Jesus Rules!
Commentary
Note: This installment was originally published in 2001
In golf, Tiger rules. In tennis, Venus. Depending upon which teen you talk with, either Ricky rules, or Brittney does. In Iraq, Saddam rules -- for now. In America, the people rule, despite what some political cynics or party technocrats say. For Christians wherever, Jesus rules!
One might think that such a theme would more appropriately be served on Christ the King Sunday. That is at the end of the Pentecost season, six months away. The festival day of the Ascension is just as appropriate to lift up the reality of the lordship of Jesus. Viewed from the perspective of the church calendar, this day effectively closes out the "season of Christ," celebrating his position in the divine economy as it culminates his work on earth. (Christ the King Sunday closes out the "season of the church" by accenting the role of Christ in relationship to the church and the cosmos.)
An underlying question that begs our sincere attention is this: What has gained ascendency in our lives today, threatening to replace Jesus in our hearts?
Acts 1:1-11
Everybody loves a sequel, especially if the first part was so good! Sometimes the follow-up story, however, leaves one wanting; but not in this case. Luke knows a good market when he sees it. Two thousand years of history have proven him right. "In the first book, O Theophilus...." Luke penned his Gospel of the acts of Jesus, not just because everybody was doing it, but to give "an orderly account" (Luke 1:3); and, not just for the sake of the truth, but "that you may know the truth" (Luke 1:4) about Jesus -- the you referring to any Theophilus, lover of God, who may be reading the book. The knowing does not mean intellectual abstraction about God, but personal attachment to God.
Now, with the return of Jesus apparently delayed (see 1:11) and so many great things happening before his very eyes, Luke does not want the acts of the apostles to be misunderstood or forgotten. So, he takes pen in hand once again and constructs a narrative that could just as easily be titled "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." It is designed to make sense to anyone who is already familiar with the story of Jesus; yet, it is told in such a way that even those unfamiliar with Jesus are definitely introduced to him through the sermons and personal testimonies laced throughout the account. Many are brought to faith through the faithful witness of the disciples, who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The church grows, demonstrating in its daily life what believers do while they are waiting for their Lord to return.
Structurally, these introductory verses in Acts are linked to the closing verses in Luke. Luke's account of the commissioning of the disciples as witnesses (Luke 24:44-49) are recapped in Acts 1:1-5. Then, the ascension, related briefly in Luke 24:50-53, is expanded upon in Acts 1:6-11. How the disciples got out of the temple, where they were "continually... blessing God" (Luke 24:53), is what the book of Acts is all about, beginning with the Pentecost experience and spreading out into the streets of Jerusalem, onto the roads into Asia Minor, and across the waters to Rome.
Consistent with his propensity to locate his narrative in verifiable history with public figures, Luke uses the term proof 1:3 to refer to the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. This word carries a different sense than (witness), in that a witness or testimony would emphasize the person's perspective on the subject, whereas "proof" conveys the sense of credible evidence on its own merits. A witness would say, "Jesus is the risen Savior of the world." A proof would say, "Jesus walked on the path toward Emmaus at 6:00 p.m. Sunday after Passover." Both may refer to the same event, but express it differently, one focusing on the meaning and the other on the matter of the experience. In Acts, Luke does not specify the details of these proofs, although in his Gospel narrative he recounts the details of the travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-43). Paul delineates several appearances of Jesus after the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-11; John, in John 20:11-29 and 21:1-23.
Luke passes over the specifics with a reference to the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension, which is his primary focus in transition in these introductory verses. Just as the forty years of wandering in the wilderness was a complete time to judge the people for their faithlessness (Numbers 14:26-35) and just as the forty days of temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13) was a complete time to evidence Jesus' faithfulness, so too is the forty days of post-resurrection life together a complete time to convince the disciples that Jesus is indeed the risen Savior of the world to whom they will witness with the rest of their lives. (Three other significant spans of forty worth remembering, as recorded in scripture, are Genesis 7:1-5, the forty days of rain producing the flood, revealing God's judgment upon the earth; Exodus 24:12-18 and Deuteronomy 9:9-11, the forty days that Moses spent on the mountain receiving the revelation of God through the Law; and Jonah 4:3, the forty days given to Nineveh to repent.)
Ephesians 1:15-23
"Paul ... by the will of God." These are the words that begin the Letter to the Ephesians. These words thrust us right back into the book of Acts, where we read of the conversion of Saul (Acts 9). These words expose the authority and power behind the thoughts, words and actions of this singular man, who could rightly be called the theologian of the church. Though he did not write a systematics like Aquinas, Barth or Tillich, he wrote in a few preserved letters more to shape the Christian understanding of the gospel at its heart than all the other writers of Christendom.
