Ascension Sunday
May 20, 2012
© 2012
I.
On the first Easter Sunday, Jesus’ disciples seemed to have locked
themselves into the house for fear of the Temple authorities (John 20:19). When
the risen Jesus began appearing to them, he explained how his death was God’s
redemptive plan as presented in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Matthew 28:7, the
angel told the women to send the disciples to Galilee to meet Jesus. John 21
reports Jesus’ breakfast with seven disciples on the shore of the Sea of
Galilee and the reconciliation with Peter. In Matthew 28:16 Jesus gave the
disciples the Great Commission on a mountain in Galilee, but this was not the
place of the Ascension which is described in Acts 1:6-11. Life had not gone
back to normal: traveling from village to village teaching and healing. For
forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples erratically and spoke to them about
the Kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3) They waited for the barely understood coming of
the Holy Spirit in power with little inkling of what was next. They were in an
interim period of transition to a future they could not possibly imagine. I
expect they did a lot of standing around staring at each other. Jesus told them
to stay in Jerusalem until the received the promise of the Father and were
baptized with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4-5)
So 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.” (Acts 1:6-11)
A.
Luke is the only New Testament writer to report Jesus’ ascension.
1.
Sometimes the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 is assumed to report
the ascension in Galilee in contradiction to Luke, but it never says anything
about ascension. Mark 16:19 does say Jesus ascended, but all scholars agree
this was not written by Mark but added much later.
2.
Ephesians 4:8-9 does make an oblique reference to ascension by quoting
Psalm 68:18, but the point is that Christ descended to be incarnate as the man
Jesus and to give spiritual gifts to the Church.
B.
At the start of his Gospel (1:2), Luke said that he interviewed
eyewitnesses to write an orderly account of the life of Jesus. At the
conclusion of his Gospel, and as a bridge to his second book Acts, Luke 24:48
records Jesus telling his disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.”
Witness, as both noun and verb, is the driving force in Acts and the thread
that connects it to the Gospel of Luke.
1.
The Greek word for witness is cognate with martyr. It implies being so
confident of what you have witnessed you will die for it.
2.
The Apostles were witnesses of all that Jesus did, especially of his
death because of its centrality in God’s redemptive plan. After Jesus’ ascension,
when the Apostles choose Matthias to replace Judas, Acts 1:22 specifies
that he had to have been with them from the baptism of John through Jesus’
resurrection and ascension.
C.
For Luke, witnessing Jesus’ ascension was important to validate the
whole story, to show that Jesus didn’t just gradually fade out after his
resurrection. The Apostles were eyewitnesses of a spiritual reality.
1.
We will do well not to envision
Jesus’ Ascension in spacial terms, as though he is rocket man zooming past the
planets, stars and galaxies until he reaches a place called heaven at or beyond
the edge of the universe. I think the iconographers give us a better picture
than Renaissance or realist painters.
2.
The cloud is not a platform lifting Jesus from the earth. The cloud
echoes the Shekinah Glory of God that guided and protected the ancient Hebrews.
Now it hides the risen Christ and the Kingdom of God from human view until it is
drawn back to reveal him at the climax of history.
D.
Knowing you have eternal life, Jesus sends you as a witness to his
resurrection.
II.
If we’re going to be Jesus’ witnesses, we better know what we’re
talking about.
A.
1 John 5:13 says that John wrote so we can know that we have eternal
life. Sounds presumptuous and arrogant to people today. To know you have
eternal life is beyond the scope of our usual ways of knowing.
1.
Scientific experiments and empirical measurements cannot investigate
eternal life.
2.
The rational arguments and logical proofs of philosophy cannot
establish eternal life.
3.
Subjective mystical experience may be an illusion.
4.
With the recent exonerations of many who were wrongly convicted of
crimes by eyewitness testimony, we’ve come to see how unreliable that can be.
I’m reminded of a great story in the Apocryphal book of Susannah (1:52-59).
Two lecherous old men spy on beautiful Susannah as she
bathes in her garden. They try to seduce her, and when she refuses, they accuse
her of adultery with a young man. The prophet Daniel rescues Susannah by
separating the supposed eyewitnesses and asks them under which tree they saw
Susannah and her supposed paramour. One said the mastic tree and the other the
evergreen oak. So Daniel vindicated the righteous Susannah.
5.
Unlike the mystical writings of many traditions, Christians, Jews and
Muslims believe God is known by revelation. Muslims believe that the Koran was
dictated to Mohammed in ecstatic trances. The Bible is the record of God’s
interaction with people through many generations in a wide variety of
situations. 1 John 5:9 calls this God’s witness, and verse 13 supports
Luke’s assertion that he wrote the witness of the Apostles. But if you have
ever tried to quote the Bible to settle an argument with an unbeliever, you
know that without the witness of the Holy Spirit the witness of Scripture is
unconvincing.
