Poof! Who's In Charge Now?
David C. Myers
May 25, 2009
Ascension Sunday
Acts 1:1 - 11
Luke 24:44 - 54
Text: "When Jesus had said this, as they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of sight." . . . Acts 1:9
I suspect that there are some of you that don't even realize that you missed a major Christian holiday this past Thursday. After all, we Protestants aren't particularly big on some of the finer points of the Christian calendar.
Lest you think, I know it all, I have a confession. About 20 years ago, on that same Thursday, Debbie and I were in need of a babysitter. Our last hope, a teen age girl belonging to a good Catholic family, informed us that she had to attend church, because it was the celebration of a major church holiday. Debbie, who is, by in large an ecclesiastical illiterate, asked me what the holiday was. Being totally informed and highly educated on such matters, I informed Debbie - in my own kind, gentle way - that I have forgotten more than she will ever know on such subjects. Actually that was a bluff while I collected my thoughts; for at least temporarily, that was one of the things I had forgotten!
Actually, lest you think I am as dumb as I look, after a few brief seconds I did remember that it was Ascension Day, the day described in our Scripture readings read this morning.
As a matter of fact these Scriptures kind of stick out like a sore thumb. It uses the language of "up there in the heavens" as open-endingly as any passage in the New Testament. It forces us to ask what we make of it. Just what is this story all about?
In case you have forgotten these passages that were just read, we find Jesus having serious discussion with His disciples about their role as disciples, and then, "Poof!" Jesus is gone! The Book of Acts reads, "When He had said this, as they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9). The apostles were still staring upward (not unusual at all - I mean what would you do if someone you were talking to was "was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of [your] sight."); when suddenly two men clothed in white stood beside them and asked, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards 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.'"
Well, as I think about this passage, I'm not sure which is more disturbing - the "Poof!" he's gone, or the promise that "Poof!" He's going to come back! It leaves us in a kind of limbo. Who's in charge while He's away? And perhaps what is worse - just when is He going to come back? Will it be when I'm doing things I'd rather not get caught at, or while I'm being good?
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We must examine carefully what this passage is all about.
So what is Ascension?
I can remember as a younger Christian believing that since Christ had gone "Poof!", that it was God's way of leaving us in charge of the world. It would mark a passing of the "mantle" - if you will; from one leader to another generation of disciples. Kind of a "well, we've been given an example of how to behave, the Scriptures are before us - now with the Christ gone, it's time for us to do what we're supposed to - to pass the torch from one generation to the next and let them be in charge! Kind of like the stewards in the parable of the talents.
But . . . that's not the point; in fact that's almost opposite the true meaning. Christ has not gone "away" up to the "heavens" and left us in charge; rather Christ is now "over", as in "the Lord is Lord over the heavens and the earth."
The doctrine of Ascension is quite simply the assertion of Christ's ascendancy, of Christ's and God's claim to control the entire universe. Ascension Day makes tremendous claims about the control of this world.
And this is not easy for us to fathom. Or, at least it shouldn't be.
As we begin the story in Acts we find the disciples asking Jesus, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (You may remember this from last week's sermon - just a brief refresher.) It's a typical question asked by disciples of all ages. Disciples of all ages long for the good 'ole days. For the disciples, they envisioned the glorious time when David was King and Israel was in charge of the unknown world. Today, in our churches we look back on the times when our favorite minister was the pastor, or a time when the church was filled on Sundays other than Easter. But we can never go back - and if our memory wasn't as selective as it is, we probably wouldn't want to. Things were never quite as good as we remember them to be.
The perception of disciples of all ages of what is to be restored has a tendency to be a bit different from that which is ushered in by God's Messiah. And Jesus recognizes this and says to His disciple, "It is not for you to know the dates and times which are under God's own authority." Said just before He went "Poof!", Jesus was reminding disciples of all ages who was in charge - God through the Christ, and not the disciples with their filtered memories and their hopes and fantasies.
The doctrine of the Ascension - which you may now be beginning to understand as a really important doctrine of the church - is the assertion of the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ over every part of the universe, the triumph of God's love over every other force in the world. The "heaven" we envision is not so much "up there" as it means the Christ is now "Lord over" all that is.
And what does it mean in practical matters? If not restoration to the supremacy of David's Kingdom, not royalty, not the glory and not the excitement of full churches, then what?
God's reign was described and defined by Jesus when He stood up in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth. At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry after His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah. His announcement of God's reign and realm involves the transformation of people, a time when justice prevails for all people. Jesus said that He has come "to set at liberty the oppressed, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to preach good news to the poor." And he further described it in Matthew's Gospel, as we are instructed to visit the sick, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry. And again in John's Gospel where we witness the forgiveness He offers a woman caught in the act of adultery - a forgiveness she didn't even ask for.
This is what it means for God to be in control of our world - and of out lives. This is the first part of the Ascension. And the second part is very practical.
The last command of Jesus to His followers to witness is the means by which the church will be established, for then Christ will have "ascended", if you will, into each of us. Our witness, like that of the first disciples, need not be complicated or extraordinary. It's really quite simple - share what you know of God's goodness and forgiveness in your own lives. To witness is to proclaim the story of Jesus from your own personal knowledge. It is the same message given to each of us - whether we are the Pastor, the Church Council Chair, the Lay Leader or a youth even in their teens!
So there we have it.
Ascension Day. The annual reminder that Christ is in complete control of the world - even our own lives. And that we - the modern day disciples - are to witness what we know, the grace we have discovered, and the peace God alone provides!
How do we do this?
For example . . . there is a story of the "Inklings", a group of scholars who met regularly for companionship and conversation. They met in a pub called "The Eagle and the Child" but known colloquially as "The Bird and the Baby". It was there that C. S. Lewis first read to the "Inklings" The Screwtape Letters, and J.R.R. Tolkien first read The Hobbitt. They met through the decade of the 1930s, including the anxious moments when it seemed that a German invasion of Britain was imminent. In light of that, they resolved to go through all their writings to discover how much of their work would be condemned by the Nazis. They did this, not from cowardice but from curiosity, to determine which writings would declare Christianity against the encroaching darkness of fascism. They wanted to make sure that the Christian faith, its major themes - through their writings - would survive even the worst possible scenario of Hitler's reign.
It's a good exercise for all of us. Oh, we don't have to write literary classics to witness Christ's claim over our lives. But just how secret is our discipleship?
Perhaps I've used this question before. It is appropriate today. So I will leave you with this thought: If you were arrested for being a Christian, when they brought you to trial, would there be enough evidence to convict you?