Ascension

Acts of the Apostles 1.1-11

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They 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.”


I don’t want to scare anyone, but Christmas Eve is 7 months away from today. I am acutely aware of this because I will have a 1-year-old this Christmas, and I’m told that she will be way more into the whole holiday season this time around than she was last year. There are 214 shopping days until Christmas Eve this year, so you’d better get cracking away at your wish lists. And since it is so early, you have time to really think about it. Could I make a few suggestions?

How about world peace? Yes, that’s a good start. Let’s add world peace to our list. That would rule out all the wars that we know of today and even the ones we don’t know about. And to accomplish that we’ll need some kind of extraordinary world leader who can tackle even the most dangerous and the deepest divisions, especially the conflict between Israel and Palestine. So, I’d guess we better add that to the list—someone to bring us world peace.

What else could we add to the list? How about the end to poverty and hunger? Yes—that’s a good one. That would mean that no woman, man, or child would ever die of starvation again. And while we’re at the poverty issue, let’s erase homelessness, too. So, we’ll just need someone that will find for us a permanent fix for the problem. Hmm…one more thing for the list, I suppose.

Anything else you’d like to throw in while we’re at it? I suppose we could consider adding a new revival of the Christian faith—churches unable to hold the crowds gathered for worship and study, and (especially important to our church and many others right now) there would be no more money problems in the church at all. Or, we could add economic recovery in this nation and around the world, but I am not sure that the ones currently working on this will be the ones to deliver. Then again, I am not sure that anything other than magic could really repair the damage that has been done. But Christmas is all about hope, right??

Ok, so today is not Christmas Eve. It’s May 24th, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 2009. It’s the 4th Sunday in May, the 7th Sunday of Easter. It’s just like many other Sundays when we gather here for worship: we’ve all gotten up and dressed for church and assembled in this place that is so full of Spirit and meaning for us. We gaze at and through the windows; we hear the music that Kevin, Jonathan, and the choir provide for the glory of God; we listen to the reading of scripture; we pray. It’s just like any other Sunday, right?

If your answer to that question was yes, I invite you to hear the reading for today again:

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They 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.”

Did you hear it? Did you hear the question of the disciples of Jesus as he is leaving them and leaving the earth to return to heaven? It’s the last time they will be together, and he has given them some instructions about what he expects of them once he is back home with God. He has promised again the presence of the Spirit and wants them to be ready for what the Spirit will empower them to do and call them to do in his name. It will be a very important transition for them. This ministry, this life they’ve been living together is about to become something larger than any of them are ready for, but with the power of the Spirit, anything is possible. And so at this powerful climax in the story of salvation, as Jesus is preparing for his ultimate exit/entrance, the befuddled disciples we have come to know for their inability to understand what Jesus tells them about what is coming to pass don’t disappoint. Listen to their question: “Is this time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Now, to be fair to these guys, they’ve been through a lot in these last 42 days. It is no wonder that they have questions. I imagine them standing there stunned, listening to Jesus and not really knowing what to do next and not really wanting to move because the next movement could be the cue that this moment—this time with the risen Christ—is over. It seems plausible that his resurrection would be the trigger of all the things that the Hebrews have been expecting from their Messiah to start happening. They were waiting for a great ruler to appear who would restore order and dignity and independence to the people of Israel. They had lived under Roman rule for quite some time; the days of the kingdom of Israel and the great kings of the Hebrews, like David and Solomon, were now over. And as great as those kings were, they were only a foretaste of what the kingdom of God would be like. Actually, truth be told, they weren’t really that great. Remember David? The one who had his girlfriend’s husband killed in battle so that she could be his girl? We only got those kings because we begged God for them. God was pretty sure we didn’t need an earthly king, but because we kept asking and because we rejected God’s reign over us, God gave us what we asked for all those generations ago. And just look where it has gotten us now!

So, generations later, the Messiah was expected to come and resume the rule of the beloved King David. He would accomplish things like world peace, the end of all war, and most importantly, the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel—the place where all people of Hebrew origin would live freely and would prosper for ever. And then, there would be no more worries, no more war, no more poverty, etc. It would be like that feeling we have about the world on Christmas—like everything really will turn out ok because God loves us and sent us Jesus. The coming of the Messiah would make everyone feel like everything would turn out ok because God loves us and would send us a great warrior king to make everything go the way we and God wanted it to. And by we, I don’t mean us; I mean the Hebrews.

So, the world waiting for the Messiah was pretty disappointed with Jesus. The disciples were not part of that world; they saw glimpses from time to time of the messianic secret we see especially in Mark when Jesus lets on that there is something extraordinary about him and his ministry but tells his companions not to tell anyone what they know about him. Maybe now that he had been to the cross and had overcome death, it would be time for the messianic secret to come out in the open. This must be it—the time when all those things they hadn’t been able to tell about Jesus could be told. This must be it—the time when they would finally be rewarded for their devotion to a movement that was pretty good for a while but had recently seen some pretty hard times. This must be it—the time when not only the hurts of the world but the hurts of the people of God would all be healed and God would dry their tears, etc. This must be it—the time when the kingdom would be restored, Israel would be a powerful nation again, and the world would finally know and accept the Messiah. Isn’t this it, Jesus?

Maybe you are asking the same question. Is this the time, Jesus, when you’ll restore the kingdom of Israel to me, when you’ll make everything right again—the way it is supposed to be in my life? Isn’t it time that my investment in this movement of faith that at one time totally captivated my spirit and life finally paid off and showed some tangible fruit in my life? Isn’t time that my retirement account started to grow again? I’ve done what I was supposed to do; can I stop being punished, please? I’ve lived here for many years; isn’t it time that I got to live one summer free of crime and the fear of crime in my neighborhood? I’ve been giving to the church for a while; isn’t it time that a suitcase full of a million dollars fell in the road in front of me on the way home from worship? Today would be just fine. Isn’t it time that my life, my job, my family, my relationships, my children, my parents, my friends, my partner, my career path finally became what I am sure God has in mind for me?

If your answer to that question was yes, I invite you to hear a few verses again from our passage for today:

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But 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.”

“Actually,” he says, “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, in Summer Hill and Capitol View, in Peoplestown and Mechanicsville, in Grant Park and Ormewood Park, on Memorial Drive and on Cherokee Avenue, in Israel and Palestine, in Pakistan, North Korea, and Iraq. This is in your hands. It’s not a transaction; it is a gift. And the world needs to receive it now.”

So , actually, this day isn’t at all about what you or I want or even need. This day is about what the world needs and the fact that Christ has called us to get out there and see what we can do about it. This day is about school being out and youth having a lot of free time on their hands and us having a gym upstairs and many of us having the time to be here for a few hours here and there. This day is about being sure that we don’t’ forget that the children of God don’t just live in Jerusalem, or Israel, or nice houses, or in our “neighborhood.” This day is about the fact that our lives and very presence here provide witness to the love of God, especially for those to whom love is a stranger. So, we have to get to work. We’re not making our Christmas list anymore; we are taking God’s list to the rest of the elves where we will pray, and wait for the power to make it all come to be. It’s not up to someone else; it’s not some random date on a calendar way out in the future; it’s not at the random will of some crazy God but of the God who holds all things—time, space, our lives, your heart—in God’s hands.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. And he has gone and has called us to recreate the body of love and grace he showed us. The Spirit will help us know what to do if we will just listen. The Spirit will guide and support us. Everything on our list is possible for God, even the things that seem completely impossible to us. That’s the point: the eternal presence of God prays with and for us and the world. And then the Spirit comes in, disrupts the way we may think it all ought to be, and then we begin to see the kingdom of God.

May it be, friends! May it be.