sermons & Illuminations

First Reading: Acts 7:55-60
We are now midway through the 50 days of Eastertide, and our Sunday readings turn from the resurrection of Jesus to our own hope of new life and resurrection through Christ. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the church, at the hands of an angry mob. This reading also introduces Saul, a Pharisee who, we are told in these verses, approved of this violent, brutal killing. Later in Acts, Saul undergoes a startling conversion experience and becomes Paul, who would spread the church across the Mediterranean world.

Psalm: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
“Into your hands I commit my spirit.” Both Jesus, dying on the cross, and Stephen, dying under stones thrown by his community, uttered this same verse from Psalm 31. Even in the painful moment of death by violence, they confessed their faith. The Psalmist, too, seeking refuge and rescue, trusts in the loving-kindness and protection that comes with placing one’s self in God’s hands. Begging God to hear his call, to be his stronghold, his rock and castle, the Psalmist asks God to listen and to save him.

Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10
The author of the first letter of Peter turns to the Hebrew Bible to find inspiration for a suffering people. Writing for the persecuted church in Asia Minor a few generations after the crucifixion, the author draws from the Psalms and the prophets to frame the message: Do not stumble and fall on a stone as Isaiah’s people had done, but grow into salvation like infants nourished on pure, spiritual milk.

Gospel: John 14:1-14
In this passage from John’s long account of Jesus’s talk with his apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus tells them that he is going to go ahead to prepare a place for them. He tries to reassure them, telling them not to let their hearts be troubled; but they worry all the same, fearful because he is leaving and confused about what he means. Thomas asks how they will know the way, and Jesus responds with these familiar words: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This is Jesus’s comforting word to his fearful disciples. Jesus himself is all they need; there is no need to be afraid. To know Jesus is to know God, right now and right here as we seek God’s kingdom on earth.