Acts 1:1-14
This morning we are looking at the
Ascension story as told by the author of the gospel of Luke. Only the Lukan author tells the story of
Jesus’ bodily Ascension into heaven and he tells it both at the end of his
gospel, and here at the beginning of his book of Acts.
Church tradition holds that after his
resurrection Jesus walked among the disciples for 40 days on the Earth. He continued to teach them about the Kingdom
of God and to try to prepare them for the days of the church without his
presence. After his 40 days were up,
tradition holds that he was bodily lifted up into heaven. This is where we get that line from the Apostles’
Creed. “He descended into hell; on the
third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sittith on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty . . .” This is the telling of that
story.
In the story that the author of Luke
tells, the disciples are simply hanging out with Jesus in Jerusalem. In fact, he has told them to specifically stay
there. It as if he is encouraging them
to have this concentrated, focused time together with him and with each
other. He also has a practical reason as
he wants them to remain together after he leaves so they are all in one place
when the day arrives to receive the Holy Spirit.
Even though they have followed what I
will call the regular Jesus, and now they follow the resurrected Jesus, the
disciples are still full of questions.
“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?” They are still waiting for him to be the
Messiah that they expected. They are
still hoping his kingdom will be the one they longed for in their hearts. A kingdom of power and glory, a restoration
of the Israeli nation state, a time when they are wealthy and safe and seated
in positions of power. “Lord,” they ask,
“will you answer those prayers now? Will
you bring about the Empire now?”
Jesus once again reminds them that
they are asking after the wrong things.
God is in charge of whether or not they rise to Empire power. In the meantime, Jesus promises a different
kind of power and authority. The power
of the Holy Spirit will come upon the group, and they will be given the
authority to be witnesses to the message of the gospel.
When he has finished explaining these
things to the disciples, the author tells us that Jesus was lifted up into
heaven. While they were watching a cloud
took him out of their sight. Jesus is
leaving and they are left standing there, gazing up toward the sky.
I like the way the Lukan author writes
this because I can clearly imagine the scene.
The disciples are standing there suddenly surprised as Jesus begins to
float away. Like watching a helium
balloon float into the clouds they strain their eyes and crane their necks,
trying to catch the very last sight of him.
Even when he is no longer even a speck in the sky, they still are
staring and trying to see him. Their
hearts aren’t ready to let him go again.
They long to hold on to him, to capture the time with him, to remain in
that place of spiritual ecstasy.
But he is gone, and God sends a
reminder that there is still work to do.
Two unknown men appear among them and ask “Men of Galilee, why do you
stand looking up toward heaven?” Enough
of your longing and looking, the time has come to be the church without the
physical presence of Jesus. “He will
come back some day,” they seem to say, “but there is work to be done right
now.”
So, they all go back to Jerusalem. They are all there, the 11 remaining
disciples, plus the women who are part of the community. Even his mother Mary is there. They gather again in the familiar upper room
and begin being the church by devoting themselves to community and to prayer.
Thousands of years have passed, yet it
is easy to find ourselves today in a place that is similar to the disciples’
place in this story. For one, we are
still looking for Jesus to be the Messiah we want. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore
the kingdom of Israel?” I think we are
still looking for God to restore the Empire, and for us to have places of power
within that Empire structure. How often
are our prayers asking for power, authority, recognition, and wealth? Our ideas about the kingdom may have changed
but we are certainly after the same things.
We don’t want to worship a Messiah who offers humility, meekness, and
death. We want to worship a Messiah who
brings power, security, and endless life.
“Lord, when will you be the Messiah we are looking for?”
Of course, God is never going to give
us a kingdom that looks like Empire.
Like the disciples, the power we are offered is the power of the Holy
Spirit. Like the disciples the authority
we are offered is the authority to preach the gospel. These gifts are given specifically to be used
against the Empire of our day. Rather
than giving us the power to rule, Jesus offers the community the power to speak
against those who are in authority. And
it is something that we can only do together.
Jesus encourages the disciples to remain together to share the gifts of
the Holy Spirit. So too, we are called
to remain together as a community that uses the Spirit’s power to speak truth
to Empire.
Of course, we have as difficult a time
doing this as the original disciples did.
How often do we find ourselves squinting up at the sky, staring into
heaven, looking for something more from God?
We engage in this behavior in countless different ways. Some of us are busy literally staring at the
sky, looking for the signs of Jesus’ eminent return as promised. We are counting the days of the “end times”
and busily preparing to meet our maker and to take our place in the Empire we
imagine he will bring.
Some of us do this when we spend all of
our time parsing theological minutia. Is
Jesus 50% human and 50% divine we wonder, or is it more of a 60/40 split? Or can he somehow be 100% of both? We parse the language of the gospels and
search the early church record in a constant quest to find concrete answers to
spiritual mysteries. We have no time to
do the work of the church because we are so busy trying to define every last
part of the faith. Like staring into
heaven we are squinting at the Scriptures and pulling them apart with tweezers.
Some of us do this when we argue
amongst ourselves as a church. Did God
call women and men to ministry or are men the only ones with authority? What about gay people, do they have a place
in the church? Just how big should a
Session be and what are their exact responsibilities? How many make a quorum of Presbytery and what
are the rules surrounding property disputes? Like staring into heaven we are staring at the
church, seeking after that same quest for Empire power as we strive to build
the perfect mini-empire in the perfect ecclesiology.
All of us are called to ask ourselves
this morning just what it is we are so busy looking at that we struggle to be
the church Jesus calls us to be. What
aspect of our faith has consumed our attention in such a way that we are
distracted by other things? Where is our
focus, where is our hunger, and where is our energy? Are we still craving the Empire? Are we trying to build our own empires? Like the disciples, are we looking in all the
wrong places? Is our head in the clouds?
As they watch Jesus retreat to a pin
prick in the sky, the community is called back to its senses. “Why do you stand looking up toward
heaven? Jesus will come back.” And in that confidence of Jesus’ return, they
return to themselves. They come to their
senses, and come once again to the place of community, the upper room.
I imagine that in this short period of
time, between the Ascension and the Pentecost, the Jesus community begins to
realize that Jesus has come among them once again. He has come among them, in the presence of
each other. Jesus is there, when they
are all there together. Jesus is there,
when they recognize him in the face of each other. Jesus is there, when they are in community. Even before they receive the Holy Spirit,
they have each other, constantly devoting themselves to prayer.
So too, if we want to see Jesus, we
must pull our heads out of the clouds.
Jesus is right here, if we are willing to find him in each other, if we
are willing to find him in community. We
need to stop craving Empire as people have done for generations, and start
using the gifts we have been given to speak truth to the powers in our lives. We need to devote ourselves to prayer and to work
to live in the community together.
In the story that the Lukan author
tells, Jesus spends 40 extra days teaching the disciples who he was, and who he
was calling them to be. They continued
to long for earthly power and prestige, and he continued to offer them
something else, the power of the community of faith. As he was bodily carried away from the earth,
they were reminded to get their own heads out of the clouds. The lessons they received ring true for us
today: Look around and do the work of the church now. Devote yourselves to prayer and building a
life together. Jesus will return among
you, but only when you are willing to find him in each other. Let go of Empire dreams and embrace the power
of faith instead. May God help us to
continue to learn these lessons today and every day. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment