Easter 2 (NL2) John B. Valentine
Acts 1:1-16 April 7, 2024

“ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION”

It’s an event was purported to have taken place near the turn of the last century ... no ... not that Y2K Millennium thing where we were partying like it was 1999 ... the turn of the previous century ... from the 1800's to the 1900's ....

Back in the days when trains were king and cars were new ...

Back before automated crossing gates and flashing signals and all that ...

There was a train wreck ... involving a freight train and multiple vehicles ... in a collision at a railroad crossing ...

And it apparently resulted in the death of a substantial number of people.

Anyhow ... the powers-that-be held a trial to assess responsibility ... and liability ... for that event and those fatalities ...

And during the course of that trial it became clear that the witness under the most scrutiny was the crossing guard who’d been on duty that evening ...

A man whose job it was to watch and listen for oncoming trains ... and then to step out of his shed and wave a warning lamp to stop cross traffic so an oncoming train could pass.

So repeatedly during the trial ... whenever the signalman was on the witness stand ... the attorneys badgered him in countless different ways — "Did you wave your lamp? Did you wave your lamp? Did you wave your lamp?"

And each time they asked ... the signalman answered "Yes! I waved my lamp."

And it came to pass that the signalman was found innocent ... and the railroad was found not to be liable ... for the deaths that occurred that night.

But following the trial ... the defense attorney was speaking with the signalman ... and he happened to comment: "I was really frightened that you were going to answer "NO" when they asked if you'd waved your lamp."

To which the signalman responded, "I was only afraid they were going to ask if my lamp was lit .............."

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Seriously ... it WAS an awful tragedy took place that day ... but I love that story as a story.

• It’s relatable ...
• It’s imaginable ... and ...
• It’s memorable.

And I have referenced that account at least a couple of times over the past two decades during my tenure here in this pulpit...

On Confirmation Day ... or Pentecost Day ... or something like that ....

Some day wherein I’m inviting ... encouraging ... exhorting you folks to shine your lights!

But today ... just today ... I want to look at the story from a different angle.

Not from the angle of the signalman ... but from the angle of the prosecuting attorney.

For that story isn’t just about the failure of the signalman to let his light shine ...

No ... it’s also a story about a team of attorneys who failed to ask the right question ... and did ask the wrong question ... and lost a case on account of it.

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“Asking the wrong questions.” Can you relate to that?

I somehow suspect that many of us can.

After all ...

Management guru Peter Drucker once said that “The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”

And one of the best examples you might ever find of someone or someones “asking the wrong question” is found in this morning’s Bible lesson!

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You see ... this morning’s Scripture lesson comes to us from the opening chapter of the Book of Acts.

Now ... I don’t know how many of you know this ... but the biblical book we call “Acts” is the sequel to the book we know as “The Gospel of Luke”.

With the Gospel of Luke being Luke’s retelling of the life and the life-history of Jesus ...

And Acts ... a.k.a Luke Part II ... being the life and the life-history of the early church.

And so the Book of Acts starts off with that bit that Nina read...

By situating the story in the days immediately after Jesus’ resurrection ... appropriately enough ... for these days right after Easter.

And then hearing Jesus remind his first friends and followers that they need to WAIT.

TO WAIT ...

Not to leave Jerusalem ... “But to wait there for the promise of the Father.”

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Now here’s the funny thing about this lesson.

We KNOW the general trajectory of this story ...

We KNOW that this event is the opening event of a whole book about the story of the early church ...

We KNOW ... given our hindsight ... that there’s a whole lot more to follow.

But Jesus’ first friends and followers ... back in the day ... they didn’t know that!

They were UNCERTAIN about how the story went and how long the story went.

They had NO CLUE if Jesus’ promised return was going to happen five days from now or five months from now or five millennia from now.

So imagine you’re watching this new show on Netflix or Amazon Prime or maybe Acorn TV.

• And you’ve seen the first couple of episodes of that show ...
• And you really like the characters ...
• And you really like the story-line ...
• And you really like the setting.

How long ... honestly ... does it take you before you pull out your phone and do a bit of investigation about how long that series lasts ... how many episodes it has ... whether or not it gets renewed?

(Or maybe just go back to the programming notes on the show to find an answer to those questions or something like that.)

In any event ... don’t you watch that show in a completely different way if you believe that you are watching the last episode of a series than if you’re watching one of the early episodes of a long-running series?

You’re looking for closure if you’re watching the final episode of a series ...

And you’re looking for clues if the show still has episodes and seasons to run.

But Jesus’ first disciples didn’t have that luxury.

They didn’t know that they were in the beginning episodes of that centuries-long story we call ‘the history of the church’ ...

Rather they assumed that they were living through the closing episode of a relatively short drama that concluded with the coming of the Kingdom.

So the question they posed of their teacher was a simple “When?” ... “How long?” ... “How much longer are we going to have to wait, Jesus?”

“WHEN, LORD, ARE YOU GOING TO USHER IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD?”

Problem is ... that was the WRONG QUESTION!

And thus ... as gently as he can ... Jesus let’s them know that that is the wrong question.

He says:

“It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

“You’re asking the wrong question, friends. It’s not a ‘when’ question you should be asking ... it’s a WHO question”

“And the answer to that question is .......... YOU!”

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Now ... obviously ... we at this point KNOW that the history of the Church is a centuries and millennia long story ...

But I can’t help but wonder with all the ways we still get the question wrong.

I mean ... we love ... we still love ... to ask “when” questions ...

• When will the Rapture be?

• When will American Christians figure out that Christian nationalism is antithetical to everything the Scriptures bear witness to?

• When will the Synod finally become fiscally-responsible?

• When will our building project be finished so that have our Coffee Fellowship space back?

We love to ask “WHEN questions” ... I think ... in part ... because “when” questions demand nothing of us ... they ask us to take no personal responsibility ... they allow us to just watch our watches and expect somebody else to get to work.

But Jesus didn’t want his first friends and followers to get stuck on “when” questions ... and I don’t think that he wants US to get stuck there either.

Rather ... Jesus turned the disciples’ question into a WHO and a HOW question ...

• And the answer to the “WHO” was “YOU” ...

• And the answer to the “HOW” was “With the power which I will give you.”

And I think .... still to this day ... Jesus doesn’t want his first friends and followers to get stuck on “when” questions ... and I don’t think that he wants US to get stuck there either.

No ... Jesus is STILL turning our questions from ‘when’s to ‘who’s and ‘how’s

• And the answer to those ‘who’ questions is still “YOU” ...

• And the answer to those ‘how’ questions is still “With the power which I will give you.”

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You know how I started this sermon with one of my all-time favorite sermon stories?

Let me end it with another of my favorites ...

• A story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody ...

• A story entitled “Whose Job Is It, Anyway?”

Once upon a time there were four people ... Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

And there was an important job to be done.

Now ...

• Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

• Honestly, Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

• Then Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.

• Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

• It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

Now ... that story may be confusing but its message is clear.

Jesus is STILL turning our questions from ‘when's to ‘who's and ‘how's

• And the answer to those ‘who' questions is still "YOU" ...

• And the answer to those ‘how' questions is still "With the power which I will give you."

THINK ON THESE THINGS ....