B.
To be Jesus’ witnesses is not to talk about our faith or about
pragmatic results, such as answers to prayer. Not that those things don’t
matter, but as a way of knowing we have eternal life, they are susceptible to
personal whims and changing circumstances. Rather, we are witnesses to God’s
redeeming acts in Jesus, namely his death, resurrection and ascension. We can
witness that we have been encountered by the risen Jesus. It’s not about us but
about Jesus. While this witness is not amenable to our usual ways of knowing,
we do witness an objective reality that is beyond ourselves. The validation of
Scripture is not an abstract revelation but the cumulative testimony of many corroborating
eyewitnesses.
C.
Knowing you have eternal life, Jesus sends you as a witness to his
resurrection.
III. In the Great Commission of
Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus uses imperative language as you go, make disciples,
baptize and teach them. He is giving instructions. In Acts 1:8, Jesus describes
the mission of his Apostles in declarative language: you will receive power;
the Holy Spirit will come on you; you will be my witnesses.
A.
To try to be Jesus’ witness without the power of the Holy Spirit is
futile. We know we have eternal life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We speak
of Jesus with confidence by the power of the Holy Spirit. We face opposition and
ridicule with courage by the power of the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy
Spirit, we witness Jesus encountering other people as we bear witness to his
resurrection. Our witness does not convince people to trust and follow Jesus.
The Holy Spirit does!
B.
Jesus also gives the mission of his witnesses a broad scope that
becomes the organizing structure for Acts.
1.
Jerusalem was the home territory for the Apostles. Duncanville is your
home territory – your Jerusalem. An important part of the mission of 1st
Christian Church, Duncanville is engaging the people who live right around you.
2.
Judea was the surrounding region for the Apostles. People shared
language, culture, economy. 1st Christian Church, Duncanville
already reaches out into the surrounding area: Cedar Hill, Desoto, Lancaster,
Waxahachie, and Dallas.
3.
Samaria was not only geographically a little farther away for the
Apostles, its people were politically, culturally, socially, ethnically and
religiously different. Going to Samaria pushed the Apostles out of their
comfort zone. For 1st Christian Church, Duncanville, Jesus’ call to
Samaria will mean crossing cultural boundaries to embrace the growing ethnic
diversity of the area. It will also mean reaching out to a younger generation
who have little if any experience with church or Jesus and finding ways to
welcome them as well.
4.
For the Apostles, the “ends of the earth” was the Mediterranean world.
They could not have imagined the Gospel’s expansion into Europe, Africa and
Asia much less the New World. For 1st Christian Church, Duncanville
the “ends of the earth” is youth going to Chicago, praying for Sue and Inga in
Mexico, giving to the Week of Compassion. Vigorous involvement with the global
mission of the Church will fuel the local witness of 1st Christian
Church, Duncanville.
C.
Knowing you have eternal life, Jesus sends you as a witness to his
resurrection.
IV. When the Apostles came
together, they were not expecting the ascension. They asked, “Is this the time
you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Even after all Jesus had taught them
about the Kingdom of God for three years, they were still looking for a provincial
political messiah. Jesus warns them off of speculating about the future and
urges them to be about their mission as his witnesses in the present. They were
not going to stand around staring toward heaven until he came. No! They were to
be his witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit.
A.
The US is now into the next presidential election cycle. Despite all
the noise of campaigning, when it comes to doing the work of government, too
many are standing around staring at each other until the election is over.
B.
In the interim between pastors, churches all too easily slip into
standing around staring at each other until the new pastor comes. I want to
commend the leaders of 1st Christian Church, Duncanville for being
on the move, taking advantage of the opportunities of this time.
C. A friend of mine grew up in Thailand with his
missionary parents. He came to have a love and anguish for the people of
neighboring Burma. The brutal military dictatorship not only suppressed the
pro-democracy movement and violently oppressed tribal minorities. He and his
family have been instrumental in a team that brings some level of compassion
and relief to the tribal people. Even when it seemed pointless, they kept going
to villages to help them rebuild after being burned by the army. They didn’t
stand around staring at each other waiting for things to improve. Just a couple
of weeks ago the leader of the Burmese pro-democracy movement Aung San Suu Kyi
took a seat in parliament after being released from over 15 years of house
arrest. Like the Apostles at Jesus’ ascension, like my friend in Burma, Jesus
says to 1st Christian Church, Duncanville in this interim transition
between pastors, “Don’t stand around staring at each other. You will receive
power from the Holy Spirit to be my witnesses.”
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