Ascension Answers
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
Many folks, especially preachers, don't know what to make of Luke's accounts (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11) of the ascension of Jesus. The other three gospels don't mention it and, frankly, the story seems a little too mythical for twenty-first-century readers. Educated people of the western world have discarded the three-tier cosmology. In the understanding of today's universe, it's not possible to know what is up and what is down. People looking up into the skies today might be looking at other beings on other planets looking down at us. That is why the trapdoors high up in European church ceilings are sealed shut. No one would be impressed today by the raising of a figure of Jesus at worship on Ascension Thursday high up through a trapdoor in the ceiling. Perhaps it would be more useful to suggest that Jesus passed from one dimension (earthly) to another (spiritual).
In all fairness to Luke (after all, he is a credible gospel writer), perhaps we ought to try a little harder to understand his point.
In the first place, Luke wanted to answer some questions about Jesus. Luke witnessed to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and then related some of the appearances of Jesus to his disciples. But there had to be some closure. Without Luke's steps to "tidy things up," there might still be people claiming that they saw Jesus down at the supermarket or on the No. 5 bus to Coney Island. The account of the ascension also, especially in Acts, documents the explanation of the fulfillment of the scriptures by Jesus to all of the disciples following the explanation given to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
Perhaps Luke also wanted to demonstrate the power of the risen Christ. The power of the ascended Jesus is transcendent over all physical and spiritual powers; earth cannot constrain him and the spiritual realms must receive him.
The ascended Jesus also transcends some of the banal and flip popular notions about Jesus. He is more than a rock star or the good-looking guy with long hair who lived a long time ago. He is more than the image on some of the popular "Jesus Junk" items sold at the local Christian bookstore. He is more than the handsome blue-eyed star of a movie in which the lead poetically utters wise and sometimes cryptic sayings to vast audiences leaning forward to catch every pearl of wisdom he verbalizes.
The ascended Jesus is more than the one who walked on water or turned the water into wine. He is more than the teacher who taught great values such as "God helps those who help themselves" (he didn't say it) or "It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven." (He said it, according to Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; and Luke 18:25.)
Perhaps Luke also wanted to demonstrate that the crucifixion of Jesus was no tragic accident, a bad ending to a plan conceived by Jesus himself or by God. The interpretations of the resurrection of Jesus by the early "witnesses" serve to make that point but the ascension of Jesus adds one more layer to the persuasion of the early church that the divine plot went according to plan. Jesus was supposed to die, defeat the devil, atone for the sins of humankind, and rise up as the victorious one to the right hand of God.
Luke says it his way and the writer to the Ephesians says it his way but the point is the same: Jesus risen to heaven is the absolute, infallible master in our lives, to whom we owe absolute devotion.
During an automobile outing in the mountains of the northern Steiermark, some Austrian friends and their American visitor stopped at a small romantic village. The town was a teutonic wonder caught in time about 200 years ago, complete with cow paths and rustic little lanes curving around colorful gardens and white-washed houses decorated with murals telling the stories of saints and biblical events. The Austrians led the American up to a house to pick up a key. With key in hand, the path continued to lead the party upward to a small stone chapel capping an elevated ridge protruding from the mount. The chapel measured perhaps 20 by 35 feet. Inside was a simple altar framed by the walls of the nave decorated with old, faded frescos from another time and another culture.
One of the frescos depicted the scene of the nativity; another a fortress or a city. The third fresco clearly presented the figure of Christ the King. The visitors took in quick breaths. Imagine -- someone came to the top of that mountain 1,200 years before and illustrated their conviction about Christ on that wall. Someone long ago had come over the Alps from the south and proclaimed Jesus as Lord to the mountain folk who as yet did not know him. The Jesus of the artist(s) was the Kosmocrator (ruler of the cosmos), the Pantocrator (ruler of all things), the ascended one who has all power over all physical and spiritual things. The builders of the chapel said it 1,200 years ago but Luke said it first.
Secondly, Luke wanted to answer some questions about the church. He brings closure to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus by affixing the span of time, forty days (a time of completion), between the resurrection and the ascension.
The blessing of Jesus at the end of Luke's gospel is complemented and paralleled by Jesus' acknowledgement of the call to be witnesses recorded at the beginning of Acts. God's plan has no interruptions: Jesus dies, Jesus is resurrected, Jesus ascends, and the work of the Spirit begins immediately. In a way, the power of Jesus on earth is transmitted to his followers, to the church. The time of Jesus' earthly presence on earth is followed by the age of the church.
