Ascension Sunday
Acts 1:1-11
Have you ever seen “Where’s Waldo?” It’s a children’s cartoon puzzle book. Waldo is a little guy, about a half an inch tall, who wears a red-and-white striped shirt, a ski cap of the same design, and big round glasses. He’s very distinctive and easy to spot all on his own, but what makes it a puzzle is that Waldo is always found in the midst of a massive and minutely detailed crowd scene that stretches over two large pages. Which makes answering the question “Where’s Waldo?” no easy task. It can involve hours of fun or frustration, depending on how you look at it.
But instead of puzzling over, “Where’s Waldo?”, our question may be more along the lines of, “Where’s Jesus?”, especially given that today we celebrate the resurrected Jesus ascending into heaven. The way the book of Acts describes it is that after Jesus said his final words to the disciples he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Which has given rise to countless artists depicting this significant, transcendent moment in a rather hokey way - the disciples standing on the grounds gazing (or gaping) upward toward Jesus awkwardly floating over their heads. To our modern sensibilities it seems rather ridiculous. The notion of a bodily Jesus hanging out in the clouds above looking down on us is such an easy target to poke fun at. So it’s really no surprise that in 1961 when a Soviet cosmonaut became the first person to enter outer space and orbit the earth he confirmed for anyone who might be wondering, “I [didn’t] see any God up [there].”
But, of course, the story of Jesus ascending into heaven isn’t supposed to be read as a news report that is focused on locating the personal body of Jesus of Nazareth. Because the ascension is not at all about a location but about a new state of being - a new state of being for Jesus, for us, for the whole relationship between God and human beings. Jesus’ ascension is not about his absence but about his presence. He disappears beyond the clouds not into some geographical position that can be found on a map. Rather with the ascension, Jesus enters into the heart of all creation. Christ is still present but in a different way, an interior way. He is no longer physically in front of his disciples. Rather he is now within them - and within us. The grace of the ascension is that, as Colossians puts it, Christ is all and in all!
This presence, this fullness, this relationship of Christ being all in all is likely what lies behind the question of the mysterious men in white who ask, Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? It’s as if they are saying, don’t miss this by looking in the wrong direction. Don’t deny yourselves the gift that is being given to you. The gift that brings the resurrection to it’s full completion. The resurrection is victory over death. The ascension lifts humanity up to heaven. Jesus’ ascension seats our human flesh at the right hand of God the Father which means that we now partake of God’s glory and divinity. God in us and we in God. It is a sacred union.
And because of this union there is work for us to be doing here on earth. We are not to stand around looking up toward heaven waiting for Jesus to come down and fix things. Waiting for God alone to heal all that is broken, to right all that is wrong, to do all the work. God needs us to be Christ’s body in this world. Right before Jesus' ascension he acknowledges to the disciples that they will be living without having all of their questions answered, but even so that should not deter them. Through the union with God with the coming of the Holy Spirit, You, says Jesus, you will be my witnesses.
We are witnesses to the love of God made known to us in Jesus the Christ. Which begs the question, what kind of witness are you as you go through your daily life and work? Do you witness to people that suffering will not have the final word? Do you witness that no brokenness, no loss, no pain is beyond the healing love of God? Do you witness that God invites people in? Do you invite people in? What sort of witness are you? Though you may fear that you are not wise enough, not strong enough, not good enough, you do not witness to God’s love on your own. We all do this in relationship with God. Just as Jesus assured his disciples, he also assures us - the power and presence and fullness of God is indeed poured into our hearts always.
In the hunt for “Where’s Waldo?” what makes it so difficult is that Waldo is always in a crowd of distractions. Sometimes it may feel the same for us. The distractions of our lives can make it seem as if finding the answer to “Where’s Jesus?” or “Where’s God?” is no easy task. But perhaps that’s because we miss it because we are looking in the wrong direction. Jesus’ ascension means that we start our search not by looking up or by looking out, but by looking within for it is there that we will surely find the divine.
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