Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:15-23
“Because Jesus is in Heaven”
When we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we say a few lines about what Christians believe about what happened to Jesus. This should sound familiar: “On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.”
In the liturgical calendar, Ascension Day actually falls on a Thursday. It’s forty days after the Resurrection, as noted in our reading from the first chapter of Acts this morning: “After his suffering [Jesus] presented himself alive to [the apostles] by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”
But in many churches where we don’t add a special service on a Thursday, we move the celebration of the Ascension to the following Sunday and call it “Ascension Sunday.” And a week later, we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to his followers was poured out in power to make them his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
I wonder… when you think about the Ascension, do you picture Jesus dramatically rising up into the sky? Where did he go after that? Through earth’s atmosphere and into outer space? And when you think about Jesus in heaven, do you picture him sitting on a royal throne, just to the right side of God the Father (an old man with a beard, I suppose) who is sitting on an even bigger, fancier throne?
These kinds of images, and even the Creed’s description of Jesus “seated at the right hand of the Father” are perhaps a little bit overly “physical” in their description of what is actually a spiritual reality that defies our attempts to describe it. And yet, as strange as the Ascension may seem, it is an important part of our Christian faith that makes a difference in our daily life and our hope for the future.
The Ascension matters because it marks the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It’s the moment when Jesus returns to the Father after accomplishing what he came to do in his life, death, and resurrection.
You might think of Jesus on the cross in John’s Gospel stating, “It is finished” because he had completed the work that he came to do – to embody God’s love and power and in human form in the world and to invite all people back into relationship with the God who made us.
And I think that matters to us as Christians because it means that we can rest in the knowledge that Jesus has done everything that was necessary. As we go about the mission that Jesus gives us to do in our time – proclaiming the good news, sharing Jesus’ love, feeding the hungry, working for justice and peace – we do so knowing that it doesn’t all depend on us. It is Jesus who has already accomplished God’s mission of love in the world, and it is our privilege to participate in its ongoing expression today.
The Ascension also matters because it is not really Jesus “leaving” but it is Jesus taking his place of authority. Throughout his ministry, questions swirled about whether he was the Messiah and whether he was the coming king who would overthrow the current powers and take over as a benevolent and kind ruler in Jerusalem.
Of course, we know that he wasn’t that kind of king. We may remember the moment when Pilate asked Jesus if he was the king of the Jews. And Jesus cryptically answers, “My kingdom is not from this world.”
The Apostle Paul would later describe Jesus’ kingdom to the Church in Ephesus by saying this: “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”
And I think that matters to us as Christians because whatever human powers may claim authority, or lord it over others, or rule as if by divine right… And no matter how distressing and worrying these unjust kings may become for us, we know that ultimately there is only one authority who rules over all creation. Jesus sits at the right hand of the one God of the universe, and his rule of love will be victorious over all the powers of evil in the world.
The Ascension also matters because we believe that Jesus intercedes for us with God. Every time we say a prayer and end it with “in Jesus’ name, we pray” or “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” we do that because we believe that Jesus is praying with us and for us. The Son of God who was sent into the world to live a human life with us, to walk with us, to experience the joys and sorrows, blessings and challenges of being a human being, is now sitting beside God and praying for us with all his heart.
Jesus is praying for you with all his heart. He knows your needs, he understands your fears and your pains, he cares about your future, and he delights in all the ways that you are using your life and your gifts for his mission of love in the world.
The Ascension also matters because of the Holy Spirit. Before he is lifted up, Jesus says to his apostles, “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.”
God sends the Holy Spirit onto the followers of Jesus, forming the church on the Day of Pentecost, only after Jesus returns to the Father. The Ascension is the hinge between Jesus’ physical presence in the world and the Spirit’s presence in the world.
And that’s the Spirit of God that brings the ongoing divine presence into our hearts and lives on a daily basis even today. The Spirit of God comforts us in our sadness. The Spirit of God encourages us when we are disillusioned. The Spirit of God reminds us of everything that Jesus taught us, and she gives us the gifts and the power we need to participate in Jesus’ ongoing mission of love in the world.
The Spirit of God is with us, and in us, and around us, and between us because Jesus’ ascended into heaven.
The Ascension also matters because it changes how we understand heaven and humanity. It assures us that there is more to this life than what happens here on earth, and it gives us the hope of everlasting life with God.
Perhaps you might think of Jesus’ words of assurance to his disciples in John 14 before his arrest and crucifixion. He says, “I am going to prepare a place for you. I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
We are freed to live in this world with courage, and generosity, and self-giving love for others because we are assured that there is more to come. The Ascension is not just Jesus going up; it’s humanity being lifted up with him.
And finally, the Ascension matters because it sets the stage for our hope of Jesus’ return. Even that verse I just quoted from John 14 hinted at it when Jesus said, “I will come again and take you to myself…”
But in our passage from Acts this morning, the disciples of Jesus stand there gazing up towards heaven, even after a cloud has taken him out of their sight. “Suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘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.’”
So, this event becomes an anchor for our Christian expectation of a future restoration of the world. In the Apostles’ Creed, we proclaim that “he will come to judge the living and the dead.” And this is indeed our hope – not that the world will come to an end when the powers of this world annihilate one another with weapons of mass destruction – but that Christ will come again to make all things new, to set the world aright, to inaugurate a new creation, and to make a world of justice, peace, love, and light for all.
Perhaps there are some other reasons why the Ascension matters, but those are the ones that I could think of:
- Because Jesus is in heaven, we know that his mission was accomplished and that he has power and authority over all things.
- Because Jesus is in heaven, we are assured that he is watching over us and praying for us.
- Because Jesus is in heaven, we have been blessed by the Holy Spirit’s presence and power to help us in our daily life and our mission in Jesus’ name.
- Because Jesus is in heaven, we are given the promise of our own everlasting life: Because he lives, we shall live also.
- And because Jesus is in heaven, we are told that he will come again “in the same way” to restore the whole world.
Because Jesus is in heaven, let’s live today and tomorrow with faith, with hope, with courage, and with expectation for the future.
Just as the Apostle Paul prayed for the Christians at Ephesus in the first century, let this be our prayer for all people of faith today:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give [us all] a spirit of wisdom and revelation as [we] come to know him, so that, with the eyes of [our hearts] enlightened, [we] may perceive what is the hope to which he has called [us], what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” Amen.