The Sermon Text —Luke 24:44-53

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 was driving Lydia to school on Thursday and we began talking about what we were going to do that day. Lydia said a few things about what she was going to be doing and then I told her that I had to write a sermon. If you are thinking that this is sounding a lot like my last sermon, you are right, but please bear with me. Anyway, I told her I was preaching and she asked me what my sermon was going to be about. Remembering the great words of wisdom she shared with me the last time we were in this situation—"believing is seeing"— I eagerly began to tell her that my sermon was going to focus on the ascension, hoping that she might again provide me we another wonderful nugget that I could use in my sermon.

I told her a little bit about the ascension, I said that it is a Holy Day and that it is celebrated 40 days after Easter, which, always lands on a Thursday and which happened to be that specific day. Before I tell you her response, I need to explain that Lydia goes to a Catholic School—St. James—and they have worship services—Mass—for the kids several days each week, plus on other special days throughout the year. Well, upon learning that specific day was Ascension Day Lydia turned to me and said, "Oh great! That means we’re probably going to have to sit through a super long Mass today." Those were not exactly the inspiring words that I was hoping, but perhaps that is about as excited as most of us are when we consider the ascension. It is not something that fills many of us with great enthusiasm and anticipation.

Luke tells the story of Jesus’ ascension twice—both were read today. He tells an abbreviated version at the end of his gospel and he tells an extended version at the beginning of Acts.

The ascension is an aspect of our faith that seems to be kind of an enigma. It is not something that most of us understand, we do not talk much about in our Bible studies and, because it is a Holy Day that is always situated on a Thursday as opposed to a Sunday, it is an event that is rarely dealt with in a sermon. Yet, it is part of our faith—actually, a pretty important part of our faith.

In fact, it is so important that it is spoken of virtually every time we come together in worship. When we confess our faith by reading the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, we are stating our belief in the ascension—"he ascended into heaven ... and is seated at the right hand of the Father." In several of our liturgies for communion—the liturgy we use at 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 10:45 Sunday—we also hear references to the ascension, "Remembering is command that we love one another, his life and death, his glorious resurrection and ascension..."

Even if we as individuals do not spend much time thinking about the ascension, the Lutheran Church has, at least enough to include it in our worship. So, if they consider that important, maybe it would not hurt if we spent a little time focusing on it as well.

I heard a story about a confirmation class who was being given a tour of their church. They came upon a stained-glass window of the ascension. In it was pictured Jesus in his glory—being lifted up. As the teacher stood before the window, trying to convey something of the meaning of it, a young girl exclaimed, "Look! The point of the nail is still in his hands!"

When we think about the ascension, it is easy to get side-tracked by unimportant questions or observations—how Jesus was physically lifted up or how did he get to heaven, where did those two men in white robes come from? Those are questions that we simply do not have answers to, but the observation that that confirmation student focused on was wonderful—"The point of the nail is still in his hands!" Even in his glory—as he was ascending to heaven—Jesus had the marks of the crucifixion. Neither the resurrection nor the ascension wiped those marks away.

Most of us can comprehend Jesus’ resurrection. Unlike the ascension, the resurrection it is an event that we have heard about in a lot of different situations. Preachers spend a great deal of time talking about it, the Bible focuses on it in many interesting ways, hymns are filled with beautiful references to it and countless authors have shared their ideas and images about it. And on top of all that, each one of us has, in our own way, reflected upon Jesus’ resurrection, if for no other reason than to consider how it impacts our hoped for resurrection.

But that time after Jesus’ resurrection until the time that he arrived at the right hand of God in heaven, with the Ascension being the final part of it, that is an ambiguous period of time. In the lesson from Acts we learn that Jesus spent 40 days on earth after his resurrection. The book of Acts begins by telling us that during those 40 days he appeared to the disciples teaching them about the kingdom of God. The book of Acts also says that he told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until God sent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

That is what the first five verses of our reading from Acts tell us. The next six verses focus on Jesus preparing the disciples for the time when he will not be physically with them anymore. The disciples ask Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" A better way to understand that is, "Lord, is this your second coming?" And Jesus answers by saying, "Don’t worry about that. Let my Father worry about that." But then Jesus goes on to tell them what they do need to worry about. He says, "After God sends the Holy Spirit you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Jerusalem, which is where they were, was to be their starting point. It was the place where they were to begin their witnessing, but then Jesus told them they were to move outward. First just a bit further into the surrounding area of Judea, then a bit further into Samaria and finally, even further out—to the ends of the earth. And with these words, Jesus was lifted up.

"...as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them." Do you remember the last time we saw a cloud and two heavenly beings in the Gospel of Luke? It was at Jesus’ Transfiguration. And do you remember what the two heavenly beings—Moses and Elijah—do you remember what they were saying? Luke 9:31, tells us that, "They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." They were talking to Jesus about his ascension.

Luke connects the cloud of the Transfiguration with the cloud of the Ascension for a purpose. He uses the Transfiguration—the cloud, the heavenly beings and their words—he uses all of that not simply as an event unto itself, but as a tool to direct the disciples and to direct us to a future event—to the ascension.

And so as we look at the ascension and again see the cloud and the heavenly beings, we know that we need to listen to the words of these men in white robes because they will be again pointing the disciples and us to another future event.

They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

Two ideas come to mind from the words of these men. First, they say to the disciples, "... why do you stand looking up towards heaven?" What an odd question. It is asked as if an ascension is an everyday occurrence—an ordinary thing to see. But what they are really doing is gently pushing the disciples into action. The Gospel of Luke tells us that after Jesus was lifted up the disciples, "...returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple blessing God." Apparently those gentle words, added to the incredible sight of the ascension, did the trick.

Fred Craddock states in his commentary on Luke that,

"With these words, Luke has come full circle. He began his Gospel with a scene in Jerusalem, in the temple, at the hour of worship."

I’ll finish his quote in a minute, but Craddock is referring, of course, to Zechariah—John the Baptist’s father—who was performing his priestly duty by serving in the temple. It is at that moment that God came to him and revealed that his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son who would "turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God (Luke 1:16)." Now I’ll continue with Craddock’s quote.

"Events in that opening scene generated anticipation for the reader: God is at work and something marvelous is about to happen. The reader (now at the end of the Gospel of Luke) is again in Jerusalem, in the temple, at the hour of worship. Events in this closing scene again generate anticipation: God is at work and something marvelous is about the happen."

Something marvelous did happen as the Gospel of Luke ended and it continues to happen today and that brings me to a second idea from the white-robed men that I want to close with. Despite the overwhelming challenges that the disciples faced, they went out and witnessed in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And this is where we fit into the picture. We are part of this marvelous story also. We too are witnesses of these things and we too are called to go to the ends of the earth with this incredible life-changing message.

This ascension of Jesus locks the Church into God’s movement into the future, which will inevitably culminate in the return of Jesus and the complete realization of the kingdom of God. But being locked into God’s movement into the future is hardly the end of the story. Thus, the ascension is merely a transition, an unfinished story of how the Church travels with God—sometimes that traveling with God seems so close (like when the disciples were with Jesus during those 40 days) and sometimes that traveling with God seems very distant (like when the Church cries out to God and seemingly only hears silence), yet we are still promised that as we walk the path, God will be by our side.

Regardless of how we happen to be traveling with God, our task remains the same—mission. To be missionaries in whatever we do. To share God’s love. To help those in need. To seek justice, to model forgiveness, to cry with those who weep, to celebrate with those who rejoice. That is building the Kingdom of God. Like the disciples, we need to bring our gaze back down to earth and be about the work of God. Amen.

© 2007