May 21, 2023 Ascension of Our Lord The text is Acts 1:1-11.
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[Luke writes:] 1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But 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.” 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The full title of what we normally call the Book of Acts is “The Acts of the Apostles”, and it is accepted that it is the sequel to the gospel of Luke, and was written by the same author.
While Luke’s gospel details the life, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus, Acts serves as a follow-up and narrates the events that began soon after Jesus’ rising.
Acts served as guide for the early church, and as a reminder that Jesus’ followers are commanded to continue his mission and ministry. The author addresses the actions of Peter and Paul and the others as they follow Jesus’ example and carry his teaching to the wider world. And it illustrates the model for those Christians who will come later, to guide them as they (we) continue Christ’s work.
In a manner that wasn’t unusual in Luke’s day, the Book of Acts is dedicated to what may be a named individual or label that identified a larger group. “Theophilus” consists of two Greek words; “Theo”, meaning God and “Philia”, which means “one who cherishes”. Thus, Theophilus may have been an individual with that name, or Acts might have been intended for all those who “love God”; for all who believe in Jesus as God’s Son. Either way, the author is recounting the speeches made and the actions taken by these first followers of Christ, beginning forty days after his resurrection, and ten days before Jesus bestows the Holy Spirit on them at Pentecost.
And this morning we enter into Acts as we encounter Jesus answering the Apostles’ question about when Israel will be granted her freedom, he explains that God’s timing is not humankind’s; that soon they will receive the gift of the Spirit, and that they are to be witnesses for Christ throughout the known world. Oh, and just nine verses into Acts Jesus abruptly departs from them, ascending into a cloud. All this deserves a bit of unpacking, I think; so let’s take a look at each of these as we try to better understand what was said and what has happened.
Jesus proclaims to the disciples that they will be blessed with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and their response to this is a request to know if now is when Jesus will declare himself as the mighty warrior Messiah and restore Israel to her former glory. That seems rather ungrateful, doesn’t it? Jesus’ followers have been promised an unimaginable gift, yet it’s something else entirely they would prefer to have. How often do we behave in the same way, asking for what we want while being unappreciative of what we’ve been given? “It’s nice that you’ve blessed us with this thing God, but what about the other stuff we still want?”
Jesus then makes it clear that God will restore Israel in God’s good time and it is not for them, or us to decide when that will occur. Again, this unwillingness of theirs to be satisfied with what God has promised sounds a lot like the way we respond when forced to deal with God’s timeline. “When are you going to answer my prayers, God? I need something, I need it now, and I don’t feel like waiting for you to provide what I’m asking you for”. Okay, so far we’ve determined that like the apostles, we as fellow human beings have a tendency toward ungratefulness and impatience; and perhaps an underlying propensity to second-guess God.
And, in addition to not letting the apostles know the timing, here is where Luke quotes Jesus telling them that their mission is not centered on the restoration of Israel, but that when empowered by the Holy Spirit, that they are to travel to all the ends of the earth to serve as witnesses to the Gospel. God in Christ has chosen to redeem the whole world, not through Messianic revolution or political change, but by the saving power of God’s grace, brought about by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus will not march at the head of a conquering army to free Israel from Roman occupation; the apostles will continue to spread the message of the Good News of Christ in order that all might come to believe, and the whole world will be saved. How do we respond to this little nugget of information? “Now wait a minute God; it’s been promised that everything will be made right in my little corner of the world, but now you’re telling me that my responsibility extends beyond my own needs and desires, and that I’m supposed to be involved in serving everyone, everywhere?” Jesus’ answer to the apostles is the same one that’s intended for us; he says, “Yes, this is most definitely what God expects from you!”
And immediately after proclaiming the coming of the Holy Spirit, chastising the disciples about God’s timing, and commanding them to be worldwide witnesses, Jesus was lifted up; he ascended into the sky and was concealed in a cloud. Just like that! One minute Jesus is speaking about incredibly important matters and the next he simply levitates away from them, leaving them staring up at the sky. And note the next verse, “while he was going”; not, “after he departed”; “while he was going”.
Jesus was in the act of ascending into heaven when the two white-robed beings showed up to give the disciples grief about them just standing around. There is a great deal of Jewish religious symbolism taking place in these few verses. Being “taken up”, that is, ascending to heaven is addressed several times in Hebrew Scripture. Moses, Elijah, and Enoch were said to have ascended. References to being enveloped in a cloud usually indicate the presence of God. And we’re seen the two men in white robes a few times before, most recently with Mary at the empty tomb. So, there’s no doubt that this scene is intended to confirm that Jesus has, as he promised returned to be with the Father. But, let’s back up a second to the “while he was going” part of this morning’s passage. Jesus has told the disciples that they would receive the Holy Spirit in a few days, yet these two, let’s call them angels, ask why they are looking up at the departing Jesus. Well, I would think that staring up into the sky as the resurrected Son of God floated away might be an acceptable course of action, and quite understandable. Who could blame them? They had just had a scolding and been given the mission to convert the entire world; and the angels asked them why they were gaping up at Jesus “while” he was soaring heavenward.
I don’t mean to be picky about this, but there had to have been a reason that the two robed men felt it important enough to ask the disciples why they were just standing around idly; without even waiting for Jesus to have fully departed from them. They had been told they would receive the power necessary for them to serve as Gospel witnesses when the Spirit would be given to them on Pentecost, ten days away. Yet, the angels were impatient with the apostles and essentially told them to get a move on. They informed them that Jesus would return in the same way he had just departed, the announcement of his Second Coming. And this also will be at a time of God’s choosing, so it’s best that we too get about the business of witnessing to the entire world; let’s not stand around looking up in waiting for the ascended Jesus. The robed figures said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”. They might as well have said, “Men, and women, and youth, and children of Emanuel, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”.
We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit, so we have even less of a reason than the first disciples to wait before we get to work as witnesses of the Good News. We are called to serve all people in need, and there are as many ways to accomplish this as there are needy people. It’s just a matter of looking around at our neighbors, near and far, and not up at the sky, looking for the ascended Jesus. For, in the person of the Holy Spirit, God is here among us. There is work to be done, and like the Apostles, we have our own Acts to perform.
Will you pray with me? Good, and gracious, and holy God, the ascended Jesus has given us work to do; inspire, help, and guide us to perform the acts of service that we have been empowered and called to do. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who, although he has ascended to sit at your right hand, is always here with us, in the person of the Holy Spirit.
God is Good, all the time. All the time, God is Good. Amen.