Because the Ephesians are (Acts 1:11), in Jesus, Paul is constantly thankfully mindful of them in prayer. His intercession is that they may grow "in the knowledge of him" (1:17), which is richer and more immeasurable than the one extremely long sentence (1:15-23) in which he expressed his thoughts. David H. Stern, in his translation, Jewish New Testament, does a nice job of cutting up the meat of Paul's writing into chewable portions. (This or another translation which expresses the meaning of the text in "ear-palatable units" would be preferred by lector and worshiper alike over a reading from anything resembling the Revised Standard Version treatment of the text, as good as it is with the Greek.)
Though Paul is indeed grounded historically in the events of Jesus and the early church, he writes conceptually about them. He asks the question, "What does this mean?" In reference to the ascension that Luke recounts, Paul expresses its meaning. Jesus is not only raised from the dead; he is also intentionally and demonstrably placed at the right hand of God, the place of honor, "in the heavenly places" (1:20; spatially separate from earth, so there is no confusion of conflating heaven and earth into one sphere, making any expression of heaven but a metaphor for an enhanced experience of earth's realm). Jesus has a superior rule "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (1:21). As he expresses also in Philippians 2:9-11, Jesus' name exceeds all others; no other name can ascend higher than his. The notion of ruling is again visualized by the world as Jesus' footstool (see Psalm 110:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-27). A final image Paul uses to conceptualize the ascended state of Jesus after the resurrection is that of Jesus as the head of the body. The head fills the body with purpose as it guides its function.
When Paul writes of "the knowledge of him," he is not referring to gnostic knowledge or the secrets of the mystery religions prevalent in his day. He is directing his readers to the saving faith that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus. Notice how many times Paul uses the construct "in him" or "in Christ" in the previous verses to today's text. Because Jesus "fills all in all" (see also Colossians 3:11), believers will find their all in him. The knowledge of Jesus, which comes through a faith relationship with him (trusting his work for our welfare, as expressed in Romans 5:6-11, for example), provides the riches that are the inheritance of the saints of God. These riches are gifts like the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening presence of God, and the hope of eternal life. Paul even says that this faith relationship with Jesus is a gift from God, "the immeasurable greatness of his power in us... according to the working of his great might" (1:19). Faith in Jesus is itself a manifestation of God's power in us.
Luke 24:44-53
Is the ending of Luke's Gospel nothing more than what denouement is to the climax of a novel? Or is this actually part of the climax that keeps on building beyond the record and beyond the sequel to the beyond of beyond? The analogy of Gospel narrative to story is beneficial only to a point, because the story is decidedly different than either a novel, a docudrama, or even "real TV." We are dealing with God's dealings with the world. That is an ever-unfolding event that certainly has its accents in history (creation, call, exodus, exile, restoration, crucifixion, resurrection), but also holds promise of plot yet to be written. Luke understands this. That is why there is the explanation of consequential expectations to the work of Jesus, namely, repentance and forgiveness of sins, preaching and witnessing, waiting for empowerment from God to be about these very things, and worshiping God with joy in the meantime.
Just like he did with the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, Jesus takes time to help his disciples understand how the scriptures are fulfilled in him. The key is to look in those passages that describe the suffering Messiah (for example, Isaiah 50:6, 52:13--53:12, and Psalm 22). What this Messiah will effect is nothing less than the forgiveness of sins, which will set right the relationship with God. This message is not just for a chosen few; it is to be spread to the nations. It may begin in Jerusalem, but it is not to end until it has reached the farthest corners of the world. The power to accomplish this communication feat will not come from within a group of highly successful, self-motivated people. The power will come "from on high" (24:49). There will be -- there must be -- a divine empowerment to accomplish all this.
Just as the disciples learned to trust Jesus through his ministry with them, they would have to trust him when he gave his word about sending "the promise of my Father" (24:49). The disciples would soon learn that one fulfillment spills over into another. The promises of the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus, who in turn made promises on behalf of his heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit (refer to Acts 1:4-5). This promise would soon be fulfilled, as recounted in the opening scenes in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2).
Luke concludes his Gospel narrative in the same spirit with which he began it: with great joy! The angels announced the mood at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:10), and the disciples retained the mood after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension (24:52). This joy, no doubt, filled each day in delightful ways as they moved in and out of their routines. But one fact stands out in Luke's description of the joyful fellowship of those whose lives had been touched by Jesus. They were "in the temple" worshiping (24:53). The disciples expressed their faith in worshipful acts that had a public and corporate dimension to them. When Jesus addressed them with directions on what to do after he ascended, he spoke to them as a body. The plural form of address is used, both in the imperative verb and the pronoun. Thus, when the Holy Spirit did come upon them, "they were all together in one place" (Acts 1:2).
