BLESSED AND
COMMISSIONED!
a
sermon based on Acts 1:1-11
by Rev. Rick Thompson
Today we mark one of the great and
neglected festivals of the church: the festival of the Ascension.
Neglected, because it’s fixed on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter.
That’s because of the note in Acts that Jesus appeared to his disciples
for that period of time after his resurrection.
Neglected—and great,
because our Lord’s Ascension is worth celebrating, a cosmic event.
And why is that? What’s Ascension Day all about?
It’s about the return of Jesus Christ to the Father, and his rule, his
lordship over all creation.
Jesus rules! That’s why we celebrate the Ascension!
A
few years ago, when our youth claimed that someone “rules,” they were
saying, “That person is really awesome!” Here in Colorado,
we might hear, “Melo (Carmelo Anthony) rules!” or “Ubaldo Jiminez
rules!” When we say someone “rules,” that means that person is really
admired for their athletic or artistic skill.
JESUS rules.
That’s the church’s claim on Ascension Day. He is really great,
awesome, incredible. Jesus can’t be beat! There’s no one, or no
thing, stronger or more powerful than the one who returns to the
heavenly Father—Jesus.
And he’s the one who will come back someday. We can’t know when or
where, but we can know this: Jesus will return, and when he
does, God’s work will be done, finally and forever! The creation will
be healed, and death will be destroyed, and everything will be made
beautiful and new!
So it’s a good thing, isn’t it, that Jesus ascends. It means he’s in
charge, and the universe is ruled by forgiveness and love and mercy, and
we can look forward to the fulfillment of his will and intentions at the
end of time!
That is a nice thought; but what difference does it make? What
does it mean for us? What’s the benefit of Jesus’ departure, leaving
the disciples—the church—alone?
That’s
where the Ascension gets puzzling!
Did you notice the disciples in this story? One more time, they just
don’t get it! They’ve heard the promise of Jesus, that they would
receive his power. They were reminded that they are called upon to tell
the story of Jesus near and far, to the ends of the earth. They were
given a very clear and specific task.
And what did they do? Spring right to attention, hustle into action,
getting right to their work?
No! They gazed into heaven, their eyes glued to the spot where they had
last seen Jesus.
Why? Why, when reminded that they would spread the gospel to the whole
world, would the disciples just keep staring up into heaven, to see if
maybe they can get another look at Jesus? Why would they more or less
shrug their shoulders and lament, “Now what do we do? How can we
continue with Jesus gone?”
In some ways, the church hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years. Oh, we’re
much larger, and much more highly organized, and wealthier, and the
power of the gospel has embraced an amazingly diverse rainbow of colors
and languages and cultures. On the outside, the church looks much
different than it did on that hilltop near Jerusalem where Jesus
departed from his followers long ago.
But on the inside, we’re much the same. I can easily imagine myself
witnessing the Ascension of Jesus, and then gazing into heaven in awe
and shock and distress, glued to the spot, unable to move. I can hear
the angels asking me, “Why do you stand looking up into heaven?”
It’s not hard for me at all to hear me wondering in response to it all,
“Well, now what do I do?”
“Now, what do we do?” We feel powerless and helpless like that,
don’t we. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to be the church of Jesus
Christ. The world’s needs are so great. The task is so huge. The
resources seem so meager. The fear of failure, the fear of risking, the
fear of letting go can be so paralyzing. What do we do? What can
we do?
By our own power, nothing. Not a darn thing. We don’t have the
might, or the will, or the fortitude, or the power to carry the gospel
to the world, to make much of a difference at all.
No, we don’t have that power.
We don’t have that power—but JESUS does! And Jesus hasn’t taken his
power away with him to heaven. Jesus rules! Jesus is in charge! Jesus
is Lord. His power is still at work!
William Willimon comments on this story, “When things go poorly for the
church, when the world falls apart, things come loose, and chaos
threatens, it is good to know who is in charge, who rules….Jesus has
ascended. He has not gone away from the church, but he has
gone up to be the empowerment for the church.”[i]
Jesus has ascended in order to empower the church
to carry on his work, his mission!
Think about that. If Jesus had stayed on earth, he would have continued
to face human restrictions and limitations. His travel would have been
limited. His influence would have been confined to the area he could
walk in ancient Palestine. If Jesus had stayed on earth, we might never
have heard of him! And neither would millions of others!
But Jesus has ascended. And because of it, his power has been released
into all the world. He is no longer bound by time and space and
distance. Because Jesus rules alongside the Father in heaven, he is
able to empower people the world over to respond to his message and
share it with others.
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” Jesus
promised his disciples. And ten days later, according to the book of
Acts, that’s exactly what happened! There was a mighty wind, and
tongues of fire, and the disciples were empowered to speak the gospel
with passion and conviction and thousands responded in faith on one day!
That’s the kind of power the church has because Jesus has ascended into
heaven and released the Holy Spirit into the faithful all over the
world!
There’s an old legend about that which goes something like this:
When Jesus returned to heaven, he was met by an angel. The angel asked
him how his work had gone on earth. “Was your work successful?” the
angel asked.
“It certainly was!” came the Lord’s enthusiastic reply.
The angel was excited. “Well, come on then, tell me what happened!”
“I made some good friends,” responded Jesus, “some tax-collectors, some
prostitutes, some fishermen, some revolutionaries.”
“Is that all?” questioned the angel.
“No,” answered Jesus. “After three years, I was arrested, tried, and
crucified. I came back to life, and now here I am!”
“Is that it?” the astounded angel asked. “Isn’t there a lot of work yet
to be done?”
“Yes, there is,” said Jesus. “All kinds of it. But I’m not worried. I
left twelve of my friends in charge.”
“But what if those people let you down? They’re only human, after
all!” The angel was shouting by now, in agitation and disbelief.
“Don’t you have an alternate plan?”
“They will not let me down,” Jesus insisted. “I have no other plan.”[ii]
Jesus has no other plan. We’re it! We’re the ones chosen,
empowered, blessed and commissioned to keep his work going in the
world. We’re the ones selected and sent to bear witness to Jesus
Christ to the ends of the earth. We’re the ones who have the
power, now, to speak the word of God, the word of repentance and
forgiveness of sins, and stand by in amazement as the world goes to work
in the lives of others. We’re the ones who’ve been given this
assignment by Jesus—and the power to carry it out: “You will be
my witnesses—near and far—to the ends of the earth!”
We’ve got a task, don’t we—a huge task! We’ve got the assignment
of telling the good news of Jesus in word and deed! We’ve got the task
of inviting others to check Jesus out, to poke their noses inside the
church, to discover the joy of knowing and following the Lord. Yes,
we’ve got a task—a huge, incredible, monumental, sometimes overwhelming
task.
But we’ll be faithful, won’t we! We’ll be
faithful, because the one who gives us our task ALSO gives us the power
to carry it out! We’ll be faithful, because we’ve got the power of
Jesus!
It’s true—the Lord has ascended. He has ascended not so that we’ll be
alone and frightened, but so that he can be with every disciple
of every time and every place, and give us the power and
grace and wisdom and courage to do what he sends us to do!
So today, we’ve gazed into heaven, and seen our Lord ascending. But we
don’t keep staring at the sky! No, we place our focus on earth,
empowered by the Lord of all. We look around us, and see the world’s
need, and speak the gospel, and live it, so that others may know the joy
we have received from Christ!
Because Jesus has ascended, we’re blessed and commissioned today for our
task: “You will be witnesses, near and far, to the ends of the earth!”
And I’m pretty certain the risen and Lord will keep his promise.
I’m pretty certain the Lord will grant us the power to be
faithful! AMEN.
