Ascension Sunday - Year A
Text: Luke 24:44-53
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Grace and peace be with you, from
God our Father, and from his beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Humanity has a fascination with
ascension. I’m not talking here about the ascension of Jesus – we’ll get to
that in a minute – but rather, I’m talking about our fascination with flight –
with ascension – with things that ascend or rise.
Two Christmases ago, our first
Christmas in North Texas, Steve gave me a purple martin house. It took us two
days to put the blessed thing together. Steve went out and got a pole and put
the thing up. And as the weather warmed up, we waited. And waited.
Nothing.
A few sparrows eventually did some
poking around in the house but we didn’t see one blessed purple martin last
year – not one.
So imagine my delight this year
when one day, Steve and I were outside, and I finally saw a purple martin,
swooping around the house, dive-bombing, and I heard it singing its song. I
watched, fascinated, as this bird swooped up, and fell down, and swooped up,
and fell down. Finally, it swooped up, up, and away, going off to check out the
rest of the neighborhood and maybe get some dinner.
The purple martins have moved in
now, and so I often see (and hear) them out there, and when I have the chance,
I watch. I watch them swoop up and fall down.
We are fascinated with ascension –
fascinated that something can seemingly defy the gravity that holds us down so
heavily – the very idea captures us and doesn’t let us go.
So today is Ascension Sunday – the
day upon which we hear about Jesus ascending into heaven and, even though we
may be fascinated with ascension, when it comes to the Ascension of Jesus, I’m
not sure we really think about what Jesus ascending into heaven really means.
If you look in your bulletin on page 6, up at the top, in the creed – there it
is: “On the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven…” We say these
words each week, as the Christian Church throughout time has said them, over
and over, and so they must mean something, right? They must be important in
some way.
In today’s gospel lesson, we hear
about Jesus opening the minds of the disciples in order that they can finally
understand what the Scriptures have said about him – that he is the Messiah,
the long-awaited one, the one who “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…” He is it. In him, God is up to something wondrous
and powerful, for in him, God is setting all things aright.
And then, they all go on a little
walk, and Jesus blesses them and then, he is carried up into heaven.
Acts chapter 1 gives us another
little piece of the Ascension story (Acts probably being a sequel, of sorts, to
the gospel of Luke) – that these men in white robes show up, as the disciples
are still standing there, trying to watch Jesus ascend – fascinated with the
ascension. These two men in white robes appear – presumably they are angels –
messengers sent by God – and the men in white robes ask the disciples, “Why are
you standing here, looking into heaven?” - as if to prod them to action, or to
awaken them from some dream.
And maybe it is at this point that
the disciples remember what Jesus has said to them: that they are to go to
Jerusalem and wait – wait until they have been “clothed with power from on
high” – wait until the promised Holy Spirit shows up (which happens on
Pentecost – which we celebrate next weekend). And so the disciples return to
Jerusalem and their focus is worship, blessing God, and prayer.
And that is how the Christian
Church came into being: worship, blessing God, and prayer.
Professor Mikael Parsons at Baylor
University says this about the Ascension of Jesus: “The departure of Jesus
inaugurates the beginning of the church – the gift of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost and the beginning of worldwide mission.” That’s what the Ascension of
Jesus does. It serves as a launching pad – as a new beginning – and the world will
never be the same.
For Jesus says one other little
thing in his final speech before ascending off into heaven. Six words: “You are
witnesses of these things.”
“You are witnesses of these
things,” he says to those disciples before ascending into heaven, and in their
case, they actually were witnesses of his life, his death, his resurrection,
and his ascension. They witnessed – they saw – these things. And yet, they
didn’t only see these things happen. Where on earth would we all be if all
they had done was seen these things, gone home, shut their doors, eaten their
suppers, and gone to bed?
They were witnesses of these
things, and as witnesses, they were sure to tell the stories. They told the
stories of Jesus over and over, until they were written down, and collected into
what we call the New Testament, so that others could read and be witnesses to
these things. And through the centuries, the witness of these disciples comes
to us.
“You are witnesses of these
things.” You! If you’re starting to read the Bible in 90 days today, you’re
going to read the whole biblical witness, starting before Jesus, from the very
beginning. (If you’re not reading the Bible in 90 days, I encourage you to read
more of the Bible this summer than you normally do…) Regardless, you are here, you
are hearing the stories of Jesus during worship – you are gathering around his
table and receiving his meal. You are witnesses of these things.
As Lutherans, we might be a bit
uncomfortable talking about “witnessing” but I tell you that being a witness to
Jesus does not mean having to shove a Bible down someone’s throat or walking
around with a halo on your head. Sometimes being a witness to Jesus means
simply being there when someone needs help. Or telling someone you’ll be
praying for whatever difficulty they are having. Or gathering with others here
and making cards for people like my little granny, who – by the way – had your
beautiful cards – your witness – all laid out for me to look at when I arrived
in Florida a couple of weeks ago.
You are witnesses of these things.
As Christians, yes, we gather for
worship and to bless God and to pray. We find our strength and our hope in
these things, but we are also witnesses to the love and mercy of God – God who,
in Jesus Christ, offers forgiveness and life – to us and to all.
You
are witnesses of these things.
Amen.
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