Application
In our post-modern world, meaning is elusive. The age of absolute faith is past. The age of absolute science is past. The age of absolute history is past. Everything is revised and considered revisable. In our efforts to make sense of an ever-changing sketch, we seek after a line of meaning to connect the dots. If the God who is God does not provide the connections of meaning for one, something else will -- whether that be Satanism, occultism, Wicca, amorphous new age spirituality, astrology, voodoo, communism, nationalism, capitalism, or nihilism, to mention a few possibilities.
Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples after his death on the cross, "speaking of the kingdom of God" (1:3). Christians today are to announce to our present world, "Jesus rules!" He is the ascended one, who claims power and authority over the world. He empowers his disciples, then and now, to witness to the meaning of life in his name. Jerusalem was the epicenter at that time, but now the whole world has become the stage on which this pronouncement is to be made. It begins in each particular locality where the church exists and expands in ever-enlarging circles. The empowerment for this to happen comes from God through the Holy Spirit, as the church is emboldened to give witness to the "witness" that is our privilege to believe and steward.
We are living in a time of anarchy of opinion. It is the result of a mindless democratization of values, which leaves citizens in a morass when it comes to making intelligent decisions. Ted Koppel makes this pithy comment in his recent book Off Camera: Private Thoughts Made Public: "The spirit of cultural diversity and political correctness is turning sour. We are in danger, in our efforts to be fair, of acceding to some wrongheaded positions, simply because they are held by someone in a minority group." The practical difficulty of such a situation reveals itself for Christian parents who cannot discern proper family commitments in their weekly schedule. They try to pack it all in and crowd out Jesus, who is to be their "all and in all" (Colossians 3:11). Worship and Christian education (whether Sunday school or confirmation or adult classes) become optional, "skippable," because of other events that "we just have to go to."
The sense of priorities that are determined by the criterion that Jesus is Lord, Jesus rules, must be reclaimed by Christians who are living next to neighbors for whom this is a foreign notion. One of the ways we can publicly witness to our faith is by being certain places at certain times with certain attitudes and behaviors that can speak louder than words. A touchy example of this would be the Christian family who chooses worship and Christian fellowship on a Sunday morning over golf, soccer, hockey, or company. A sticky example of this would be the Christian in a board meeting shaping company policy, not by the bottom line necessarily, but by what is just and equitable for the employees or customers, even if the stockholders have to "bite the bullet" this time. The Third Commandment about the sabbath has as its assumption that Jesus is Lord of the sabbath, and that his lordship extends into every day because of it. In our day, it will probably be more prickly to preach about these things than to preach about being saved by grace. Now, there's a sad commentary on the state of our hearts.
Referring to the state of our hearts, we can ask ourselves if, despite the prosperity of the past eight years, there is a prosperity of joy in our lives. When we skim across the headlines of our nation and world, observing the continued and growing need for peace, security, quality education, relief from poverty, and the exploitation of children, we must admit that human hearts are easily distracted from the one thing needful -- to have and to hold a living relationship with the Lord of life. Sin is the root cause of all that is wrong in our world. The crisis of our human culture is spiritual. Economic policies, educational methods, military posturing, welfare reforms, and legislative initiatives can only go so far in advancing the human agenda. Until there is total surrender to the will of God, there will always be the need for preaching and witnessing.
With the growth of metropolitan areas, which are attracting the population of the world into teeming centers of humanity, the instruction of Jesus takes on a new meaning today: stay in the city. A slogan that has been part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's ministry has been put on promotional buttons and reads: In the City for Good. As Christians work together in the places where humanity is at its thickest, there is strong potential for the Holy Spirit to visit the enterprise "with power from on high." Our troubled cities will benefit from such a concerted effort by the body of Christ, which will discover Christ filling all with himself wherever the heart's eye is focused on him.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts 1:1-11
Luke, the author of both the Gospel bearing his name and the book of Acts, tells us that after Jesus' resurrection, "he presented himself alive" to the apostles for forty days, "speaking of the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). Specifically, in our Gospel Lesson, Jesus makes himself known to the apostles in the breaking of bread in a village on the road to Emmaus, and after that, to the whole company of disciples, with whom he eats. He then leads them out as far as Bethany, blesses them, and departs from them (Luke 24:28-51). The account of Jesus' resurrection appearances accords with the Apostle Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 15:5-7, and is enlarged by the Fourth Gospel in John 20:19-29. Taken all together, the fact of our Lord's resurrection appearances to his followers is amply and historically supported in the Gospel accounts. And the resulting formation and growth of the church leave no doubt that the resurrection furnished the motive power for the faith and action of Christ's followers from the first century A.D. on, just as they furnish that power in our time also.