Furthermore, Jesus' followers are assured that Jesus, in some fashion, is still with them. The resurrected Jesus didn't just fade away; he didn't head off into the sunset and disappear. He visibly heads up into the clouds, accompanied by angelic beings, thus assuring the disciples that everything is going according to plan. Instinctively, the disciples know that the talk about the Spirit is talk about Jesus' continuing presence with them. They are at ease; they have a plan; they have their mission; their doubts are assuaged.
The disciples are given a sneak preview of the last chapter of God's plan. Knowing about the end of the story, the great consummation, the second coming, encourages the disciples to turn their shoulders into the task. There is no thought about "waiting it out." There is work to be done. The disciples are to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even "to the ends of the earth" (v. 8).
It's official: As mentioned in the sermon of Lent 1 in this series, the ship of the church is launched; it will now begin its voyage through and around all the storms and obstacles that the world can conjure up. In some ways, sailors understand the task of the church more than others. Seafarers in northern Europe adorn their churches on land with ship models. The ship sails through troubled waters as Christ, the captain, mans the rudder while assisted by the crew, the grunts of the church. The ship sails through all conditions of life but it will safely anchor in the harbor of the kingdom of Christ. The model ship reminds those who see it about the time when Jesus safely delivered those in peril in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The model ship is also a reminder about the ark of the Old Testament that safely delivered Noah and his family to dry land.
The ship sails in all kinds of weather, on all the seas of the world. It stops at many harbors and its crew invites all to board it for the journey. The crew is always granted shore leave so that it can engage in the worlds of those close to the harbor. The crew members are willing to be identified with the people of the port but they are not "of" the people since their home is the ship. The ship is large; those who sail in it are of every race and color, age, and class.
The liturgical name of the portion of the church where worshipers sit is the "nave," derived from the Latin word for ship whence we get our word, "navy." The ship reminds us that the real crew members belong to a great company of sailors, past, present, and future. The real church embraces all who have ever fought the good fight and won the good race in all ages. Jesus ascended into the heavens; with his foot he launched the ship of the church. Obstacles lie ahead but, in its own good time, the church will reach the kingdom.
Thirdly, Luke's account of the ascension answers some questions about the attitudes of individual believers. Christians are encouraged in their faith because the ascension was an event in straight (or linear) time. God's creation doesn't move historically in a cyclical repetitious fashion nor is it haphazard. The witness of prophets, the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection, and the ascension, are events moving right along in a linear fashion. In straightforward, respectfully historical fashion, the second coming will conclude and wrap up all things. Maybe the world will be turned upside down but it will not be turned inside out. Don't panic; things, for the time being, will remain what they seem to be. But God's re-creation will go ahead according to the rules; believers can be rest assured that God's historical game plans have not been changed.
The most important earmarks of the believer are joy and anticipation. The first short account of the ascension at the end of the gospel of Luke emphasizes the happiness of the disciples. Luke's version in Acts shows that their joy is founded upon Jesus' power residing in them and the promise that he will come again.
A pastor once met a mother at the bedside of her dying son in the hospital. The mother had separated herself from the church some years before but the pastor went to see her frequently during the weeks of her lonely vigil at the side of her dying son. The pastor noticed how she nursed her son with quiet calmness and showered him with tender maternal love during his painful demise. She did not betray with a single sign how much she herself was consumed by pain and anxiety. One day, the minister spontaneously said to her, "I admire your attitude." She replied, "Attitude, yes, perhaps, but don't look underneath, pastor; I haven't a thing to hold on to."
The impending death of her son was an unintended and unwanted intrusion into the mother's linear view of her life. Mothers are supposed to die before their sons. But the witnesses to the ascension of Jesus saw a heavier line moving through all the fine lines of personal human histories. It was the heavy line moving forward to the event after the ascension, the event of justice and closure, the event that would answer all the questions, disappointments, and doubts of the world.
A glider pilot once gave an enthusiastic speech to an assembly of young people. He talked about the thrill of flying, the silence when gliding thousands of feet above the ground, and the use of air currents to direct the plane to lower or higher altitudes. He explained that he could overcome turbulence by adjusting the glider's altitude and use a current of warmer air to raise the plane to a higher altitude.
