Ascension Day Sermon 2022

As we’ve said, today is the Sunday after the Ascension. According to the church calendar, the Feast of the Ascension, or Ascension Day was celebrated this past Thursday. Now, I don’t know about you, but I did not grow up in a church tradition that paid a whole of attention to the ascension of Jesus. Truly, it might be one of the the most neglected parts of the story of Christ and Christian theology in general. In my church growing up we spoke at length about Christ’s birth, his life, death, resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, but never really anything about the ascension.

But this should not be. The ascension of Jesus is just as important as the incarnation, just as important as the crucifixion, and just as important as the resurrection - because without the ascension of Jesus, there is no kingdom of God! Because there is no kingdom, if Jesus is not King at God’s right hand in the heavenly realm. Without the ascension of Jesus, our prayers and our worship can go nowhere. Because our access to God the Father in prayer and worship is mediated to us through Jesus Christ, and if he is not serving as our High Priest and Advocate at God’s right hand, there is no way that we can approach the Father in prayer or worship.

But thanks be to God: Jesus is the King and he is our High Priest and he is our Advocate, because Jesus has ascended. Just as Christ left the Father’s presence for our good, he has now returned to the Father’s presence for our good. We must not neglect this important facet of the gospel - we must not neglect the importance of the ascension. Here we see the risen Christ become the reigning Lord.

So today, I want to take a moment to unpack and remind you of the significance that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

But first, we need to address the issue of the ascension itself. When is this happening? Well, after Jesus is raised from the dead, he continues to hang out with his disciples for forty days - and during that time, as we see Luke write in Acts 1, he’s continuing to encourage his followers and teaching them about the kingdom of God. He’s telling them that he’s going to be leaving them soon, but that he’ll send them the Holy Spirit . And after those forty days, he ascends to heaven.

So what did that look like? Like, are we talking about Neo at the end of the first Matrix movie? Does Jesus just lift off like a rocket ship? Does he do one of those cool superhero lift offs? You’ll see stained glass windows or old paintings where Jesus is hovering thirty feet in the air, and his disciples are all craning their necks up to look at him. I’ve even seen one where it’s the disciples on the ground looking up, and there’s a cloud up in the sky with sandaled-feet sticking out of it. It all seems a little silly doesn’t it?

Well, because it is a little silly; and I don’t think that’s what Luke is trying to describe here. You see, in the biblical world, most people didn’t think of heaven as being a place “up there in the sky.” In fact, heaven wasn’t a far-away place at all. In their worldview, they thought of heaven and earth as, to use the words of Bishop NT Wright, “overlapping and interlocking spheres of reality.” In the Bible, heaven and earth are not two different locations within the same continuum of space and matter. They are two different dimensions of God’s good creation. Heaven is God’s space, while earth is our space; and while they intersect in a variety of ways, they retain, at least for now, separate and distinct identities and roles. I say, “for now,” because the promise in Scripture is that one day, these two realms - heaven and earth - will be joined together, open and visible to one another, married forever.

If all of that is making your head spin and your eyes glaze over, that’s okay. All I want you to see is that when we say, or the Bible says, that Jesus has ascended to heaven, we are saying that Jesus has gone away from our world and into God’s world, but that that is not somewhere super far away from us. I want you to see that the heavenly realm, where Jesus is right now, is nearer to you than you have probably come to believe. And if you want to dive deeper into this idea, a great resource to check out is NT Wright’s book Surprised by Hope.

So, why is this such a big deal that Jesus is now in heaven? And how is that for our benefit? Because in John 16, Jesus goes so far as to say that it is actually better for his disciples that he leave them and go to heaven. So how is that the case?

The fact that Jesus has taken his place at the Father’s right hand means we have an advocate in the throne room of heaven giving us full access to God.

Today we are reminded of an often forgotten fact. There is right now, a flesh and blood, embodied, and physical human being in heaven. There is a physical, embodied Jesus in the Father’s presence in heaven. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he did not shed his humanity. He did not dissolve into some kind of spiritual force. The resurrected, flesh and blood Jesus that met with the disciples for forty days is the same resurrected, flesh and blood Jesus who now sits at God’s right hand in heaven.

On this idea, one scholar put it this way, “Through the Ascension we discover that the Incarnation continues; that Jesus remains united to our human nature. Thus he can not be spiritualized in to some kind of generic Christ principle, or collapsed into a manifestation of a God who can be known in many ways. Moreover, the presence of our brother, Jesus in heaven dramatically effects how we see our lives and place in the world today.”

