Acts
1:1-11, Luke 24:44-53
Ascension
Sunday
Today the Church
celebrates the Ascension of Jesus into heaven.
In theory, or I should say in theology, the Ascension ranks up there in
importance with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints’ Day. But in practice it seems more like a poor
stepchild to those high holy days in the church year. In part it may be a timing issue for
Ascension really took place a few days ago on Thursday. We read in our first reading from Acts that
Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day of the resurrection. So if the resurrection takes place on a
Sunday thirty nine days after that will always be on a Thursday. But because it doesn’t seem right to let such
an important moment in the life of the church slip by unnoticed we move the
celebration to the following Sunday - today.
That’s one
problem that the Ascension has when seeking its rightful place within the life
of the church. But another one is, quite
frankly, the optics. The Book of Acts
says that Jesus, “was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of [the disciples’]
sight. While the gospel of Luke explains
that, “While [Jesus] was blessing [the disciples], he withdrew from them and
was carried up into heaven.” Given these
accounts it’s not so farfetched that in 1961 when the first person entered
outer space that one of the things he did was to keep an eye out looking for
God. Upon his return to earth that
Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, was quoted in some sources to have said, “I
looked and I looked but I did not see God.”
And really that’s no surprise, is it?
Ironically, it’s the very science that gave us the ability to launch a
person into space that taught us that the three story universe that is often
implied in the biblical world (you know, God and the spiritual realm on the top
floor, earth and all things physical in the middle, with the realm of the dead
on the bottom) doesn’t accurately reflect how things really are.
Understandably to
the modern eye, the vision of Jesus going up into the sky in a cloud-like
elevator looks a bit ridiculous, making it hard to take seriously. So let me adjust optics a bit. Let me note something about clouds when it
comes to the Bible. Whenever we read
about a cloud in a story the intent is never to provide some record about the
weather of the day, how many water particles were in the atmosphere. When a cloud is mentioned in Scripture it is
almost always an indication of the special and close presence of God. If we use that lens then with the Ascension
story the mention of a cloud or heaven used to express a place or dimension
where God resides. Not so much about an
actual visual account that offers a specific location one can travel to, like
up in space. And that is what we
celebrate today. Up until now Jesus has
been walking around on earth in a resurrected body - showing up behind locked
doors, walking with folks on the road to Emmaus, cooking breakfast by the sea
for the disciples - but now that time has come to an end and Jesus leaves this
earth in his resurrected body to be more fully present with God.
So timing and
optics are hurdles to get over when celebrating the Ascension, but I think the
biggest obstacle of all is that it’s just plain hard to muster a lot of
enthusiasm over being left behind. Who
wants to celebrate that? Just when the
disciples were getting used to the new normal with Jesus popping in now and
then God changes things up. Jesus leaves
them - at least that’s the way it seems.
But just before
Jesus departs he tells the disciples that this is not the end of the
story. Something big is about to
happen. Something that God has
promised. And in the meantime, until
that promise is fulfilled, they’ll have to wait. Now we have the luxury of knowing what this
promise is, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we will be celebrating
next Sunday, but the disciples are completely in the dark. They have no idea what Jesus is talking
about. They don’t know what the future
holds nor how long they will have to wait for it.
Now although I
may not be able to pinpoint for you the exact location of where Jesus went when
he ascended into heaven, I can tell you without a doubt where the disciples are
right now - in liminal space. It’s a
place between what’s been and what is to come.
Perhaps you’ve been there yourself, where one thing has ended and the
next thing has yet to begin, a place of transition between the familiar past
and the unknown future. It’s called
liminal, which comes from the Latin meaning “threshold”. This place is really not a fun place to
be. It often stirs up anxiety and a host
of other uncomfortable feelings so much so that the words of the cosmonaut may
feel true, “I looked and I looked but I did not see God.”
Those words or
something similar may have come out of the disciples’ mouths that day when
Jesus disappeared from their sight and they were forced to exist in liminal
space to wait for the unknown future, God’s promise, to come in its own way and
time. And here those disciples have a
very important lesson to teach us when we find ourselves in similar circumstances. What did they do? How did they manage? They made the choice to trust God even while
living with a host of unanswered questions.
The believers stayed together to worship and pray - which actually made
them even more ready to receive the promise that was soon to come.
When Jesus
ascended into heaven although from the disciples’ perspective it looked like
being left behind, but things are not always as they appear for in truth it was
just the opposite. The Ascension enabled
Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to be even more present and seen in
the lives of the disciples - and in our lives, too. Because of the Ascension Jesus is not limited
to one place in time on earth but can be near and present with us in the bread
and the wine, in the fellowship of the church, in our ministry to others. The Ascension means that wherever we go,
whether it’s a place on a map you can easily find or a liminal space in life
that is hard to pinpoint - that no matter where you are - Jesus is with you so
that when you look and look you will see God - and that is something to
celebrate!
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