Our text from Acts sets us down during the time of those forty days of Christ's appearances, after his resurrection by God. First of all, it is a time of command. Our Lord commands the apostles to remain in Jerusalem until they receive power on high in the person of the Holy Spirit. All of them had experienced John the Baptist's water baptism for the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 3:3), but Christ has a job for them to do (cf. Matthew 28:10-20), and they cannot accomplish the job until they are empowered by God's own Spirit. They are to be the Lord's witnesses, telling of what he has said and done and of his death and resurrection, throughout Judea and Samaria and the whole Mediterranean world. But none of them is able to be such a witness unless the Spirit of Christ enables him, any more than we can be true and worthy witnesses of our Lord except we are given that Spirit. Jesus told us that apart from him, we can do nothing to contribute to the purpose and work of God (John 15:5). Either Christ lives in us and works through us, or we are ineffective Christians (cf. Isaiah 29:13-14). Superficial commitment and go-it-alone Christianity will accomplish nothing.
Second, the risen Christ's time with his disciples before his departure from them is a time of questions and answers. The apostles ask him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And we can identify with that question, can we not? The faithful in Israel had, for centuries, looked forward to the coming of the Kingdom of God, when God's Messiah would restore peace and righteousness to human life, when war and greed and enmity were abolished, when the poor and helpless were no longer oppressed and goodness was restored in human hearts, when earth was fair and fruitful and every tongue confessed God's lordship. We too long for God's kingdom to come on earth, even as it is in heaven. And in our meantime, we ask, "Why does God let all of these awful things happen? Why is there so much suffering and pain and human violence? Why do the wicked prosper? Why doesn't God make all things right now?"
The risen Christ does not directly answer his disciples' questions or ours, however. "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority" (v. 7; cf. Mark 13:32-33), Christ replies. The Kingdom of God will come only in God's good time (cf. Habakkuk 2:3). Human beings cannot bring it. And our job is to be faithful disciples in the meantime, obeying the Lord's commands, testifying to Jesus Christ, and knowing with certainty and joyful hope that God is in control of his world and will fulfill his kingdom-purpose for it.
After Christ spoke such words, he was lifted up into heaven and disappeared from the disciples' sight into a cloud. In other words, Christ ascended into heaven, to sit on the right hand of God, in power, as Lord over heaven and earth (cf. Acts 2:33-36; Philippians 2:9-11) -- we confess that every time we say the Apostles' Creed.
That is a total enigma to us, is it not? What does it mean that Christ ascended into heaven? Where is heaven? Is it up? Isn't the earth round? And so where is Christ and where is God? Our modern minds cannot understand such statements, and we are tempted to dismiss them as imaginative figures of speech that have no basis in reality. But that doesn't get us very far, does it? We have only the scripture's testimony. Christ ascended into heaven and now rules over all.
And the truth is, good Christians, that we can be very grateful for that testimony. Christ told his disciples that it was to their advantage that he leave them and return to his Father in heaven (John 16:7), and though we might object strenuously to that statement, it is true. For you see, by returning to the Father, our Lord is no longer bound by time and space. He no longer belongs just in Palestine in the first century A.D., and his love and power are no longer exercised just among a small group of followers. Now his Spirit is shed abroad in the world to all persons who will accept him. Now the cosmos is his sphere and the universes his realm, and he can be present with all peoples, as he is also present with you and me this day. For you and I have been baptized and received his Spirit, as Acts tells us the first disciples received it on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). And now you and I are enabled to be his witnesses to our families and neighbors, to our social circles and towns, to our cities and rural areas, and to the ends of the earth.
Our text tells us that when Christ ascended and disappeared from his disciples' sight, they stood gazing up into heaven, trying desperately to see the Lord upon whom all their lives and hopes rested. But there appeared to that searching company two men, robed in white, just as two such angelic figures had appeared to the women at Jesus' tomb on Easter morn (Luke 24:4). And like the angels at the tomb, who asked, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" the two angels in our text asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" (v. 11). Why are you straining your eyes and just standing there? "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." In other words, Christ will return in a second coming to establish his kingdom fully over all the earth. But in the meantime, you have a job to do.
And in the meantime, we have a job to do, friends. We are our Lord's witnesses. He has commanded us to tell everyone about what God has done and is doing and will do through Jesus Christ. He has commanded us to live lives and to tell the biblical stories that will manifest the love of God in Christ to the world. He has equipped us for the task by giving us his Spirit. So now, instead of speculating and hesitating and making excuses, let's get on with it!
