Sermon for Tuesday after Pentecost
“I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly”
The Monday and Tuesday after Pentecost elaborate upon the Pentecostal theme of our new life in the Spirit. It is about life and light, the life and the light of God which redeems and sanctifies our lives. The days of Pentecost remind us of what belongs to our lives in faith: we participate in the life of God opened out to us by the Word and the Spirit of God. We are gathered into the mystery of the Trinity, the communion of the Divine Life.
The Gospel for the Monday after Pentecost reminds us that “God so loved the world” even in the face of the darkness of sin and evil. It reminds us of the triumph, always, of good over evil, of light over darkness. The Gospel for the Tuesday after Pentecost speaks to our entering into that divine life through Jesus. He is, as he says, “the door” through which we enter into this new and abundant life, the life of God. The readings from The Book of The Acts of The Apostles on both days reveal the stages through which we enter into an understanding of the spiritual reality of God, showing us that is about Word and Spirit, both together and in a kind of harmony.
“I am the door,” Jesus says, “the door of the sheep” who hear and know his voice. In the power of the Spirit, Jesus is calling us to himself in his love for the Father. He is come, he says, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” the super-abundant life of God poured out upon us through the power of the Spirit. “Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire and enlighten with celestial fire.”
“I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly”
Fr. David Curry
Tuesday after Pentecost
May 26th, 2015