The Ascension of our Lord”
©Thomas B. Cundiff
Psalm 148 //
Praise for God’s Universal Glory
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
He established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of
Praise the Lord!
Acts 1: 6-14 // The
Ascension of Jesus
So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is
this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel Jerusalem Judea and Samaria
Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
Then they returned to Jerusalem Jerusalem
I.
On the
Christian calendar, tucked away in the collection of special seasons we
celebrate throughout the year, is one we rarely recognize in the Presbyterian
Church. WE don’t have a national holiday
or another long weekend associated with this day. I don’t think I’ve seen a HALLMARK card – honoring this day
following Jesus’ resurrection:
When our lord Jesus,
following his appearances
following his
resurrection, ASCENDED into heaven.
This
Thursday is known on the Christian calendar as – THE DAY OF JESUS’ ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN.
You know, I
really don’t understand why those who make decisions concerning religious
celebrations don’t place more emphasis on the day our Lord is raised, forty
days after his resurrection, to be with God…..or as the Ancient Apostles
Creed, says, “to sit at the right
hand of God, our Father Almighty”.
“I also remember as a kid, why if he
is raised from the dead leaving the empty tomb, does he have to be raised a again?
In a rather flip way I was told, we don’t
know about his resurrection until he came back to tell us about it. Then he had to be raised again!”
I hope I can
do a better job of explaining Jesus’ ascension. It is a hard concept. But them, Christmas and Easter are hard concepts. Also, like all the ancient stories of
scripture, we can spend a lot of time trying to figure out if these are actual
historical events. It’s much more
productive for us to look at what the story means for us today than to try to
forensically prove or disapprove whether Jesus actually rose from death or
ascended into heaven.
Luke 24: 50-53
So today,
my focus in this sermon is Jesus’ Ascension.
I invite you to try to capture in your minds, along with me, this metaphorical
image of Jesus floating toward the heavens – while his
confused disciples look upward in amazement and fear!
Really? If you are one who has a difficult time with these
literal visual images, metaphorically, this is transitional time between Jesus’
physical life -- his post-resurrection presence with his disciples, and God’s
pouring out the Holy Spirit upon us giving birth to what has become known as
the birthing of Christ’s church.
An important
factor in my mind: we need to remember
that all of these things that happened weren’t written down or recorded for
many years. We really don’t know how
long the disciples envisioned Jesus walking with them following his
resurrection. When did the verbal stories of Jesus ascension
first start being told. All we really
know is that the written history – what we have recorded in scripture – didn’t
happen until 70 plus years after Jesus lived when Luke and others were
beginning their quest to try to put in story-form the documentation of events
that could be believable to the everyday believers!
In fact, and this was important for the founder of our church, John Calvin, references to the Ascension of Jesus are found in many places throughout the New Testament including the gospel of Luke (chapter 24: 36-53) and our scripture today in the first chapter of the book of Acts. In this scripture Jesus appears to the disciples and speaks to them about the
So again I
must ask, why is all this discussion about Jesus’ Ascension important? Jesus’ Ascension marks the guarantee we
receive from God that we will all find resurrection and eternal life. Or this fact:
In Christ we do not die.
On Easter I
shared with you the image given by Rev. Peter Marshall: “Death
is not a wall but a door that opens for us to life eternal.” Through
Jesus’ Ascension the promise of eternal life is sealed…..the door to the
heavens…..the door to eternal life is opened.
II. Three benefits
The story
of Jesus’ ascension marks the beginning of a new period of time in biblical
history. Jesus’ relationship with his
followers is no longer restricted by physical boundaries or time and space—life
or death. Through faith we all have
access to the living Christ through the work of the HOLY SPIRIT – something we
learn more about in the next couple of weeks (on May 19th) on Pentecost
when we celebrate God’s giving the church the gift of the Holy spirit.
There are
three benefits as I see them received through Jesus’ Ascension into heaven:
The first benefit, we experience Christ "transfusing us with his power." To use the words of church scholar John S.
McClure, Jesus is raised (lifted up) to be seated at the right hand of God,
where he "lavishes spiritual riches"
upon "his own people". Or to
use the words of John Calvin, Jesus becomes our "constant advocate and intercessor who prepares a way and access
for us to the Father's throne."
Now if all
of this sounds complicated, it is! Basically,
the ascension is that point in time in life when we can say with faith and confidence: Heaven is not just a lofty idea of a
wonderful place where we go when we die.
We no longer have to fear death. It is a reality in giving us access to the
riches of life together forever with our creator—God! The church becomes transfused with the power of Christ as we become as Paul says, “the one, united living (and breathing) body
of Christ.”
The second benefit, through Christ’s ascension, the
door of eternal life is “opened for us to
see our way into the Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of God
So we
wonder: Do we want to know what the “kingdom of Heaven” looks like? Of course we do! And in
truth we catch glimpses of God’s heaven all around us every day….in the good and
gracious and generous things people do.
The smiles on the faces of babies laughing and crying….in the laughter….in
watching our children grow. The kingdom of Heaven
The third and favorite
benefit, pure
Calvinistic theology, the Ascension of Jesus draws us into the heart of
God. This isn’t just another neat
teaching. This is a reality for those
who place their lives – wholly and totally – into the hands of God -- through faith we are called/drawn into the heart
of God. Calvin is always talking about
the fusing of head with heart along with our hands in doing God’s work in
serving others.
This is worth repeating: Calvin is always talking about the fusing of
head with heart in using our hands to do God’s work in serving others!
What
does all of this mean for us? Through
Jesus, we are allowed to see the world, perhaps, as God sees the world; to
experience and feel some of what God sees and feels in a heart felt way. When
we look into the eyes of someone who is suffering, bullied, discriminated against….we
can identify with what God feels….the pain in knowing someone is being
misunderstood or mistreated. We then use
our minds and hands and hearts to engage in serving the poor and the distressed
and the misunderstood and the mistreated of our world.
Another way
to say this: When we are brought to tears because of some kind of injustice,
God is also brought to tears. How do we
know this? Because Jesus was brought to
tears on many occasions throughout his life.
Because Jesus died on the cross so we could know all about God’s love
and care and compassion for us. We cry
with the world and with God knowing Jesus suffered and died and rose from death
ascending into heaven so we can now live eternally with God.[2]
As in any
good story, the ancient story of Jesus’ Ascension into heaven has a hope-filled
ending. After Jesus leaves his disciples
two men or angels appear in white robes to deliver a promise there will be a
homecoming. In practical terms, this means there will be a heavenly reunion with
loved ones. Without time or space constraints,
there will be a homecoming-type reunion.
Regardless
what we believe about these scriptural stories, we do know that the message is
this: Through Jesus there is an end to
death. We might think that we exhale a
breath and it is gone forever. With God
the next breath is always going to be from God….and God’s spirit will never
stop breathing in and upon us. This is
the hope-filled message scripture leaves us.
In God we do not die! This is the
same affirmation made in my favorite creed that says: “In
life and in death we always belong to God.”[3]
We may not
have a holiday celebrating Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. We will always be challenged to find human
words to describe the divine ways God is involved in our lives. What we can know for sure, in mind and heart,
God is always with us never to abandon us.
Jesus is
Lord. In life and death we belong to
God. Through Jesus’ life and death and
resurrection and ascension into heaven, God has made it possible for doors to
heaven to always be open for us. What’s
left for us is the challenge to believe….believe the promises we receive from
God.
In my mind
and in my heart, truly, I know that in life and in death and through faith in
Jesus Christ, we will always belong to God….to live with God forever—in head
and heart and with our hands—we are called to share God’s love with others.
No comments:
Post a Comment