Based on Acts 1:6-11, Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:44-53
In the early years of the United States, everyday people had fairly open access to the President. President Jefferson was the first person to state that the White House was the “people’s house” and should be open to them during the day. During times of war access to power was restricted, but in peace time, Presidents would open the grounds and the house to John and Jane Q. Public. President Jackson allowed a large crowd of people into the White House to help eat an enormous block of cheese. It wasn’t until the U.S. entered World War II that access to the White House became permanently restricted. Incidents since then have added extra layers to the security surrounding the President, until today, it requires a member from the House of Representatives or Senate to vouch for you and a thorough search of your personal records and person before you are let inside.
Human access to power has always had some limitations – it’s one of the key aspects of how someone wields power. Author Marilyn Frye notes in her book, “The Politics of Reality” that “…Differences of power are always manifested in asymmetrical access. The President of the United States has access to almost everybody for almost anything he might want of them, and almost nobody has access to him. The super-rich have access to almost everybody; almost nobody has access to them…The creation and manipulation of power is constituted of the manipulation and control of access….”
We can observe this asymmetrical access to power from ancient times. The Roman Emperor, the Senators and Equestrians, everyone who was not a Plebian enjoyed some level of restricted access. The reality is that as one moved up in the ranks of society, they left behind those below them. Through the well-developed system of patronage, more powerful people could financially control those below them – the more people one controlled in this way, the greater their perceived power. The Temple structure in Jerusalem mirrored this system all the way to the Chief Priest.
Jesus came to level the playing field and to dismantle the human power structures in place in society and the Temple. Throughout his ministry he accessed God’s loving power to heal, to restore, to redeem, to convert and to empower. His death and subsequent Resurrection broke the power of death, opened access to the Holy of Holies, broke the power of the High Priest, and provided direct access to power through the Holy Spirit to all his disciples. This is what our scripture readings teach us today.
The readings from the Gospel according to Luke and the Book of Acts are linked as they are written by the same author. Luke’s Gospel ends up with Jesus’ ascension into heaven on Easter day, while his Acts of the Apostles opens with Jesus having been with the disciples for 40 days before his Ascension. Luke tells us that Jesus promised access to God’s power, but they had to wait in Jerusalem for it. They witnessed his ascension and then were continually in the temple worshiping God. In Acts, the author states that access to power will come when the disciples are baptized in the Holy Spirit. At that point, they will be empowered to witness to the gospel of Jesus from Jerusalem throughout the world.
Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus opens with a prayer of thanksgiving for how they are loving each other and all God’s people. It then tells us how the fullness of the Godhead is present to us, that we have access to the power of the Trinity – our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Paul goes on to tell us that Christ spans the universe, for although he is seated in the heights of the universe, highest above all things, he is also the head of his body, which is the church. He reveals to us that the Christ is not somehow beyond our telescopes but is here, gathered with us always, constituting “the body of Christ,” present in the bread and the cup that we will share in a few moments. Jesus has ascended back to the Father, but His transformative loving power remains accessible to us through presence of the Holy Spirit.
This uninhibited access to God’s power has been pivotal in the growth and continuation of Christ’s Church throughout the world. The twelve disciples could not have accomplished much on their own without the Holy Spirit leading and empowering them. Author, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, in her book, “Men and Women of the Corporation” speaks about how power works in our world and how sharing power accomplishes truly remarkable outcomes. She writes, “…Power is the ability to get things done, to mobilize resources, to get and use whatever it is that a person needs for the goals he or she is attempting to meet. In this way, a monopoly on power means that only very few have this capacity, and they prevent the majority of others from being able to act effectively. Thus, the total amount of power - and total system effectiveness - is restricted, even though some people seem to have a great deal of it. However, when more people are empowered - that is, allowed to have control over the conditions that make their actions possible - then more is accomplished, more gets done….”
The access to power of the Holy Spirit was egalitarian, it allowed the disciples to act in ways that unleashed God’s power to share the good news of Jesus and to convert ever more people. We will hear next week how on that first Pentecost some 3000 people were converted. Many thousands more would be added, so many that the disciples had to add a new layer of helper, the deacons, in order to continue to care for those that God had given to them.
Humans most often want to have increased access to power to hoard it, to keep as much as they can for themselves. They want to use it to control situations and people, to bend both to their will and their preferred outcome, which is usually to increase their personal wealth and power. This is why kings and autocrats seldom last. The power of the State becomes more and more restricted and restrictive and thus disempowers the creativity and energy of most of the population.
God, on the other hand, gives access to power to all to empower people to accomplish God’s goals in our world. The Ascension of Jesus brought all people the opportunity to access God’s power through the Holy Spirit, and thus to unlock each person’s potential to work with God to use their gifts to create a better world. The Ascension of Jesus marked the end of his earthly ministry, but the coming of the Holy Spirit would continue what he began and make it possible for us to be here this morning. None of the remarkable witness and growth of the Church of Jesus Christ would have been possible without direct access to God’s power. Thanks be to God, that the Holy Spirit is still empowering us today. Amen and amen!