Why is important to belabor the point that a physical, corporal Jesus is in heaven right now? Because it means we have an advocate in heaven. The book of Hebrews in the New Testament is a fascinating book, and one way to read it is as a sermon that unpacks the reality of Christ’s ascension - why did Jesus return to the Father in heaven, and what is he doing there now. And the title that is used again and again to describe the ongoing ministry of Jesus is that Jesus is our Great High Priest in heaven.

Hebrews 1:3 says this:

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...

Hebrews 6:19-20:

19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever...

Hebrews 9:24

24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Hebrews tells us that just as Jesus left the Father’s presence on our behalf, he has now returned to the Father’s presence, also on our behalf - because he is serving there as our High Priest.

In the Bible, the High Priest serves as a mediator between God and the people. He alone goes into the Holy of Holies in the Temple, where God’s presence dwelt, and there he makes sacrifices for the sins of the people. He intercedes on their behalf. He advocates for their blessings. He brings their prayers and petitions before the presence of God. And Hebrews says that because Jesus has ascended to heaven, he is now doing that for us.

Hebrews 7:25:

25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Many of you have a regular time of prayer where you lift up the needs of your loved ones before God. How wonderful of a thought that Jesus is doing the same for you at God’s right hand in heaven. We’re beginning to see why Jesus might say that it is better for his disciples that he should return to the Father. Because we have an advocate in heaven, a great high priest, who has presented his sacrifice to God the Father - his own body and blood, to free us from our guilt and shame. And he remains in the Father’s presence on our behalf. This is how the fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection is applied to us - because our high priest in heaven is making it so.

But our reigning king is not only interceding and advocating for us, he is also making it possible for you and I to approach God ourselves.

In fact, our worship service is designed to teach this theological truth. Every week, the service begins with what’s called the Procession. The cross enters the room and makes its way to the eucharist table, and following behind it are the clergy of the church, pastors and deacons, who serve as representatives of the whole church community which is joining in through song. This isn’t empty pageantry, it’s reinforcing a theological truth, which is this: you and I do not have access to God the Father on our own. We cannot stand in the presence of God. We cannot draw near to him, because he is Holy and perfectly righteous and we are far, far from that.

But thanks be to God that our High Priest in heaven, Jesus our Lord, the human being who stands at God’s right hand, who has all authority in heaven and on earth - this Jesus has opened for us the kingdom of God, so that we can have full access to God the Father through Christ. And so we follow the cross of Jesus into worship, because it is only through his ministry as our high priest in heaven that our prayers and worship go anywhere. We follow him into the presence of God.

Hebrews 4:14-16:

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19-23

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Why is it good news that Jesus has taken the throne in heaven? Because through his ongoing ministry for us, we can confidently draw near to God and find mercy and grace. Isn’t that amazing?

The ascension of Jesus is a word of comfort for the church. But we would be remiss if we didn’t also acknowledge that it is a word of conviction as well. Because if Jesus is enthroned as king over heaven and earth…that means he is your king. If Christ rules over all things, than he rules over the content of your conversations. If Christ rules over all things, then he rules over your workplace habits. If Christ rules over al things, then he rules over your browsing history. If Christ rules over all things, then he rules over your family. If Christ rules over all things, then he rules over your marriage. If Christ rules over all things, then he rules over your political convictions. If Christ rules over all things, then he rules over all aspects of your life.

As the Dutch theologian, Abraham Kuyper famously said, ““There's not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Lord over all, does not exclaim, 'Mine'!”

This is fundamentally the backdrop of Christian discipleship. If Jesus rules over all the earth, then he rules over all parts of our lives - and that means our personal and corporate lives.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says that the Father put all things under Christ’s feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body. What do we think that means? What does it mean that Jesus is the head of the church? Well, what does the head do? It directs the body. The head is where we find the eyes and ears and nose, i.e. where information is gathered and then that information is interpreted by the brain and signals are sent to your fingers and toes and arms and legs, and the body responds to the direction of the head.

But the body doesn’t always function properly, does it? If fact there is a condition where the signals that are being sent from the head never make it to the body. We call this paralysis. And unfortunately, so many Christians and churches suffer from paralysis. The signals from Christ the head, the voice of Jesus, is not being heard or responded to.

So, today I ask you: is the Christ’s voice, the voice of our head, the voice of our high priest, the voice of our enthroned king - is it getting to you? Are you hearing it? Are you listening? Are you who are Christ’s body responding to his voice and direction?

I encourage you to spend more time listening to that voice, because our king is speaking. He is guiding and directing and comforting and challenging and orienting and shepherding continuously from the throne room of heaven. Are we listening to our king?