Up, Up, and Away

May 13, 2018
Ephesians 1:15-23     Luke 24:44-53

So how was your Ascension Day Holiday on Thursday? How did you celebrate? A holy fast, perhaps? A few hours of prayer? A dinner out? I can tell you that Good Shepherd’s Elders celebrated with a really good Session meeting.

Wait, you didn’t know that Thursday was a holiday?

In some countries, Ascension Day is a big holiday, with parades and parties and no work. It’s big for the Amish as well, apparently—no farming happens on Ascension Day.

But in case you missed celebrating Ascension Day on Thursday, we’re going to cover it today. Not to worry.

 

So what is it all about, this ascension thing?

It’s after the resurrection, and Jesus has been hanging around with the disciples and friends for 40 days. (We’re not absolutely sure it was 40 days—in the Bible, the number 40 is often used to mean “a long time.)

But anyway, he’s been hanging around for several weeks. He’s proven to Thomas and the other disciples that yes, it’s really him. He’s eaten a lot of meals with the disciples—important so we know that he’s a real human—not a ghost or a spirit. And of course he’s been teaching—how to interpret scriptures to understand his life, death and resurrection, and to know that he’s the Son of God. And teaching what it is God wants of them.

So here they all are—hanging out, eating good food, discussing all sorts of important ideas—chilling with their wonderful friend and teacher. And what the disciples and all the rest know beyond everything else is that Jesus loves them. God loves them. And the Kingdom of God is at hand.

The Kingdom of God is not the political kingdom some of the disciples were still looking for. The Kingdom of God is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s a world ruled not by greed and a thirst for power but by love and joy.

I think that’s exactly what the disciples and Jesus experienced during those 40 days—the Kingdom of God—love and joy. What a wonderful time they must have been having!

And then, on a little field trip to Bethany, Jesus is suddenly lifted up to heaven.

Remember that the ancients’ understanding of the world did not involve a round earth orbiting around the sun. Their understanding looked something like this. There were waters all around, and above the flat earth was a dome, above which was God. That’s why in the Bible, heaven is “up there.”

But when Jesus ascended, the disciples were more than just a little surprised. He left! He just up and left—up, up, and away!

 

When I was about seven years old, I started to understand for the first time the Good Friday part of the Easter story, and I was horrified. I remember almost crying to my mother, “But Mommy, wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus had just lived forever? Then he could still be here with us! Why did he have to die?” I honestly don’t remember what my mother told me (though I do remember thinking that my plan—to have Jesus live on and on—would have been better than what really happened).

I wonder if some of the disciples didn’t feel that way when Jesus ascended. Ah, geez, the crucifixion was bad enough, but then at least we got him back … and the last 40 days have been great! Couldn’t we have just continued on that way?

I think, though, that Jesus had to move on. (I’ve changed, you understand, in the last half century, to thinking that God probably had the better plan all along.) What would things have been like if Jesus had continued to hang around with the disciples? It might have been a little like a parent who refuses to ever give his or her children any control over their lives, even as they grow into their late teens, and 20s, and 30s … The disciples could have continued to be the kind of bumbling idiots they sometimes seemed to be, forever wanting Israel’s glory to be restored, or themselves to be seated on Jesus’ side … trying to walk on water but failing, trying to turn away the children and others who weren’t valued so much.

But God had a plan for the disciples. Not just that early group of 12 but all the disciples, including us. We, too, have a part to play in God’s plan. We are created in God’s image, and we have a job to do: to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, to all peoples. To love our neighbors as God loves us.

And though Jesus had to leave, he did not leave the disciples—or us—bereft or without his love. Notice what Luke says:

Lifting his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.

While he was blessing them he was carried up into heaven. That blessing? The Greek indicates that this blessing is a continuous action. He started blessing and he continued blessing and he continues blessing, to this very day. Jesus is still blessing us. Praying for us and sending us good gifts—overflowing joy, love, peace. The hymn we will sing after the sermon refers to Jesus as “the everlasting instant”—Jesus is Lord right now at this very instant, and also forever. And Jesus’ blessing of the disciples and of us is in the moment, just at this instant, now and forever.

The disciples responded to Jesus’ ascension and blessing with blessings of their own.

They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Part of the blessing that Jesus sent—and sends—is the Holy Spirit, to the disciples and to us. “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit,” said Jesus according to the book of Acts. And in Luke: “See, I am sending upon you what my Father promised.”

The Holy Spirit. The Comforter. The Advocate. The One who is present with us always, to give us guidance, to let us know of God’s love. The presence of the Holy Spirit means that we don’t have to rely entirely on memories of what Jesus did or what the Bible said. We can rely as well on the present, lived experience of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we Presbyterians believe that the best way to read the Bible is through the Holy Spirit’s interpretation.

We aren’t always in the habit of listening for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, though. After all, asking for any kind of guidance is kind of opposed to the American way—of being independent, of relying solely on ourselves. How many times have we gone through a time of decision and only thought to pray about it maybe halfway through.

There’s a spiritual practice I know of that is a way of practicing listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Choose an hour—maybe the first hour you’re awake some morning—and every decision you need to make, ask for God’s guidance, the Holy Spirit’s guidance. The black pants or the blue pants? The white shirt or the red shirt? Cereal or eggs … or a sausage McMuffin? The scenic road or the highway?

It seems a little silly, maybe. Some people would say that we shouldn’t need to pray about which clothes to wear, or where to buy gas. But maybe we need to practice listening to the Spirit whispering in our ear about little things so that we are practiced in hearing that whisper when it comes to bigger things.
To invest in Fund A or Fund B?
To pay off bills or take the family on a much-needed vacation?
To commit to a practice of fasting or Bible Study …
to sign up to help with the Sharing Table in August …
To join in prayer for the PNC and this church’s next pastor.

 

Jesus ascended to give us the opportunity to live the lives we are called to. Jesus left us with an Advocate. And he continues to bless us.

And the communion of saints—the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us—they have prayed for us as well, as Paul did in his letter to the Ephesians, after he thanked the churches in Ephesus for their faith in the Lord and their love for the saints.

I’m repeating Paul’s words as if addressed to the church in Joppa:

“Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, this is the reason I don’t stop giving thanks to God for you when I remember you in my prayers.”

And let us pray Paul’s prayer together, for everyone in this congregation. Repeat after me.

I ask the God of glory
to make you intelligent and discerning
in knowing him personally
to make your eyes focused and clear,
so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do,
so you can grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for us—
endless energy, boundless strength!
Amen.

Know that you are blessed, my friends.
Alleluia. Amen.