Did you know that last Thursday was Ascension Day? I would guess that not many of you took time to commemorate it. Certainly no one got the day off from school or work just because it was Ascension Day. Most people did not give it a thought.
Most Christians know at least the bare outlines of Jesus' crucifixion. Some of you came to the Maundy Thursday service we observed with our friends from The United Church of Moscow and First Presbyterian Church in which we remembered Jesus' last supper with the disciples. A few more of you came to our Good Friday service when we remembered Jesus' death on the cross. Many came on Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.
Jesus' ascension is less familiar and yet it is central to our faith as Christians.
This morning we read two stories about Jesus' ascension. Both come from the pen of the same person, whom we call Luke. One is from the Gospel of Luke and the other is from Volume 2, what we call the Acts of the Apostles. Indeed, if we see these two books as a series, the stories we read today merge together, for we read the very last words in Luke's Gospel and the very first words of Acts.
It is Luke's words which give us the time line for Ascension Day. In Acts Luke tells us that the Risen Jesus appeared to the apostles for a period of forty days. Forty is one of the holy numbers of the Bible: it rained for forty days leading to the Great Flood; the Hebrew people wandered in the wilderness for forty years; Jesus was tempted for forty days at the start of his ministry. After forty days, Jesus ascended into heaven and ten days after that the Holy Spirit came upon them. So it is that the Church marks Ascension Day forty days after Easter, which always puts it on a Thursday. Ten days later we celebrate Pentecost.
I want to take some time today, the closest Sunday to Ascension Day, to think about it. What's the deal with Jesus' ascension, anyway?
To really understand Jesus' ascension, we need to think a bit about Jesus' ministry. All four of the Gospels tell us that over the space of about three years Jesus taught and healed people and did a few other miracles. Crowds of people came to listen to him and he had compassion on them when they were sick or hungry. The earthly Jesus garnered a lot of attention. Much of it was probably based on people's self interest: they wanted him to heal them or someone they loved, or maybe they just came out for a good show. A few placed their hopes on Jesus and left behind jobs and family to follow him.
Clearly Jesus had great power. He taught with authority and he had authority over the forces of nature which made people ill or caused storms. People began to see in him the fulfillment of the Jewish Messiah whom they hoped would defeat the Roman Empire which had oppressed Israel.
After Jesus rose from the dead it was clear to his closest followers that he was no ordinary guy. Their hopes increased that Jesus was the Messiah who would liberate Israel from Rome. "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" they asked.
As long as Jesus was physically present, he was the focus of people's attention. Whether they wanted a political hero or a personal miracle worker, they concentrated not only on the person of Jesus but on what they could get from him.
As long as Jesus was present in a physical body he was bound by the limits of time and space which restrict our bodies. Some of us try to ignore that, but the truth is that each of us can only be in one place at a time. The same was true for Jesus while he was on earth. He could not be in Jerusalem and Nazareth at the same time.
Thus it was that Jesus' ascension opened the way for God to be present in new ways. With Jesus' body no longer around, the focus shifted again to God. With Jesus' body not visible, space opened for the church's mission to begin. No longer could his followers say, "Let Jesus do it." Now they had to take on responsibility for the mission of God.
So the time came for Jesus to ascend into heaven. In the Gospel, Luke says, "he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven." In Acts he says, "he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight."
Next followed a period of waiting. Sometimes the most faithful thing to do is to sit back and wait for God to act. Next week we'll focus on what happened ten days later when the Holy Spirit came upon them as promised. For today let's simply recognize that Jesus' ascension did not leave them bereft, for on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came in Jesus' place.
Jesus' ascension made space for the church's mission to begin. A common thread in both the places where Luke tells the story is in his commissioning of the disciples: "You will be my witnesses." Though the responsibility shifts to the church, the focus is still on Jesus. Jesus' followers have a job to do: "repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name," Luke's Gospel has Jesus say. These followers of Jesus are now to call others to turn to Jesus. They are to help people understand that the point of Jesus' life on this earth, including his crucifixion and resurrection, was to show people the depth of God's love which forgives even the most heinous sins.
Sadly sometimes the church today seems to be associated with a message of judgment and shame. In roundly condemning sin we've lost the message about forgiveness. We worry so much about identifying what is or is not a sin that we forget that the message which we are to proclaim is forgiveness. Whether your sin is that of gossip or of murder, God forgives you.
Christians can also concentrate so much on the promise of heaven that we leave the problems of life on this earth for others to worry about. "Don't be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good." Our witness for Jesus must address earthly matters like human trafficking or domestic violence just as much as it offers comfort to grieving families by holding out the promise of heaven.
Our mission starts locally and grows globally. In the Gospel Jesus simply says they are to proclaim to all nations. Acts is more specific: "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." "You will be my witnesses in Moscow, and all of Idaho and Washington, and to the entire globe." The word about Jesus is to go beyond the confines of home. Our mission as a congregation begins here in our own community and sends us out to all the continents. The universal nature of the gospel moves beyond one particular culture to people's everywhere.
Today we gather to celebrate the baptism of ETC. We rejoice in the life of this child and all he means to his family. We promise to pray for him, to teach him, to love him when he is more than an adorable baby, but also when he is a rambunctious boy and even a naughty teenager and possibly a young adult making rotten choices. And today, on this Ascension Day we claim a little bit of Pentecost for him. There are two parts to baptism. One is the claiming of this child as God's beloved. The other is the prayer that the Holy Spirit will work within him. We will ask today that God's Holy Spirit empower E to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Jesus' ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and the church's mission began. Today we continue that mission.