Raised to a Higher State

Text: “50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24:50-53)

For the past 6 weeks we have rejoiced at all that Christ accomplished— the fulfillment of His entire life, His sacrificial death, His resurrection. Today we rejoice that all of that was the beginning, not the end.

What He did was truly miraculous. For every moment of every day, He lived a perfect life in thought, word, and deed. Even His motives were pure through it all—never mixed with the slightest hint of selfishness or any sinful desire.

It was truly glorious. He offered the perfect sacrifice for the sin of all humanity. Hanging there on the cross, He became the one and only murderer who has lived; He became the one and only adulterer who has lived; He became the one and only liar, the one and only thief, the one and only blasphemer, the one and only sinner who has ever lived.

And He did it all in His state of humiliation, laying aside His divine power and glory. As the catechism puts it, “Christ did not always or fully use or manifest the divine powers and majesty that were communicated to His human nature” (“Luther’s Small Catechism,” Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 2017. Question #170. Cf Philippians 2:5-8; 2 Corinthians 8:9). Certainly, there were glimpses of His divine power and majesty. But He accomplished all of it in the form of a servant, emptied of His divine power, glory, and majesty. He brought it about through simple obedience— perfect! obedience— even to the point of death. But now, with His ascension to the right hand of the Father, the veil is removed.

Now, and for all eternity, He is seated at the right hand of God the Father in “glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 25). He is exalted above all things, bearing the name that is above every name, “the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2:9b-10).

And that’s not a promise for someday— “Someday all His enemies will kneel at His feet”— it’s a promise for today. The catechism says that God’s will is done as He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh. But— with apologies to Martin Luther!— I’m not sure if that’s adequate to describe how Christ brings about the Father’s will as He rules over all creation. Because He is ruling over all that is seen and unseen, even as the devil and the world and your own sinful flesh do their worst, what they intend for evil He uses for good. They and all their wicked plans are defeated even as they try to carry them out. They are turned to serve the good— serving His perfect plan of salvation rather than their plan to harm you.

If what He did in His state of humiliation was glorious, if what He accomplished in the form of a servant was miraculous, words fail to describe what He is doing now in His state of exaltation, what He accomplishes every day as Lord and King. As a writer name Chad Bird puts it,

Precisely because he is seated at the right hand of the Father, he is seated at the right hand of the father who holds the tiny hand of his baby girl in the NICU.

Because all things are under his feet, Christ is there with us when all the nastiness and ugliness of life tramples us under its own feet.

And best of all, because in his body he ascended to the highest throne in heaven, he puts that body into us as we gather down here around his altar-throne. Whether it’s a makeshift table in the middle of a bombed-out battlefield or a bejeweled altar ensconced within a cathedral, that place is where heaven is down here and earth is up there. Jesus ascends downward to lift us upward by putting his body into our body, his blood into our blood.

So closely joined are we to Jesus that Paul has the audacity to write that the Father has “raised [you] up with [Christ], and seated [you] with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Not in some distant epoch of the future but now. Not some time later when we stroll on golden streets, but even now on earth we are seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. That’s because to be “in Christ” is not to land on his skin like a fly, but to be incorporated into his body. Even as he is God made man, the Creator now also fully human, so we humans are made sons and daughters of God, members of the body of Christ.

(Bird, Chad. “Ascending Downward: When the Manger Becomes the Cosmos.” www.1517.org, 30 May A.D. 2019)

As we’ll sing in a few minutes:

On Christ’s ascension I now build The hope of my ascension; This hope alone has always stilled All doubt and apprehension; For where the Head is, there as well I know His members are to dwell When Christ will come and call them.

Since Christ returned to claim His throne, Great gifts for me obtaining, My heart will rest in Him alone, No other rest remaining; For where my treasure went before, There all my thoughts will ever soar To still their deepest yearning.

O grant, dear Lord, this grace to me, Recalling Your ascension, That I may serve you faithfully In thanks for my redemption; And then, when all my days will cease, Let me depart in joy and peace In answer to my pleading.

(Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing House. Hymn #492)

“50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.” Still today He is leading and blessing His people. Let us praise Him with great joy, now and to eternity.