May 29, 2022 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Ascension"
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
(Other lectionary choices include Psalm 47, Ephesians 1:15-23, and Luke 24:44-53.)
Acts 1:1-11
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
The Ascension of Jesus
6So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But 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." 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
The selection from Luke 24 from other lectionary suggestions is another version or account of the Ascension. The sermon title is "The Ascension", and I'll get to that. But first, I want to say how strange I feel talking about the Risen Christ being taken up to Heaven while we right now in America are suffering from two mass shootings in less than two weeks. Where is God? Where is the Risen Christ? We are sick and we need healing....but how? Maybe we'll talk about that after the sermon!
As far as the Ascension is concerned, why do we have that story? Did it really happen that way? In a way, we really NEED that story, and here is why: you and I are Christians, and we believe that after Jesus was crucified and died, he rose from the dead. We have stories in Scripture that he appeared several times. But here is what I think: those appearances started happening less and less. We still believe Jesus rose from the dead, but apparently the appearances stopped. Okay, WHY? Why did the appearances of the Risen Christ stop? We really don't know, but they DID. Did they stop because it was time for him to re-join his Father in Heaven? I think that is the argument that Luke in Acts is making. And Luke is also saying that even though Jesus, the Risen Christ, has left the earthly scene, not to worry! Because very soon the Holy Spirit will come upon the Disciples, and as we heard today, Jesus tells them to wait for that occurrence! Jesus said, "Not many days from now", and we will celebrate that coming of the Holy Spirit NEXT Sunday when we'll celebrate Pentecost.
But back to the story of the Ascension.......keep in mind that in those days the belief was that Heaven was "up there" and Hell was "down there". So, if the Risen Lord was going to re-join his Father in Heaven, he had to go up! And that's the story we get both in today's Scripture from Acts and in the last chapter of Luke. Jesus, the Risen Lord, leaves the scene, and leaves by going up, or Ascending.
I don't know what I believe about this story....how about you? If you believe - as I do - that Christ was raised from the dead and appeared - as I do - to the Disciples, then what happened? If the appearances stopped, why? We still believe that Jesus was the Christ and was raised from the dead by God. But then where did he go? And that is what the story of the Ascension tries to answer. He went to be with God, and how do you describe such a thing in the first century than to say he went up, or he ascended?
Let's have a word of sympathy for the eleven remaining Apostles, okay? They have taken a lot of abuse, but let's try to see things from their point of view. First, they follow Jesus, thinking that they are going to rule with him in an earthly kingdom. They were wrong, of course, and their hopes were dashed when they saw him arrested and crucified. End of story, they thought. But then, they are told he has risen, and after some surprise and unbelief, they are happy again! And Jesus even appears to them! But then - guess what! – Jesus LEAVES them again and ascends into Heaven. We are told that they returned to Jerusalem - in Luke 24 - with great joy. But come on! Some of them had to think they were on a treadmill. Jesus was killed. Jesus was raised. Jesus appeared to them. And now he's gone again, ascending into Heaven. We are not told, but this had to be hard to take. They had to have a wonderful, enduring faith to experience all this and not get discouraged - and if they did get discouraged, to hang on still, until they were revived again by the Holy Spirit, as we'll hear in next Sunday's sermon about Pentecost.
The story of the Ascension, in my humble opinion, almost needs to be told alongside the doctrine of the Trinity, which I'll preach about on Trinity Sunday, which is in two weeks! And here is my reasoning: if we believe in God who sent his Son to earth, and then if we say that the Son and the Father are one and the same, which has been the church's teaching from almost the beginning, and the Son leaves the scene, as in the Ascension, where are we? In the account of the Ascension in Luke 24, we are told that the Disciples return to Jerusalem rejoicing. Why are they rejoicing? Because they seem convinced that Jesus is still with them in some way. And in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus, the Risen Lord, says at the end, "Behold, I am with you always, even until the end of the age."
So, there is this sense, in both Matthew and Luke, that Jesus is always with us. Only Luke has the story of the Ascension, but there is still this assumption that Jesus is always with us. That assumption will be confirmed at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends on the church. Is it the Holy Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit of Jesus? The answer is YES! In all seriousness, the Holy Spirit comes from God AND the Son. So, it is the Holy Spirit of God and also the Holy Spirit of Jesus - and since Jesus says in the Gospel of John, "I and the Father are one", we can say that the Holy Spirit comes from BOTH of them, because Jesus and God are one.
Now do you see why a sermon on the Trinity is needed, right next to the story of the Ascension? The Holy Spirit has not been sent yet, but Jesus assures us that it will. Once again those who are faithful will have to WAIT on the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 says, "They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." That's a great verse, isn't it? It was used in the early 1980's movie, "Chariots of Fire".
Also, regardless of what you feel about the story of the Ascension, you're still supposed to be working for the kingdom! That's the point of the angels in today's Scripture lesson when they ask, "Why do you stand there looking up toward heaven?" In a way they were saying, "Jesus will be back. He'll be back the same way you saw him leave. Now get busy with the tasks that you know you should be doing!" Amen.
Pastor Skip
