Witnesses of the Ascended Lord

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Goodbyes are never fun. It signals to you that something is coming to an end. And I would venture that many of us today don’t like goodbyes either. There may be situations that you find yourself in - perhaps at a graduation party, a church event, a dinner at someone’s house - where many of us participate in the Midwestern Goodbye, where we could to say goodbye but another conversation gets started and find yourself huddled in a circle by the door for the next 20 or 30 minutes. Or maybe as you are leaving - you are sure to schedule the next time to see the other person, because your schedules are so, so busy. You want to have the next time you see someone else already planned. Well today in our text, we have a goodbye if you will - as Jesus ascends into heaven to as we say in our creed, to sit at the right hand of God the Father - waiting for that moment in time when He will come back to declare the living and the dead. Jesus is leaving His disciples in the way that they know Him - but through His Spirit He will be with them in a different way. As we get to peak in on this goodbye of sorts with Jesus and His disciples - we see the disciples and you and me, being given: A mission to be carried out by His Spirit.

The disciples (and you and me today) are given a mission to be carried out by His Spirit. So, what is the mission? Jesus and the disciples are there standing together for a final time in the way that they it. They were even getting their final questions in asking if Jesus was going to restore the Kingdom to Israel at this time. And Jesus doesn’t answer except by saying - it is not for you to know; in other words Jesus is saying its not your concern, it’s not your job. But then, Jesus gives them this mission that He calls them to a part of: Jesus says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Jesus says to the disciples - you will be my witnesses! Being a witness for Jesus means two things first we need to live it out, live as if Jesus is risen from the grave, as if He has given you victory over the tomb. Our lives need mirror how Jesus calls us to live. But also, the second thing for being a witness is being able to proclaim, being able to speak about Jesus. I would say most of us do a decent job living it out, but where we maybe fall short is the speaking about it part. But to a be witness, we need to live it and speak it. Have you ever been to foreign country before where you have no clue how to speak the native language? If you haven’t imagine with me, being surrounded by a bunch of people who are talking and conversing and you can’t understand. Or maybe you go a restaurant - and you stare blankly at the menu because you have no clue what any of it is saying. Because you can’t speak the language - you are left to try and guess the context of why they are doing certain things. You are left to try and guess - what they are asking you or saying to you? As participate in this mission Jesus has given us - we often witness through only our actions. But through you actions alone, people are left to try and wonder why you are so loving, why you are so peaceful. Through your actions alone - they won’t be able to hear the message- the saving message of Jesus. For people out in the world today, “At some point the subtitles need to be turned on”. To be a witness in this mission to boldly share the message of Jesus along with your actions.

We are given a new mission to be carried out by His Spirit. There Jesus was with His disciples, as He gives them this mission to be His witnesses in the world, He is taken up into heaven to be with the Father - on His throne of victory. And the disciples are standing there looking into heaven in complete amazement, complete awe. And as they craning their necks into heaven, the receive a two angels that come and deliver this message - just like the angels had to do at the resurrection account, but the angels come and bring clarity about what is going on. They say to the disciples, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” The angels remind them to not keep just staring into heaven, but to go forward to the do work, because the message needs to be carried out. If the disciples just kept staring into heaven, waiting for Jesus to return, they miss the whole point that this message needs to be carried out to the nations. I think there are many times and moments in the life of the everyday Christian - where we wake up on Sunday morning, we gather in church to hear the Word of God proclaimed, we find comfort in the promises of Jesus, but then I as we enter the parking lot, as we return to our homes - we return to our ordinary lives - filled with scheduled activities, filled with meetings, filled with busyness. We just like the disciples - go to church, do all the Christian like things, and find ourselves waiting for something to happen. But the Lord is inviting you to carry out this message of hope, this message of life. Instead of staring up into heaven, we are called to urgently and actively carry this message out. Just like with the disciples, the message of Jesus isn’t just proclaimed and shared in a gathering of believers, or at church on Sunday morning, but this is a message that needs to be carried out to the nations, to the outskirts, to different parts of our city.

This task that Jesus gives us, can sound daunting and it sound scary. Perhaps there are things in your life, that prevent you from witnessing. Maybe it is fear, “What if the person asks me a question that is going to be hard to handle?”. Maybe it is availability, our are lives to busy running from one thing to the next - where we miss out on moments that God has given us to share the message of Jesus?. Maybe it is not feeling qualified. “I didn’t go to the seminary or a Bible college, so I don’t know if I have enough of the answers to figure out exactly what to say. But on this mission that Jesus invites you into - you are not alone. But this is a mission to be carried out by His Spirit. Jesus says to the disciples, You will be my witnesses, but also, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit; You will receive the power from on high. In the gift of your baptism, you have received the Spirit! The presence of Jesus is always - with you as you step into the world. Jesus through the gift of Spirit has given you this fellowship with God - where you are now claimed as His own. You are His child; He has chosen you! Not because of your goodness, but because of His mercy. It is within this fellowship with Jesus where He invites you to dwell in His gifts, to dwell in His faithfulness, to dwell in His strength - the strength that He has that is stronger than death! Jesus has removed your sins - so you can be with Him!

This is a beautiful message of hope that we get to share in this world. That you are never too far gone from Jesus. That Jesus has done the work inviting you to be His. And our God today doesn’t leave you - be He is always with you!

Now may the grace of God the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.