SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Acts 1:12-14
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Psalm 27:1, 4, 7-8
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek.
1 Peter 4:13-16
Beloved:
Rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.
John 17:1-11a
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
(NRSVCE) Meditation
"If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you." It is confusing to us when people who seem fine or normal, for some unknown reason have a negative reaction to us. These days, Christian persecution is increasing and hostility is being shown regarding the laws of nature and sin and death. People resent hearing any sort of rebuke or call to holiness. They do not want to listen or even allow the Christian a chance to speak his message.
Jesus knew when he ascended to the Father that we would suffer persecution and he prayed especially for his followers. His great gift then was the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, or advocate and counselor, who would rest on the disciples and remain with them. He explained that the sufferings would be a source of joy. We should be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. It is a privilege to suffer for the sake of the name of the Lord. Unlike the just suffering of those who break the law or are selfish and controlling, the sufferings of the Christian are redemptive. They are not a disgrace.
Today, we offer our crosses and our sufferings to the Lord who claims us as his own when we suffer and is there with us, helping us shoulder our own crosses.