What Do We Learn from Those Who Go Before Us?

Granny taught me to love reading.

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

The Ascension of Our Lord – 8 May 2016

Texts: Acts 2:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Today, we remember the Ascension of Jesus. On our church calendar, Ascension actually falls on Thursday every year – forty days after Easter. Today we remember that Jesus not only lived among us, and was killed and raised to life again, but that he ascended into heaven, as our creeds remind us each time we say them.

The story of the Ascension of Jesus comes from three places in Scripture, and we heard two of them today: Acts 1 and Luke 24. The Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were probably written by the same person, Acts being a sequel of sorts to Luke’s gospel. If we think of Acts as a sequel to Luke, then it makes sense that Acts picks up where Luke leaves off. The Gospel of Luke tells us about Jesus – his life and his work - and the book of Acts tells us what Jesus’ followers did after Jesus ascended into heaven. The hinge between the two is the Ascension of Jesus.

Right before the Ascension, Jesus is with the disciples, eating with them and teaching them. Luke tells us that Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures, so that they can begin to see him as the One who has come in the name of the Lord, the One foretold by the prophets, the Messiah who is to die and be raised to life, who brings repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the world. And then Jesus commissions them: “You are witnesses of these things,” he says, and then he tells them that they will be clothed with power from on high.

They go out toward Bethany, and Jesus blesses them, and while he is blessing them, he is carried up into heaven. Eventually, the clouds hide him from their sight, and so, there they are, standing around, looking up at the clouds. Eventually, they make their way back to Jerusalem, as Jesus has instructed, his words of commissioning and blessing still ringing in their ears.

Last week, I said that the word of Jesus is love, and the disciples have received that word, but now have also been told to wait for power from on high. And so, they wait.

One question that I have heard around the Ascension of Jesus is why did Jesus have to ascend at all? Or, why did he leave earth, instead of staying here, continuing to live among us?

Maybe he could have. I’m not sure how that would’ve worked or what that would’ve looked like. I do know that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world – it’s like the old Advent hymn, “Prepare the Royal Highway” says: “His is no earthly kingdom; it comes from heav’n above. His rule is peace and freedom and justice, truth, and love.” Jesus trusted in the coming of the Holy Spirit to carry on the work he had begun – and, as he said, to remind his followers of what he had taught them.

From very early on in our lives, we are taught by those who are around us. Every so often, I will hear a piece of piano music and it hits me in such an early place in my memories, that I know it must be a piece that my mom or dad was practicing on the piano when I was an infant. We begin to learn very early on, and those memories stay with us.

As we grow older, and begin to gain vocabulary, those people around us as children begin to teach us words. And then we begin to learn phrases and sentences, and eventually concepts emerge. And all of this shapes us deeply, and it becomes a deep place of formation for us throughout our lives.

As I began to reflect again upon the story of Jesus’ Ascension, I began to reflect on this question: What have I learned from those who’ve gone before me?

My Granny Inglis taught me the song, “Que sera, sera - Whatever will be, will be.” From very early in my childhood, I remember my vivacious Granny Inglis belting out the words to this Doris Day song. She taught it to me, and we’d drive around town, running errands, singing together. Beyond the fun of singing with my Granny at the top of my lungs, the message of the song began to stick with me: “Whatever will be, will be.”

My mom taught me the phrase, “Trust the process.” I’m not sure when I began hearing this from my mom, but I think it was in high school, as I began to have deeper questions about all kinds of things in life. “Trust the process,” my mom would say, helping me to learn that sometimes the greatest growth comes not from resolution, but from whatever processes we go through before we reach resolution. (And sometimes, that resolution never comes at all.)

What has the Church learned from those who have gone before us? Those first disciples learned directly from Jesus that word of love – that we are to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. From very early on in the Church’s life, that word of love shaped and formed how we gather, and with whom we gather, how we serve others, and whom we serve. The first Christians met with Christ-followers of different socio-economic backgrounds, different nationalities, different walks of life, slave, free, male, female, Jew, Gentile - and they were unified by the love of Christ.

What has the Church learned from those who have gone before us? We look to the example of Jesus, and to the example of centuries of saints who’ve loved God and loved neighbor. Jesus’ word of love carries through the centuries to us, from the way he healed and taught throughout his life, to his death, his resurrection, and his ascension.

For it is because of his Ascension that we are gifted with the power from on high – the gift of the Holy Spirit. Next week is Pentecost, and on that day, we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to those first Christ-followers.

But each day of our lives, we ought to remember and celebrate that because Jesus ascended, we have the promised Holy Spirit with us. The work of Jesus is love, the word of Jesus is love, and the Holy Spirit carries on the work and word of Jesus – in us, now. Amen.

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You are witnesses of these things

Ascension Sunday - Year A

Text: Luke 24:44-53

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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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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