The Ascension
Notes
Transcript
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
I think some of you know that my wife had surgery this week. Without going into too much detail, we hope that this procedure will be an endpoint on a pretty difficult journey for her physically over at least the last decade. She is recovering well, up and on her feet a bit, and feeling relief.
I was joking with my father-in-law this week that I’ve gotten pretty good at being a recovery nurse. I’ve taken care of Stacy a few times after surgery. We’ve got it down to a routine.
These days, immediately following surgery, are the aftermath days. They are the days of reconfiguring. The are times of resettling, where we have to slow down, wait, see what happens, address discomfort, and not move too quickly. These are times for patience and attendance.
A major surgery or life event can disrupt us and set us on a different trajectory. Whatever life was like before, we cannot go back now. We move forward.
For my family, we’re living in the aftermath of such disruption, so the question becomes: who do we become in the aftermath?
Of course, this is an adjacent experience to what the disciples are going through in our passage today. The world has been turned upside down and they are reconfiguring. They are living in the aftermath. The Ascension is occuring, Jesus is leaving. Now what?
Let’s pray.
We are people of the aftermath.
We have heard the stories of Jesus, felt the presence of the Spirit, and witnessed God’s grandeur. We have responded by devoting our lives to following Jesus.
We are people of the aftermath.
Today we mark the feast of the Ascension, the time in the liturgical year where we finish the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry and pivot to looking at the church’s ongoing work in the world. We are people of the aftermath.
I want to look at this text, from the end of Luke, and actually pull it apart in reverse. I find that sometimes, when exploring a biblical passage, it’s important to look at how the author has laid out the story, because, often, there is a summary statement at the beginning or end, that will illuminate the whole passage.
For me, as I read this narrative today, it’s the closing words of verses 50 through 53. Jesus blesses his friends, offers a benediction, and then continues on down the road. The disciples return to Jerusalem with joy! They head to the temple, because as much as the Gospel of Jesus has social implications, it is first and foremost an affirmation of God’s loving presence and our gifted response to that love. So, the disciples return and continue to worship in Jerusalem.
I wonder if we have this impression, that following the death and resurrection of Jesus, there was some kind of great scattering. But this really took a lot of time, decades, even centuries. The explosion of global Christianity really begins years later. What we have in this instance is still the earliest church built off the remnants of a touring group of disciples and Jesus.
A community of people, living in the aftermath of Christ’s Ascension, waiting in hope.
A couple of notes on the context of this passage. This immediately follows Jesus’ appearance to the disciples where they feed him a broiled fish. These are the days following the resurrection.
Bethany — nearby village, 2 miles outside the city. Suburbs? Home base?
It’d be like us walking to downtown Bellingham, perhaps gathering up at the Farmer’s Market. It’s not far, but it’s a change of scenery.
He withdrew — feels very similar to other instances of Jesus stepping away to pray and be with God. I also love how Luke ends the gospel, in part because it’s picked up and continued in Acts, so the story doesn’t really end. But also because it’s less fanfare than, for instance, Matthew’s account of the Ascension. In Matthew 28, we hear the Great Commission and picture them on the hilltop in Galilee where Jesus had directed his disciples to meet him.
Luke’s Gospel, in contrast, has this open-ended feel, less about final words, more about final moments and a bit of undescribed possibility of what is to come.
Of course, Luke ends his gospel this way because he continues right where he left off at the beginning of Acts, the fifth book the New Testament. Luke and Acts are two volumes of the same narrative. That is, we should really think of the Gospel stories as Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke, for instance, because Luke is really Luke/Acts. There is a purpose to Luke’s telling of the story and how it links, points, directs us to the continually unfolding narrative of Jesus’ followers, the Church.
Ok, reading this narrative backwards, it goes something like this…
I am sending you power, as my Father promised…
You are my witnesses…
Repentance and forgiveness are to be shared throughout the world, starting in Jerusalem…
The Messiah suffered, died, and rose from the dead…
He opened their minds…
Everything written is being fulfilled…
As people of the aftermath, we have instructions. Remember the stories, tell them and share them. And wait.
Now, obviously, since we cycle through this narrative on about a yearly basis, we shouldn’t always be waiting, always be anticipating. No, in the journey of faith we have to grow and learn and serve and explore and expand and unfold into the story of God. So maybe you’ve heard these stories many times and have felt the power of the Spirit. Now, your work is to go tell the story to others, to bring the Good News of the people of the aftermath, to all nations. Go, walk in the spirit, alongside others, sharing the Good News. (By the way, the story of the disciples walking the road to Emmaus and receiving Jesus as their guest, is only about 20 verses previous to this passage.)
Perhaps we are hearing this story for the first time, or again after a long time. We also, should be people who Go tell the story, but also, we perhaps are the ones who are still getting used to it and waiting for the coming power of God. Maybe we feel like we’re intrigued, but need more time. Great. As people of the aftermath, we wait. We hold hope.
In following Jesus, we have to embrace the truth that while we know some things now, we will know much more in the days to come. We are a people of the already — receiving God’s presence and power to love here and now. And we are a people of the not yet — longing for all things to be made right, holding hope in the promise of more.
I wonder where you feel like you’re at today.
Have you heard these stories? Do they resonate? Have you begun to piece together their meaning in community with other pilgrims along the Jesus-way?
Do you sense the wonder in this passage — how Jesus is affirming the disciples’ ability to bear witness to what they’ve seen, to share the wonder.
It can be difficult to wait for the Spirit, especially when seek resolution in the aftermath. We want to know what is next or, at least, if this story is finally over. We want drama, we want triumph. We want fanfare and the great leveling of society to occur. We don’t particularly want to wait. On with it.
But as people of the aftermath, we have to hold this tension of waiting while also receiving. Already, not yet.
I can imagine many of us being there, in this moment, wondering what’s next. What do we do?
I believe our call is to stay faithfully ready to receive God’s spirit at any time. We are to be open to God’s direction, which may send us out in to the world to serve. Or God may direct us to stay close, draw near, and grow in deeper love. Some of us need to spend that time IN the spirit, in community, deepening and strengthening our faith.
I’ve recognized this tension in myself. I have this desire to expand and grow and take the Word into the World. But I also need to slow down and wait — I need to fill my cup, grow in faith, experience the Spirit of God in my own daily life. As I live in the aftermath, I feel that tension.
And the one thing I have come back to, while living in this tension, is our need for common life together, common practice, and the sharing of what we have.
This isn’t a particularly fresh perspective. Christians have been working out life in the aftermath for over 2000 years — sharing life together, pooling their resources, breaking bread, praying, serving the poor. Rather, we make a simple acknowledgement that we are people living in the aftermath, living in waiting, living with these teachings and hoping for what is yet to come. Whether we wait for a week, as we’ll look at Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit next Sunday. Or perhaps we wait a lifetime — faithfully, patiently loving our neighbors, keeping the fire burning, saying the prayers, breaking the bread, praising God in the temple, until the day we have hoped for arrives.
We’ve heard the stories. We’ve walked with other disciples. You have what you need. Now, we prepare to receive the spirit.
What would you have felt in this moment?
What do you feel now, as we await the Spirit’s power?
Let’s continue on down the road, together, following in the way of our Messiah, Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