In golf, Tiger rules. In tennis, Venus. Depending upon which teen you talk with, either Ricky rules, or Brittney does. In Iraq, Saddam rules -- for now. In America, the people rule, despite what some political cynics or party technocrats say. For Christians wherever, Jesus rules!
One might think that such a theme would more appropriately be served on Christ the King Sunday. That is at the end of the Pentecost season, six months away. The festival day of the Ascension is just as appropriate to lift up the reality of the lordship of Jesus. Viewed from the perspective of the church calendar, this day effectively closes out the "season of Christ," celebrating his position in the divine economy as it culminates his work on earth. (Christ the King Sunday closes out the "season of the church" by accenting the role of Christ in relationship to the church and the cosmos.)
An underlying question that begs our sincere attention is this: What has gained ascendency in our lives today, threatening to replace Jesus in our hearts?
Acts 1:1-11
Everybody loves a sequel, especially if the first part was so good! Sometimes the follow-up story, however, leaves one wanting; but not in this case. Luke knows a good market when he sees it. Two thousand years of history have proven him right. "In the first book, O Theophilus...." Luke penned his Gospel of the acts of Jesus, not just because everybody was doing it, but to give "an orderly account" (Luke 1:3); and, not just for the sake of the truth, but "that you may know the truth" (Luke 1:4) about Jesus -- the you referring to any Theophilus, lover of God, who may be reading the book. The knowing does not mean intellectual abstraction about God, but personal attachment to God.
Now, with the return of Jesus apparently delayed (see 1:11) and so many great things happening before his very eyes, Luke does not want the acts of the apostles to be misunderstood or forgotten. So, he takes pen in hand once again and constructs a narrative that could just as easily be titled "The Acts of the Holy Spirit." It is designed to make sense to anyone who is already familiar with the story of Jesus; yet, it is told in such a way that even those unfamiliar with Jesus are definitely introduced to him through the sermons and personal testimonies laced throughout the account. Many are brought to faith through the faithful witness of the disciples, who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The church grows, demonstrating in its daily life what believers do while they are waiting for their Lord to return.
Structurally, these introductory verses in Acts are linked to the closing verses in Luke. Luke's account of the commissioning of the disciples as witnesses (Luke 24:44-49) are recapped in Acts 1:1-5. Then, the ascension, related briefly in Luke 24:50-53, is expanded upon in Acts 1:6-11. How the disciples got out of the temple, where they were "continually... blessing God" (Luke 24:53), is what the book of Acts is all about, beginning with the Pentecost experience and spreading out into the streets of Jerusalem, onto the roads into Asia Minor, and across the waters to Rome.
Consistent with his propensity to locate his narrative in verifiable history with public figures, Luke uses the term proof 1:3 to refer to the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus. This word carries a different sense than (witness), in that a witness or testimony would emphasize the person's perspective on the subject, whereas "proof" conveys the sense of credible evidence on its own merits. A witness would say, "Jesus is the risen Savior of the world." A proof would say, "Jesus walked on the path toward Emmaus at 6:00 p.m. Sunday after Passover." Both may refer to the same event, but express it differently, one focusing on the meaning and the other on the matter of the experience. In Acts, Luke does not specify the details of these proofs, although in his Gospel narrative he recounts the details of the travelers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-43). Paul delineates several appearances of Jesus after the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3-11; John, in John 20:11-29 and 21:1-23.
Luke passes over the specifics with a reference to the forty days between the resurrection and the ascension, which is his primary focus in transition in these introductory verses. Just as the forty years of wandering in the wilderness was a complete time to judge the people for their faithlessness (Numbers 14:26-35) and just as the forty days of temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13) was a complete time to evidence Jesus' faithfulness, so too is the forty days of post-resurrection life together a complete time to convince the disciples that Jesus is indeed the risen Savior of the world to whom they will witness with the rest of their lives. (Three other significant spans of forty worth remembering, as recorded in scripture, are Genesis 7:1-5, the forty days of rain producing the flood, revealing God's judgment upon the earth; Exodus 24:12-18 and Deuteronomy 9:9-11, the forty days that Moses spent on the mountain receiving the revelation of God through the Law; and Jonah 4:3, the forty days given to Nineveh to repent.)
Ephesians 1:15-23
"Paul ... by the will of God." These are the words that begin the Letter to the Ephesians. These words thrust us right back into the book of Acts, where we read of the conversion of Saul (Acts 9). These words expose the authority and power behind the thoughts, words and actions of this singular man, who could rightly be called the theologian of the church. Though he did not write a systematics like Aquinas, Barth or Tillich, he wrote in a few preserved letters more to shape the Christian understanding of the gospel at its heart than all the other writers of Christendom.
