves, don’t know that Good News in
all its fullness and in all its truth?
So
we hear Holy Scripture read. We reflect on the readings that are put before us
in this service in the homily (hopefully, that homily is worth listening to at
least a little bit!). We affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. We
receive the Lord in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, under the elements of
bread and wine. We commune with (become one with) the Lord in this holy feast.
Then,
we are sent out into the world to change the world into God’s image, making God
known so that the kingdom of God might be advanced. Little bit by little bit,
each one of us, doing our part to transform the world into the reality that God
will bring about totally and completely someday, advances God’s cause and God’s
will.
So
our charge is to “know God and to make God known.” May the Holy Spirit enable
us in this sacred work.
AMEN.
