Bulletin for Sunday, May 17, 2026
Cat Goodrich
Faith Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD
May 17, 2026
Where did he go?
Luke 24:44-53
I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago with my clergy group, and in addition to meeting with a preaching professor and a church historian from Columbia Theological Seminary, we spent a morning at the Carter Center – Jimmy Carter’s human rights organization’s headquarters and his Presidential Library. To tell the truth, I was not completely enthusiastic about the visit. I’d been before, and though the grounds are beautiful, and though I believe Carter had an inspiring post- Presidential life, I wasn’t overly eager to look back on Carter’s four years in the White House. Hostages and a gas shortage and cardigans in the oval office? And yet, it was fascinating to look back on that time, to see and to hear a President so dedicated to the work of building peace, and decreasing our dependance on fossil fuels. In fact, tucked into a corner about halfway through the exhibit, I saw something that shocked me. A long, black rectangle attached to the wall – a solar panel, that Carter had installed on the roof of the white house in 1979.
That was almost 50 years ago. Reagan tore them down in ’86. More panels were installed during the Obama administration, they might still be there now if they weren’t on the East wing. But now, we’re months deep in a war with Iran, and the strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil must pass through before it reaches other markets – is still closed. Oil tankers are being sunk, spilling their cargo in the sea. Gas is almost $5 a gallon, and it’s going to cost so much to fly
1 Carter, Jimmy, qtd. in “The Forgotten Story of Jimmy Carter’s White House Solar Panels,” John Wihbey, Yale Climate Connections, February 21, 2023, https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/02/the-forgotten-story-of- jimmy-carters-white-house-solar-panels/
this summer that Spirit Airlines just went bankrupt. And with temps soaring into the 90’s this week, it seems like we’re starting what will likely be the hottest summer on record. While the Trump Administration has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to stop offshore wind developments, ended EV subsidies, opened countless acres of protected land to drilling, and closed it to the last remaining wild buffalo herds. Seems like we who care about the future of this planet, and humanity’s ability to thrive here, have plenty to despair over. But I’ve read a couple of different analyses of the unintended consequences of this war that give me cause for hope. See, some economists are saying that the oil price shock is driving more and more consumers and countries towards renewable energy. They’re saying that the petroleum industry may have passed the point of no return, never to regain primacy in the market. One journalist wrote, “solar arrays can’t be embargoed, and wind can’t be stopped by a blockade.” 2 The necessary shift to renewable energy is picking up speed, may have even be pushed into hyperdrive, thanks to the current crisis. I can’t imagine how terrified and dejected the disciples must have been when Jesus was crucified. Their leader publicly humiliated, and their movement, all but stopped. According to Rome, that should’ve been the end of it. But on this side of Easter, some 2000 years later, it’s clear that the Jesus movement was only just beginning. So what happened? What was the spark that ignited this disciples’ preaching and teaching, their witness to the power of life and love to transform the world as it is into what God promises it shall be? In the gospel of Luke, it happened in just 24 hours in Jerusalem and its suburb, Bethany. Our passage this morning finds the risen Christ with the disciples, right before he ascends to heaven, or wherever he goes – which is why this seventh Sunday of Easter is called “Ascension Sunday.” This is just after he appears on the road to Emmaus, walking with Cleopas and another disciple, and then disappears
after breaking bread. The text tells us Jesus then appears a few hours later, back in Jerusalem, among the disciples who are hidden away in fear, behind locked doors. He greets them with words of peace, invites them to touch him and see
2 Sobieski, Mitchell, “How Trumps Vanity War in Iran has Doomed the Oil Industry as Nations Seek Clean Energy Security,” Milwaukee Independent, May 16, 2026, https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/explainers/trumps- vanity-war-iran-doomed-oil-industry-nations-seek-clean-energy-security/
that he is real, and eats a piece of fish in their presence. Evidently, his resurrected body looks different than it did before (why else would the Cleopas and his friend not recognize him on the road?) but the author wants us to know that the risen Jesus is not just a phantom or a trick of the mind. Doubt looms large over this story – the gospel writer says, the disciples were joyful but also, “they were disbelieving and still wondering.” I would be, wouldn’t you, if someone I knew were dead showed up, asking for fish. Then, as he has so often done, he teaches them – opening their minds to understand the sacred texts, the same way he must have done for Cleopas and the other disciple on the walk to Emmaus. And he gives them a task: to be witnesses. To tell others what they’ve seen and experienced, to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins, to all nations. Not right away, though. They are to wait, until God “clothes them with power.” Then he leads them out of the city, two miles out to Bethany, where he blesses them, and then withdraws from them, to be carried into heaven. Bethany, remember, is where his march into Jerusalem began – near the Mt. of Olives. So maybe it makes sense that he would lead them back there, in a very different sort of procession – quiet, no palms – with Christ in a very different sort of body, before he leaves completely. New Testament scholar Margaret Aymer tells us that this is the only time in the gospel where he blesses people. 3 Prior to this, in his ministry, he blesses bread before he breaks it, but this is the only time his hands are raised in blessing over people, his disciples, his flock. With his blessing, he’s equipping them, sending them out with food for the journey, preparing them to wait for the power that is coming. And then, …he disappears. The disciples return to Jerusalem in joy, going back to where Luke’s story began – where else but to the temple, where the angel first appeared to old Zechariah, striking him dumb when he refuses to believe the good news proclaimed to him that his wife would become pregnant and bear a child, who would be God’s messenger – John, the one who paved the way for the promised one, calling
3 Aymer, Margaret, “Commentary on Luke 24:44-53” in Preach this Week, May 14, 2026, Working Preacher from Luther Seminary, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ascension-of-our- lord/commentary-on-luke-2444-53-12
people to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins! It comes full circle, then, at the end – with the disciples, also charged with calling people to repentance for the forgiveness of sins – rejoicing in the temple together as they wait for the power that is promised to them. So, they return to the temple, to wait. We know now that they’re waiting for the arrival of the Spirit – next Sunday is Pentecost, after all. Though they don’t know that yet, something has shifted in them – they’ve traded their mourning clothes for something more joyful. The appearance of the risen Christ has pushed back the shadows of despair and planted hope in their hearts once more. The empire executed him, but he did not stay dead. See, the actions of empire can have unintended consequences. Just as land scorched after a wildfire becomes fertile ground for a new forest, the disciples are transformed into apostles of the good news when they glimpse the face of their risen Lord among them. God’s promise of redemption still holds.
And look around. He lives, doesn’t he? Is his promise of new life not rooted in the new trees growing at the north end of our property? Reflected in the wildflowers blooming even now where concrete once was choked with weeds? Can you not see him, feel him in this place, and in every place where grace and hospitality are extended to those in need? Rome couldn’t have anticipated it, wouldn’t have guessed that with God all things are possible! God can work even
through the evil machinations of empire to bring about the restoration of creation. So friends, hold on. Yes, we are months deep in a war for oil that Congress did not authorize, which none of us want, that is raining bombs on innocent people and sending inflation sky high and worse. But the actions of empire have unintended consequences. There may be hope for us yet.