Because the Ephesians are (Acts 1:11), in Jesus, Paul is constantly thankfully mindful of them in prayer. His intercession is that they may grow "in the knowledge of him" (1:17), which is richer and more immeasurable than the one extremely long sentence (1:15-23) in which he expressed his thoughts. David H. Stern, in his translation, Jewish New Testament, does a nice job of cutting up the meat of Paul's writing into chewable portions. (This or another translation which expresses the meaning of the text in "ear-palatable units" would be preferred by lector and worshiper alike over a reading from anything resembling the Revised Standard Version treatment of the text, as good as it is with the Greek.)
Though Paul is indeed grounded historically in the events of Jesus and the early church, he writes conceptually about them. He asks the question, "What does this mean?" In reference to the ascension that Luke recounts, Paul expresses its meaning. Jesus is not only raised from the dead; he is also intentionally and demonstrably placed at the right hand of God, the place of honor, "in the heavenly places" (1:20; spatially separate from earth, so there is no confusion of conflating heaven and earth into one sphere, making any expression of heaven but a metaphor for an enhanced experience of earth's realm). Jesus has a superior rule "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (1:21). As he expresses also in Philippians 2:9-11, Jesus' name exceeds all others; no other name can ascend higher than his. The notion of ruling is again visualized by the world as Jesus' footstool (see Psalm 110:1-2 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-27). A final image Paul uses to conceptualize the ascended state of Jesus after the resurrection is that of Jesus as the head of the body. The head fills the body with purpose as it guides its function.
When Paul writes of "the knowledge of him," he is not referring to gnostic knowledge or the secrets of the mystery religions prevalent in his day. He is directing his readers to the saving faith that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus. Notice how many times Paul uses the construct "in him" or "in Christ" in the previous verses to today's text. Because Jesus "fills all in all" (see also Colossians 3:11), believers will find their all in him. The knowledge of Jesus, which comes through a faith relationship with him (trusting his work for our welfare, as expressed in Romans 5:6-11, for example), provides the riches that are the inheritance of the saints of God. These riches are gifts like the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening presence of God, and the hope of eternal life. Paul even says that this faith relationship with Jesus is a gift from God, "the immeasurable greatness of his power in us... according to the working of his great might" (1:19). Faith in Jesus is itself a manifestation of God's power in us.
Luke 24:44-53
Is the ending of Luke's Gospel nothing more than what denouement is to the climax of a novel? Or is this actually part of the climax that keeps on building beyond the record and beyond the sequel to the beyond of beyond? The analogy of Gospel narrative to story is beneficial only to a point, because the story is decidedly different than either a novel, a docudrama, or even "real TV." We are dealing with God's dealings with the world. That is an ever-unfolding event that certainly has its accents in history (creation, call, exodus, exile, restoration, crucifixion, resurrection), but also holds promise of plot yet to be written. Luke understands this. That is why there is the explanation of consequential expectations to the work of Jesus, namely, repentance and forgiveness of sins, preaching and witnessing, waiting for empowerment from God to be about these very things, and worshiping God with joy in the meantime.
Just like he did with the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, Jesus takes time to help his disciples understand how the scriptures are fulfilled in him. The key is to look in those passages that describe the suffering Messiah (for example, Isaiah 50:6, 52:13--53:12, and Psalm 22). What this Messiah will effect is nothing less than the forgiveness of sins, which will set right the relationship with God. This message is not just for a chosen few; it is to be spread to the nations. It may begin in Jerusalem, but it is not to end until it has reached the farthest corners of the world. The power to accomplish this communication feat will not come from within a group of highly successful, self-motivated people. The power will come "from on high" (24:49). There will be -- there must be -- a divine empowerment to accomplish all this.
Just as the disciples learned to trust Jesus through his ministry with them, they would have to trust him when he gave his word about sending "the promise of my Father" (24:49). The disciples would soon learn that one fulfillment spills over into another. The promises of the Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus, who in turn made promises on behalf of his heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit (refer to Acts 1:4-5). This promise would soon be fulfilled, as recounted in the opening scenes in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2).
Luke concludes his Gospel narrative in the same spirit with which he began it: with great joy! The angels announced the mood at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:10), and the disciples retained the mood after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension (24:52). This joy, no doubt, filled each day in delightful ways as they moved in and out of their routines. But one fact stands out in Luke's description of the joyful fellowship of those whose lives had been touched by Jesus. They were "in the temple" worshiping (24:53). The disciples expressed their faith in worshipful acts that had a public and corporate dimension to them. When Jesus addressed them with directions on what to do after he ascended, he spoke to them as a body. The plural form of address is used, both in the imperative verb and the pronoun. Thus, when the Holy Spirit did come upon them, "they were all together in one place" (Acts 1:2).
