What Does It Mean for Jesus To Go Up? - May 8, 2016

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Acts 1:1-11
Luke 24:44-53

This church is blessed to have a lift that can take those with mobility challenges from Epworth Hall to the sanctuary, or the reverse. As we often note, it is slow and creaky and it works. Over the years we have talked about painting a mural inside the lift so that riders have something to look at while they make the slow trip up. As I have imagined that mural I have suggested that one appropriate image would be from today's lessons – the ascension of Jesus. At the bottom could be the disciples looking up and two

dazzling figures speaking to them. Further up could be Jesus ascending into glory. Maybe it would show just Jesus' feet and ankles at the top of the lift.
We haven't even gotten past the talking stage and even that has never been a serious discussion. Clearly there will not be a mural in the lift before I leave here.
What does it mean for Jesus to go up? The ascension of Jesus is a strange story we often skip past. It almost evokes Star Trek echoes, as if Jesus had said to God, "beam me up." Or maybe Jesus strapped a jet pack on his back to zoom up to heaven. That seems sort of silly, of course, and yet we often don't know what else to do with this story.
What does it mean for Jesus to go up? To begin to get at the meaning here we need to recognize its link to Jesus' resurrection from the dead, another sort of going up. As Luke tells the story Jesus rose from the dead and over the space of forty days appeared to his disciples. Maybe you remember that forty is one of those recurring numbers in the Bible: in the days of Noah it rained for forty days and nights, the Hebrew people wandered in the wilderness for forty years, Jesus was tempted for forty days, and so much more. So the forty days of appearances by the Risen Christ evoke the memory of all those holy times. And after forty days Jesus ascended to heaven. We just sang that time line: "from the earth to the cross my debt to pay; from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord I lift your name on high."
What does it mean for Jesus to go up? The ascension of Jesus is not about him overcoming the forces of gravity – something pretty well unknown in the first century but which we do all the time in the twenty-first century from the church lift to an airplane flight to Hawaii. The ascension of Jesus IS about the Risen Christ overcoming the forces of evil. He had already done so when he conquered death by rising from the dead. And forty days later Jesus ascended to sit in glory at the right hand of God, a figurative way to talk about being in the position of power and authority.
What does it mean for Jesus to go up? At its most basic level the ascension marks the start of a new era, the transition from Jesus' earthly presence on earth to the era of the Holy Spirit – when God became present to us in the Spirit.
Before all that could fully take place, however, there was a period of waiting. In the story as it comes to us from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples had ten days to wait. Ten days from Jesus' ascension into heaven until the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we'll celebrate next Sunday.
You may be scratching your heads right now, because it is only seven days until next Sunday. I've said before that I'm not all that good at math, but even I know the difference between ten and seven. The reason is that the forty days after Easter Sunday always lands on a Thursday. Ascension Day was, properly, May 5 this year. We observe it today because few people are likely to come out for an Ascension Day Service on Thursday. For a further lesson in arithmetic, add ten to forty and you get fifty – the true length of the season of Easter which culminates on Pentecost with penta or five in its very name. More on that next week.
The disciples had ten days to wait. In both versions of the Ascension story they were told to wait. In the Gospel Jesus tells them, "stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." In Acts we read, "While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father."
Wait. It's not the easiest thing to do. "Don't eat the cookies – wait until supper is served." "Wait for the swimming pool to open." "Wait for summer vacation." "Wait to open your birthday present until the guests arrive."
The disciples had to wait. They were to wait for God's promise to them to be fulfilled.
In the waiting they had to let go of some of their hopes. "Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" they asked Jesus. He might have said to them, "There you go again." Throughout his ministry they had consistently missed the point. They had thought Jesus had come as a political and military conqueror. James and John had asked to sit in the positions of honor in his kingdom, not realizing they were on the hill of Golgotha where Jesus was crucified. Judas had betrayed Jesus to the soldiers of the high priest, perhaps hoping to force Jesus' hand so he would at last call down the wrath of God on the Roman Empire.
You'd think that Jesus' death on the cross would have taught them once and for all Jesus was not an earthly king, but once again they asked, "Is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" And again Jesus told them, "It is not for you to know the times or periods the Father has set by his own authority." They still craved earthly power, and in this period of waiting they had to finally give up the old dream.
Jesus gave them a new promise and charged them with a new task. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Anticipating Jesus, John the Baptist had said, "he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire," and now as Jesus was about to go up he repeated the promise: "You will receive power from on high." Jesus would go up and the Holy Spirit would come down. God would equip them for the task before them: to witness to Jesus at home, in their own region of Judea, in Samaria or the place of those they viewed as suspect and unclean, and to the entire world.
This congregation has been in a period of waiting for almost three months since it was announced that I will move to Vancouver in June. It has been a time in which both you and I have had to let go of the dream of more ministry together; the youth I will not teach in confirmation, the mural in that lift that I won't dedicate, and so much more. It has been a time to remember the good work we have done from building a playground to hosting prayer vigils after community crises to expanding our outreach to the community. It has been a time to acknowledge the things that remain undone or that did not work: the contemporary worship service we tried and let go of, a vital campus ministry that isn't happening, and remodel of the education wing that still needs to happen.
This period of waiting is a time of anticipation. In another six weeks, Pastor Debbie will come with new energy, a different skill set and style, a new vision for ministry. I'm excited for this church to move forward in new ways.
And while you wait the lessons of Jesus' ascension come to you. Wait for God to clothe you with power from on high. The Holy Spirit will be present among you to equip you to carry the good news of Jesus' love into Moscow, throughout the northwest, to Africa and to every corner of the globe.
What did it mean for Jesus to go up? As he ascended, the angels asked his disciples, "Why do you stand looking up into heaven?" The task before you in this next six weeks is not to gaze into the past of the dozen years we've had together, but to worship God with joy and to wait: wait for the Holy Spirit to fill you with power; wait for your new pastor by praying for her and helping with transition tasks like painting at the parsonage or assessing what parts of this ministry you want to tell her about; wait for God to bless you in new ways.
What does it mean for Jesus to go up? It means that a new era of ministry here in Moscow will be a time of glory and blessing for the whole community.