Year A Proper 8 WED 2023 In The Know

 Year A Proper 8, WEDNESDAY July 5,  2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“In the Know”

Collect: Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Acts 8:14-25

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.’ Simon answered, ‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.’

Now after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.

Luke 23:1-12

Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’ Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He answered, ‘You say so.’ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’

When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

There are those who are “in the know” and those who are not. Any subject. 

I have gotten to the age where I am no longer as savvy on pop culture as I once was. My kids start blathering, I mean talking, talking, about something or other they care about on YouTube and I feel my mind shutting down and my eyes glazing over. Oh well. It happens to the best of us. They are in the know and I most certainly am not. And honestly I do not really want to be. I am comfortably clueless.

Herod and Pilate had no idea how serious this situation was and played hot potato with Jesus to appease the Sanhedrin. They knew to pretend to care to get it over with, and it says they even bonded in friendship over this while they looked down their noses together at this silly Jewish preacher who thought so much of himself.

They were definitely not in the know.

Simon in our Acts reading was much the same as far as being clueless, but for him it was about the Holy Spirit being a commodity that could be exchanged. A little cash, and voila! Unlimited power! The Holy Spirit does not work that way.

Friends, to get what they were giving there is nothing we can give or do to receive it other than accept it. It is a gift, a grace, the Greek word xapis (charis) which is the root of Charisma, and by itself translates as Grace is what we are talking about.

When we baptize our people and mark them as Christ’s own forever it starts, and when the Bishop lays hands on them in confirmation it is down a millenia long line of succession that leads from Jesus through the ages to us today. And that line of faith, that line of hope, that line of being in the know is beautiful, and fragile, and holy. Thanks be to God.

When we bump into those Herods and Pilates and Simons who reduce our gifts to something small and of no import it says more about them than us. May we hold precious that gift given to us, the Christ who saves us, the Spirit who guides us, and the Father who made us. May they see the precious nature of this relationship and want to have it, too. And may we be there to offer it to them. Amen