Application
In our post-modern world, meaning is elusive. The age of absolute faith is past. The age of absolute science is past. The age of absolute history is past. Everything is revised and considered revisable. In our efforts to make sense of an ever-changing sketch, we seek after a line of meaning to connect the dots. If the God who is God does not provide the connections of meaning for one, something else will -- whether that be Satanism, occultism, Wicca, amorphous new age spirituality, astrology, voodoo, communism, nationalism, capitalism, or nihilism, to mention a few possibilities.
Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples after his death on the cross, "speaking of the kingdom of God" (1:3). Christians today are to announce to our present world, "Jesus rules!" He is the ascended one, who claims power and authority over the world. He empowers his disciples, then and now, to witness to the meaning of life in his name. Jerusalem was the epicenter at that time, but now the whole world has become the stage on which this pronouncement is to be made. It begins in each particular locality where the church exists and expands in ever-enlarging circles. The empowerment for this to happen comes from God through the Holy Spirit, as the church is emboldened to give witness to the "witness" that is our privilege to believe and steward.
We are living in a time of anarchy of opinion. It is the result of a mindless democratization of values, which leaves citizens in a morass when it comes to making intelligent decisions. Ted Koppel makes this pithy comment in his recent book Off Camera: Private Thoughts Made Public: "The spirit of cultural diversity and political correctness is turning sour. We are in danger, in our efforts to be fair, of acceding to some wrongheaded positions, simply because they are held by someone in a minority group." The practical difficulty of such a situation reveals itself for Christian parents who cannot discern proper family commitments in their weekly schedule. They try to pack it all in and crowd out Jesus, who is to be their "all and in all" (Colossians 3:11). Worship and Christian education (whether Sunday school or confirmation or adult classes) become optional, "skippable," because of other events that "we just have to go to."
The sense of priorities that are determined by the criterion that Jesus is Lord, Jesus rules, must be reclaimed by Christians who are living next to neighbors for whom this is a foreign notion. One of the ways we can publicly witness to our faith is by being certain places at certain times with certain attitudes and behaviors that can speak louder than words. A touchy example of this would be the Christian family who chooses worship and Christian fellowship on a Sunday morning over golf, soccer, hockey, or company. A sticky example of this would be the Christian in a board meeting shaping company policy, not by the bottom line necessarily, but by what is just and equitable for the employees or customers, even if the stockholders have to "bite the bullet" this time. The Third Commandment about the sabbath has as its assumption that Jesus is Lord of the sabbath, and that his lordship extends into every day because of it. In our day, it will probably be more prickly to preach about these things than to preach about being saved by grace. Now, there's a sad commentary on the state of our hearts.
Referring to the state of our hearts, we can ask ourselves if, despite the prosperity of the past eight years, there is a prosperity of joy in our lives. When we skim across the headlines of our nation and world, observing the continued and growing need for peace, security, quality education, relief from poverty, and the exploitation of children, we must admit that human hearts are easily distracted from the one thing needful -- to have and to hold a living relationship with the Lord of life. Sin is the root cause of all that is wrong in our world. The crisis of our human culture is spiritual. Economic policies, educational methods, military posturing, welfare reforms, and legislative initiatives can only go so far in advancing the human agenda. Until there is total surrender to the will of God, there will always be the need for preaching and witnessing.
With the growth of metropolitan areas, which are attracting the population of the world into teeming centers of humanity, the instruction of Jesus takes on a new meaning today: stay in the city. A slogan that has been part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's ministry has been put on promotional buttons and reads: In the City for Good. As Christians work together in the places where humanity is at its thickest, there is strong potential for the Holy Spirit to visit the enterprise "with power from on high." Our troubled cities will benefit from such a concerted effort by the body of Christ, which will discover Christ filling all with himself wherever the heart's eye is focused on him.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By Elizabeth Achtemeier
Acts 1:1-11
Luke, the author of both the Gospel bearing his name and the book of Acts, tells us that after Jesus' resurrection, "he presented himself alive" to the apostles for forty days, "speaking of the Kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). Specifically, in our Gospel Lesson, Jesus makes himself known to the apostles in the breaking of bread in a village on the road to Emmaus, and after that, to the whole company of disciples, with whom he eats. He then leads them out as far as Bethany, blesses them, and departs from them (Luke 24:28-51). The account of Jesus' resurrection appearances accords with the Apostle Paul's testimony in 1 Corinthians 15:5-7, and is enlarged by the Fourth Gospel in John 20:19-29. Taken all together, the fact of our Lord's resurrection appearances to his followers is amply and historically supported in the Gospel accounts. And the resulting formation and growth of the church leave no doubt that the resurrection furnished the motive power for the faith and action of Christ's followers from the first century A.D. on, just as they furnish that power in our time also.
