Sermon - May 1, 2008: The Ascension of Our Lord

Pastor Heisley

Equipped with the Word. Jesus leaves the disciples equipped with the Word. They were still in shock but their horror filled shock at Jesus’ death had now turned into shock that he was standing before them. He showed them his hands and his feet and they believed that it was he. Then he ate a piece of broiled fish right in front of them to show that he was really there. He wasn’t a ghost. He was the risen Christ. 

Then he said, “’These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you –that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” The Word made flesh opened fleshly minds to understand the hopes and dreams of countless generations of faithful Jews who had longed for the Messiah. He gave them all of scripture, the law, the prophets and the psalms, the three great classes of Hebrew scripture at that time, he gave them the word as his gift, as his bequest. 

And it pointed to his forthcoming presence in absence. The power that would descend to their midst from almighty God, the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations. Jesus equipped the disciples with the word so that they could tell the story to others. 

Our denomination, the ELCA, has launched a new emphasis, one that has risen from the ranks of congregations across the nation, called “Book of Faith.” Book of Faith is call to return with all of our minds, and with all of our hearts to the study of scripture, to the reading of the law, the prophets, the psalms, and to all of the redemptive stories of grace fulfilled in Jesus in the New Testament. 

The presence of Jesus, the ascended One, is mediated to us through the powerful presence of his Spirit in the words of scripture and we are looking to each other to reinforce this understanding, to fill our longings for spiritual certitude and inspiration with the mutual consolation and conversation of all the faithful. 

This consolation and conversation springs from the Bible, interpreted in the power of the Spirit and it becomes Jesus’ presence, the Word’s presence in our community, in our worship, in our time spent gathered in prayer and study, in the heart of the rich mercy that we share with each other in listening and hugging and correcting and encouraging. 

But here’s a problem we face this evening. The Ascension can feel like the Church is left to its own devices. After all, “Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” Gone. Vanished. But the disciples, we, are left with the blessing of the Word, with the blessing of holy scripture, with the strong gift of text and book and chapter and verse and translation and discussion and disagreement and the sure and certain promise of Jesus’ presence in all of these things. 

We are left with a liturgy that uses biblical texts throughout its course so that they become part of us, so that they form us, so that they change us. Jesus rose from the dead so that he might fill the world with grace and truth. 

Now he ascends to heaven so that he might sit at the right hand of God, so that he might be exalted by all peoples, by all nations, as the giver of grace and truth, the savior of humankind, so that he might be praised in eternity. In praising him we do not join in an empty, slavish activity. We rather stand boldly before the throne and we receive grace upon grace, truth upon truth, wisdom upon wisdom. 

Sadly, for us weak humans, it often doesn’t feel that way. There are those times when each of us cannot hear the voice of Christ. There are those times when we cannot see his light, radiant throughout the universe. We only hear silence. We only see darkness. We have no guide, no road signs, no path before us, because we see and hear nothing. 

All of us have these experiences. Hopelessness begets hopelessness and we are bereft. But these experiences do not mean that God has turned from us. They rather mean that we have turned from God, turned from a baptismal openness to the outpouring of God’s love and mercy in Jesus that flows to us and over us continually. These experiences mean that God sees our quandary and loves us even more, not in spite of it, but because of it. 

Let the Ascension mean this to you: in your times of divine silence and darkness remember that Jesus has given us the Word, has been for us the Word, and we have the book of faith, holy scripture, taught by him and enshrining him. We have the sacraments, spoken in our liturgical actions louder than words can ever speak. We have the presence of the exalted One who both sits at the right hand of God in great glory and might and walks with us on every pathway of our life seeking to fill us with his Word, with his joy, with compassion and with confidence. 

Jesus, the exalted savior, lifting up his hands, blesses us. Amen.

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