So…
Here it is Ascension Sunday (well
actually it’s next Sunday but that’s Mother’s Day and nobody wants to mess with
mom!) the day in the church’s life when we remember that before Pentecost came
with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, according to Luke’s book of Acts, ascended.
It’s not like we spend a lot of time
talking about it, which in fact is a little weird. A lot of our friends in more
liturgical setting do, like our Catholic friends, and Orthodox friends.
Instead we talk a lot about incarnation
and Jesus birth, which they do too, and by incarnation we mean the time in
history when Jesus went from a spiritual presence in the Trinity to a physical
presence here on earth, born from a woman named Mary in Bethlehem.
But after we talk about Jesus passion,
his arrest, trial, crucifixion, death and then resurrection, we kind of lose
steam and move onto Pentecost.
Yep, Jesus rose from the dead and spent
time with his disciples. But ascension, ahh, not sure about that. Why? Because
we are really not sure what to do with ascension.
We kind of know what it means. Jesus
went up. Because we are so concrete in our thinking we always assume that means
physically up, especially when the text talks about clouds. Because clouds are
up.
But it takes a bit deeper thinking to
realize what kind of picture Luke is painting for us. What he is telling us is
that Jesus who was enveloped by the Glory Cloud of God on the Mount of
transfiguration, step into that cloud of God’s presence and returns to his normal
and rightful place in the Godhead.
Jesus is not going up in a linear sense;
he is going up in that he is returning to his natural state as God.
Which is why the angels had to tell the
dumbfounded disciples where he had gone: home!
Jesus, like others before his had
stepped through the veil for those of you who know what one of those is,
through the portal, trough the wormhole that lands Jesus home.
The adventure is over. It means that
like Enoch, who walked with God and then was gone, and Elijah who walked with
Elisha and then was taken up in a chariot of fire, Jesus, having completed his
mission has now moved into God’s realm.
And that is really good news, because
Jesus is no longer encumber with the hassle of time and space but can once
again deal with humanity from the eternal realm and see that humanity is
adequately empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Kingdom of God
temporally.
And sense I see your eyes glazing over I
would add this, what it means is that though Jesus’ earthly ministry is
complete, end to end, now he as God reigns in power and glory. Ascension brings
the story arc to its competition.
Except, that while Jesus’ story arc is
complete, ours isn’t!
You heard that, right! Jesus story arc
is complete, ours is just beginning.
Because on May 20 we will celebrate a
new incarnation: God’s presence in us!
Filled with the Holy Spirit we are to be
doing all the things that Jesus has left us to do, all the things Jesus is
leading us to do. Which explains the angels giving the disciples grief!
Read
it this way, “Yo, disciples, what the heck? Why are you stand lhere looking into the cloud? Jesus is on the other side! You need to get
busy!”
Doing what you ask? Exactly what Jesus
had just told them to do.
“You will go into all the world and be my
witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end
of the earth.” No more sitting around, well, at least not after the Holy Spirit
comes. No rest. No sitting on your laurels. No being satisfied with church as
it is.
No, we are to stop staring and waiting!
We are to stop being okay with things as they are! We are to stop acting as
though we have completed our mission and
start doing everything within our power, everything with the power of God to
share the good news everywhere and with everyone!
We need to be rigorous and energized to
change what needs to be changed and to start what needs to be started in order
to reach our new world with the news of God’s great love, shown to us in Jesus.
Ascension means the resurrection is
complete, and now we are to get busy sharing the Kingdom of God in the world.
And how do we do that?
Consider these three: Pray! Do! Rejoice!
Amen.
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