In fact, the glider exclaimed that he always preferred to seek the higher altitudes with less turbulence in order to prolong the flight. His listeners understood that his speech was really about choosing direction in life. Afterward, a young man who heard the speech summed up the message by saying, "We've got to get ourselves some altitude, dudes!"
The disciples looked up as Jesus ascended to that place whence he would come again. The disciples began their mission task with joy. When threatened by the loss of that joy, they looked up and they remembered.
Remember the ascension. Remember to look up. Amen.
In all fairness to Luke (after all, he is a credible gospel writer), perhaps we ought to try a little harder to understand his point.
In the first place, Luke wanted to answer some questions about Jesus. Luke witnessed to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and then related some of the appearances of Jesus to his disciples. But there had to be some closure. Without Luke's steps to "tidy things up," there might still be people claiming that they saw Jesus down at the supermarket or on the No. 5 bus to Coney Island. The account of the ascension also, especially in Acts, documents the explanation of the fulfillment of the scriptures by Jesus to all of the disciples following the explanation given to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).
Perhaps Luke also wanted to demonstrate the power of the risen Christ. The power of the ascended Jesus is transcendent over all physical and spiritual powers; earth cannot constrain him and the spiritual realms must receive him.
The ascended Jesus also transcends some of the banal and flip popular notions about Jesus. He is more than a rock star or the good-looking guy with long hair who lived a long time ago. He is more than the image on some of the popular "Jesus Junk" items sold at the local Christian bookstore. He is more than the handsome blue-eyed star of a movie in which the lead poetically utters wise and sometimes cryptic sayings to vast audiences leaning forward to catch every pearl of wisdom he verbalizes.
The ascended Jesus is more than the one who walked on water or turned the water into wine. He is more than the teacher who taught great values such as "God helps those who help themselves" (he didn't say it) or "It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven." (He said it, according to Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; and Luke 18:25.)
Perhaps Luke also wanted to demonstrate that the crucifixion of Jesus was no tragic accident, a bad ending to a plan conceived by Jesus himself or by God. The interpretations of the resurrection of Jesus by the early "witnesses" serve to make that point but the ascension of Jesus adds one more layer to the persuasion of the early church that the divine plot went according to plan. Jesus was supposed to die, defeat the devil, atone for the sins of humankind, and rise up as the victorious one to the right hand of God.
Luke says it his way and the writer to the Ephesians says it his way but the point is the same: Jesus risen to heaven is the absolute, infallible master in our lives, to whom we owe absolute devotion.
During an automobile outing in the mountains of the northern Steiermark, some Austrian friends and their American visitor stopped at a small romantic village. The town was a teutonic wonder caught in time about 200 years ago, complete with cow paths and rustic little lanes curving around colorful gardens and white-washed houses decorated with murals telling the stories of saints and biblical events. The Austrians led the American up to a house to pick up a key. With key in hand, the path continued to lead the party upward to a small stone chapel capping an elevated ridge protruding from the mount. The chapel measured perhaps 20 by 35 feet. Inside was a simple altar framed by the walls of the nave decorated with old, faded frescos from another time and another culture.
One of the frescos depicted the scene of the nativity; another a fortress or a city. The third fresco clearly presented the figure of Christ the King. The visitors took in quick breaths. Imagine -- someone came to the top of that mountain 1,200 years before and illustrated their conviction about Christ on that wall. Someone long ago had come over the Alps from the south and proclaimed Jesus as Lord to the mountain folk who as yet did not know him. The Jesus of the artist(s) was the Kosmocrator (ruler of the cosmos), the Pantocrator (ruler of all things), the ascended one who has all power over all physical and spiritual things. The builders of the chapel said it 1,200 years ago but Luke said it first.
Secondly, Luke wanted to answer some questions about the church. He brings closure to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus by affixing the span of time, forty days (a time of completion), between the resurrection and the ascension.
The blessing of Jesus at the end of Luke's gospel is complemented and paralleled by Jesus' acknowledgement of the call to be witnesses recorded at the beginning of Acts. God's plan has no interruptions: Jesus dies, Jesus is resurrected, Jesus ascends, and the work of the Spirit begins immediately. In a way, the power of Jesus on earth is transmitted to his followers, to the church. The time of Jesus' earthly presence on earth is followed by the age of the church.
Furthermore, Jesus' followers are assured that Jesus, in some fashion, is still with them. The resurrected Jesus didn't just fade away; he didn't head off into the sunset and disappear. He visibly heads up into the clouds, accompanied by angelic beings, thus assuring the disciples that everything is going according to plan. Instinctively, the disciples know that the talk about the Spirit is talk about Jesus' continuing presence with them. They are at ease; they have a plan; they have their mission; their doubts are assuaged.
