Ascension - The Ascension of Our Lord
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
May 12, 2024
To paraphrase today’s lesson from Acts, I ask
you, people of Grace: why are you looking at the paschal candle we just
extinguished? The reason of course is
that for seven Sundays in a row we’ve lit that candle as a symbol of the
resurrected Christ’s presence in the world. Though it’s just a candle, seeing it suddenly extinguished is unexpected
and a little jarring.
All throughout the Easter season, as that
candle has been lit, we’ve heard the stories of Jesus’s post-resurrection
appearances during the forty days after Easter, when he walked and talked and
even ate with his disciples. But Jesus
stopped appearing in that manner when he ascended to heaven, something we heard
Luke describe today both in his Gospel and in the Book of Acts, which he also
wrote.
On the day of the ascension, the day Jesus was enthroned in heaven, the disciples had
to wrestle with this change. As they
watched him being lifted into the clouds, questions stirred in their
hearts. What would it mean for Jesus to
be in heaven instead of next to them? Is he gone forever? Does anything we do on earth now matter? Or is our job now just to bide our time and
wait out the clock until we too go to
heaven?
Maybe these are questions you too have
pondered. After all, the situation is
the same for us as it was for the disciples on Ascension Day. Jesus is no longer with us in a physical body
like he was during that 40-day period. So has Jesus totally left us? Do
we matter to him? How are we supposed to
live? These are big questions. Overwhelming questions. You can see why the disciples might get
caught up in them and become fixated on watching Jesus depart into the
clouds. And you can understand why we likewise
can get stuck in place, with our heads in the clouds, unable anymore to see or
sense Jesus in our everyday lives.
For the disciples, the risk that day was that
if they just stayed there staring at their king in the clouds, they’d never go
to all the places Christ was calling them to go. That’s our challenge too. Interpret the king’s enthronement incorrectly,
and problems follow. A famous king
learned that lesson the hard way. Remember William the Conqueror? In
1066 he and his Norman army crossed the English Channel and defeated the Anglo
Saxons at the Battle of Hastings to win the English crown.
William’s enthronement, his coronation,
took place in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day of 1066. The ceremony was conducted in both French and
English, and at the culmination of the coronation, the assembled guests were
asked to shout their assent to being ruled by the new king, William. They all did so, some in French and some in
English. The problem though was that to
the Norman soldiers on guard outside the abbey, it sounded like a riot or maybe
even an assassination attempt and so they “began setting fire to houses around the Abbey. Smoke filled the church and the congregation
fled and riots broke out.” In the
ensuring panic, some even died. It was a
tragic end to an otherwise historic day.1
And so friends, as we consider Jesus’s enthronement, his ascension into heaven, it’s critical that we not misunderstand or misinterpret the
meaning of what happened. Rev. Philip
Pfatteicher was an important contemporary Lutheran theologian and expert on
liturgy and worship. He died in 2021,
but in one of his final books he noted that Ascension Day “marks the completion
of our Lord’s redemptive work, and yet the story is not finished, for as the
angel reminds… us… the risen Lord, whose earthly appearances have ended, will
come again.”2
But don’t think of the Ascension as
a moment when Jesus puts a big “out to lunch” sign on the window and then
disappears for a few thousand years. On
the contrary, as Pfatteicher goes on to note, Jesus “being taken from the earth
into heaven does not imply his absence from his Church. In fact, because he is now beyond the bounds
of time and space and free of their confinement, he is able to be present
everywhere at once.”3
In other words, friends, it’s like
a monarch who has gone to a high mountain and from that lofty vantage point can
now see the big picture and can direct the forces of good in a more complete
and effective manner. The Ascension of
Our Lord does not mean that Jesus is forever gone from us or that he
doesn’t care about us anymore. It does not mean that our mortality is meaningless or that our task as Christians is to
just sit around staring at the sky while our world goes up in flames. The Ascension of Our Lord is Christ’s urgent call
to us to love and serve our God and our neighbor with renewed commitment. So long as we’re not just staring at the sky,
we can do this because Jesus is directing our work from above, and he has sent
us a powerful reinforcement, the Holy Spirit. We are, as our Gospel states, “clothed with power from on high.”4
It reminds me of something that
happened in my third year of seminary, when I was on internship. Maybe the most important lesson I learned
didn’t happen in Sunday worship or a meeting with my supervising pastor, but in
a state park one afternoon near Slippery Rock. I had gone there to birdwatch. But
on that day, a park ranger handed me a sheet of paper which I accepted, just
out of politeness, not interest. It had
photos of all the wildflowers that were blooming in the park that week.
Not far into my hike I realized I
was spending more time looking for wildflowers than birds. My eyes stopped scanning the skies for
Red-winged Blackbirds, Scarlet Tanagers, and Downy Woodpeckers, and instead I
found myself absorbed in the wonder of Valerians, Violets, and Trillium. I was shocked at all I’d been missing, just
because my eyes had been staring at the clouds. With my broadened viewpoint, suddenly my world became so much bigger and so much more beautiful.
In a similar way, as we mark the
Ascension of Our Lord, Jesus is reminding us to broaden our perspective and to widen
our view so we do not miss the many places Jesus resides, now that his
physical body has ascended to his heavenly throne. Right now we’re living in an age of unending distraction. We have so many demands and possibilities
competing for our attention. I
especially see the weariness in the eyes of young parents, who are balancing
work, school, sports, band, hobbies, and so many other things for themselves
and for their families.
They aren’t the only ones of
course. We all have too many things we’re trying to watch and tend at
once. And so when we do manage to
get to church, it’s easy to think that this is the one place we find Jesus: here within these walls. We look for Jesus in the hymns, the liturgy,
the sermon, the communion elements, and yes even the big candle next to the
font. And certainly he is here, amongst us in a very real and
meaningful way.
But every place you see Jesus in this building is preparation for the adventure
of seeing Christ in the world after you exit church, because he’s there,
in your work, your play, your home, and everyone you meet. Our neighbors need this Good News! If we don’t tell them, who will? So, people of Grace: why are you looking at
that candle, or me? You heard our
Gospel. Jesus is calling us to transform
the world with his grace, his mercy, and his love. That might start in here, but the real work takes place out there. If that sounds
daunting, fear not! We have the Holy
Spirit at our back and our Lord guides us from above. We have
everything we need! All that’s left
is to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Amen.
Citations
1 See www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/william-i-the-conqueror;
www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-norman-conquest-and-coronation-of-king-william-at-westminster/
2 P. Pfatteicher, Journey
into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year (2013 Oxford University
Press), p. 258.
3 Ibid, p. 259.
4 Luke 24:49
Sermon Texts: Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53
Luke 24:44-53
44[Jesus said to the eleven and those with
them,] “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with
you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the
psalms must be fulfilled.”45Then he opened their minds to understand
the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written,
that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and
that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these
things. 49And see, I am sending upon you what my Father
promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from
on high.”
50Then he
led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed
them. 51While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and
was carried up into heaven. 52And they worshiped him, and
returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53and they were continually
in the temple blessing God.
Copyright Rev. Scott E. Schul, 2024 All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
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