Our text from Acts sets us down during the time of those forty days of Christ's appearances, after his resurrection by God. First of all, it is a time of command. Our Lord commands the apostles to remain in Jerusalem until they receive power on high in the person of the Holy Spirit. All of them had experienced John the Baptist's water baptism for the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 3:3), but Christ has a job for them to do (cf. Matthew 28:10-20), and they cannot accomplish the job until they are empowered by God's own Spirit. They are to be the Lord's witnesses, telling of what he has said and done and of his death and resurrection, throughout Judea and Samaria and the whole Mediterranean world. But none of them is able to be such a witness unless the Spirit of Christ enables him, any more than we can be true and worthy witnesses of our Lord except we are given that Spirit. Jesus told us that apart from him, we can do nothing to contribute to the purpose and work of God (John 15:5). Either Christ lives in us and works through us, or we are ineffective Christians (cf. Isaiah 29:13-14). Superficial commitment and go-it-alone Christianity will accomplish nothing.
Second, the risen Christ's time with his disciples before his departure from them is a time of questions and answers. The apostles ask him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And we can identify with that question, can we not? The faithful in Israel had, for centuries, looked forward to the coming of the Kingdom of God, when God's Messiah would restore peace and righteousness to human life, when war and greed and enmity were abolished, when the poor and helpless were no longer oppressed and goodness was restored in human hearts, when earth was fair and fruitful and every tongue confessed God's lordship. We too long for God's kingdom to come on earth, even as it is in heaven. And in our meantime, we ask, "Why does God let all of these awful things happen? Why is there so much suffering and pain and human violence? Why do the wicked prosper? Why doesn't God make all things right now?"
The risen Christ does not directly answer his disciples' questions or ours, however. "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority" (v. 7; cf. Mark 13:32-33), Christ replies. The Kingdom of God will come only in God's good time (cf. Habakkuk 2:3). Human beings cannot bring it. And our job is to be faithful disciples in the meantime, obeying the Lord's commands, testifying to Jesus Christ, and knowing with certainty and joyful hope that God is in control of his world and will fulfill his kingdom-purpose for it.
After Christ spoke such words, he was lifted up into heaven and disappeared from the disciples' sight into a cloud. In other words, Christ ascended into heaven, to sit on the right hand of God, in power, as Lord over heaven and earth (cf. Acts 2:33-36; Philippians 2:9-11) -- we confess that every time we say the Apostles' Creed.
That is a total enigma to us, is it not? What does it mean that Christ ascended into heaven? Where is heaven? Is it up? Isn't the earth round? And so where is Christ and where is God? Our modern minds cannot understand such statements, and we are tempted to dismiss them as imaginative figures of speech that have no basis in reality. But that doesn't get us very far, does it? We have only the scripture's testimony. Christ ascended into heaven and now rules over all.
And the truth is, good Christians, that we can be very grateful for that testimony. Christ told his disciples that it was to their advantage that he leave them and return to his Father in heaven (John 16:7), and though we might object strenuously to that statement, it is true. For you see, by returning to the Father, our Lord is no longer bound by time and space. He no longer belongs just in Palestine in the first century A.D., and his love and power are no longer exercised just among a small group of followers. Now his Spirit is shed abroad in the world to all persons who will accept him. Now the cosmos is his sphere and the universes his realm, and he can be present with all peoples, as he is also present with you and me this day. For you and I have been baptized and received his Spirit, as Acts tells us the first disciples received it on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). And now you and I are enabled to be his witnesses to our families and neighbors, to our social circles and towns, to our cities and rural areas, and to the ends of the earth.
Our text tells us that when Christ ascended and disappeared from his disciples' sight, they stood gazing up into heaven, trying desperately to see the Lord upon whom all their lives and hopes rested. But there appeared to that searching company two men, robed in white, just as two such angelic figures had appeared to the women at Jesus' tomb on Easter morn (Luke 24:4). And like the angels at the tomb, who asked, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" the two angels in our text asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" (v. 11). Why are you straining your eyes and just standing there? "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." In other words, Christ will return in a second coming to establish his kingdom fully over all the earth. But in the meantime, you have a job to do.
And in the meantime, we have a job to do, friends. We are our Lord's witnesses. He has commanded us to tell everyone about what God has done and is doing and will do through Jesus Christ. He has commanded us to live lives and to tell the biblical stories that will manifest the love of God in Christ to the world. He has equipped us for the task by giving us his Spirit. So now, instead of speculating and hesitating and making excuses, let's get on with it!