The disciples are given a sneak preview of the last chapter of God's plan. Knowing about the end of the story, the great consummation, the second coming, encourages the disciples to turn their shoulders into the task. There is no thought about "waiting it out." There is work to be done. The disciples are to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even "to the ends of the earth" (v. 8).
It's official: As mentioned in the sermon of Lent 1 in this series, the ship of the church is launched; it will now begin its voyage through and around all the storms and obstacles that the world can conjure up. In some ways, sailors understand the task of the church more than others. Seafarers in northern Europe adorn their churches on land with ship models. The ship sails through troubled waters as Christ, the captain, mans the rudder while assisted by the crew, the grunts of the church. The ship sails through all conditions of life but it will safely anchor in the harbor of the kingdom of Christ. The model ship reminds those who see it about the time when Jesus safely delivered those in peril in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The model ship is also a reminder about the ark of the Old Testament that safely delivered Noah and his family to dry land.
The ship sails in all kinds of weather, on all the seas of the world. It stops at many harbors and its crew invites all to board it for the journey. The crew is always granted shore leave so that it can engage in the worlds of those close to the harbor. The crew members are willing to be identified with the people of the port but they are not "of" the people since their home is the ship. The ship is large; those who sail in it are of every race and color, age, and class.
The liturgical name of the portion of the church where worshipers sit is the "nave," derived from the Latin word for ship whence we get our word, "navy." The ship reminds us that the real crew members belong to a great company of sailors, past, present, and future. The real church embraces all who have ever fought the good fight and won the good race in all ages. Jesus ascended into the heavens; with his foot he launched the ship of the church. Obstacles lie ahead but, in its own good time, the church will reach the kingdom.
Thirdly, Luke's account of the ascension answers some questions about the attitudes of individual believers. Christians are encouraged in their faith because the ascension was an event in straight (or linear) time. God's creation doesn't move historically in a cyclical repetitious fashion nor is it haphazard. The witness of prophets, the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection, and the ascension, are events moving right along in a linear fashion. In straightforward, respectfully historical fashion, the second coming will conclude and wrap up all things. Maybe the world will be turned upside down but it will not be turned inside out. Don't panic; things, for the time being, will remain what they seem to be. But God's re-creation will go ahead according to the rules; believers can be rest assured that God's historical game plans have not been changed.
The most important earmarks of the believer are joy and anticipation. The first short account of the ascension at the end of the gospel of Luke emphasizes the happiness of the disciples. Luke's version in Acts shows that their joy is founded upon Jesus' power residing in them and the promise that he will come again.
A pastor once met a mother at the bedside of her dying son in the hospital. The mother had separated herself from the church some years before but the pastor went to see her frequently during the weeks of her lonely vigil at the side of her dying son. The pastor noticed how she nursed her son with quiet calmness and showered him with tender maternal love during his painful demise. She did not betray with a single sign how much she herself was consumed by pain and anxiety. One day, the minister spontaneously said to her, "I admire your attitude." She replied, "Attitude, yes, perhaps, but don't look underneath, pastor; I haven't a thing to hold on to."
The impending death of her son was an unintended and unwanted intrusion into the mother's linear view of her life. Mothers are supposed to die before their sons. But the witnesses to the ascension of Jesus saw a heavier line moving through all the fine lines of personal human histories. It was the heavy line moving forward to the event after the ascension, the event of justice and closure, the event that would answer all the questions, disappointments, and doubts of the world.
A glider pilot once gave an enthusiastic speech to an assembly of young people. He talked about the thrill of flying, the silence when gliding thousands of feet above the ground, and the use of air currents to direct the plane to lower or higher altitudes. He explained that he could overcome turbulence by adjusting the glider's altitude and use a current of warmer air to raise the plane to a higher altitude.
In fact, the glider exclaimed that he always preferred to seek the higher altitudes with less turbulence in order to prolong the flight. His listeners understood that his speech was really about choosing direction in life. Afterward, a young man who heard the speech summed up the message by saying, "We've got to get ourselves some altitude, dudes!"
The disciples looked up as Jesus ascended to that place whence he would come again. The disciples began their mission task with joy. When threatened by the loss of that joy, they looked up and they remembered.
Remember the ascension. Remember to look up. Amen.
