This sermon was originally preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Suntree-Viera for a joint service with St. David’s by the Sea. The occasion was Ascension Day and the texts were: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53; Psalm 47.
What a joy it is to be here with you as we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. I bring you greetings from the people of St. David’s by the Sea, even those who wouldn’t drive across the bridge to worship with us tonight. 😉
Mother Cynthia and I have known each other for 18 years. Can you believe it?! And I know what you’re thinking: he doesn’t look old enough to have been in a relationship for 18 years! 😉
Mother Cynthia and I have a lot of things in common. We both love theology and preaching; we both love England and France; we’re both hopeless romantics; we’re both foodies: and we’re both movie buffs. We love movies of all sundry, sort, shape, span, and size.
One of the most iconic movie lines was uttered during the 1995 classic, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell. Gazing out of the shuttle window with his fellow astronauts, Jack Swigert played by Kevin Bacon and Fred Haise played by Bill Paxton, Hanks asks the following question, Gentlemen, what are your intentions?
As the question hangs in the zero-gravity balance between the three astronauts, Hanks gives his own answer: I’d like to go home.
For Apollo 13, the decision to go home would take Lovell, Swigert, and Haise to the farthest distance from earth humans have ever gone: 248,655, or a quarter of a million, miles away from home. Of them we could say, echoing the author of Hebrews, that they had passed through the heavenlies. Unlike Jesus, our Great High Priest, the astronauts did not end up in the throne room of God. They did not “ascend [sic] far above all heavens and fill all things” as our Collect said. The people who have gone somewhere no one else has ever gone were not there for the scenery or for the experience but simply with the intention of getting home.
Their travel became the titular inspiration for Pink Floyd’s 1973 hit album: The Dark Side of the Moon. The Apollo 13 crew remains the only people to have ever seen the dark side of the moon with the naked eye.
The Ascension always makes me think of space. Maybe because we live on the Space Coast, but probably because the disciples are left gazing up at the sky.
Space has been described as “the final frontier” as we go boldly where no woman or man has gone before, to infinity and beyond! We have deemed space worthy of our enterprise, discovery, and endeavor. We have set our sights on the “heavens” to demonstrate the long, steady march of human and scientific progress. In humanity’s insatiable search for meaning, we’ve sought God in all of the wrong places.
God does not reside on the darkside of the moon.
As of this afternoon, Starman, the dummy driving the Tesla Roadster in space, has traveled 2.632 billion miles since 2018 and in that time he has not found the throne room of Almighty God.
The James Webb Space Telescope orbits the sun 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth. It has captured such iconic images as “The Pillars of Creation” and the death, or “final performance” of a star. But JWST has not photographed the heavenly throne room.
And yet, we are here tonight because two thousand years ago a Jewish itinerant preacher was killed by Rome, raised from the dead, led his disciples to a hillside in Galilee, whereupon he gave them their final marching orders, and then he ascended into the heavens, where he is now seated at the right hand of the Father. This event has shocking theological meaning and missional ramifications.
Our goal is not to locate Jesus’ seat of reigning and ruling up there, but rather to discern what his ascension means for us down here.
Now, let me tell you up front where we are going: you are each being asked by our Lord Jesus one simple question tonight: Child of God, what are your intentions? Over the next few minutes, I would like to help you assemble an answer to that question. Sound good? Good!
The lectionary for Ascension Day is fascinating because it is one of those rare times in Scripture when the same scene is presented from two different vantage points. For all of my “nerds” in attendance tonight, and I proudly count myself among your ranks, think about the brilliant work of Peter Jackson in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically the iconic “You shall not pass!” scene.
In the Fellowship of the Ring, we witness Gandalf’s demise in the mines of Moria from the perspective of Frodo…but in The Two Towers, Jackson presents the same scene from the vantage point of Gandalf. The result? Two very different yet equally important scenes.
Luke gives us his ascension story at the end of his gospel and then he gives a similar-yet-wholly-different version in Acts. Luke has very different focuses in his two ascension accounts and we need both of them to make sense of this monumental moment.
In his gospel, Luke’s focus with the ascension is giving the eleven disciples the same thing he gave the two Emmaus-bound disciples on resurrection day. He breaks open the Scriptures once again, opening their minds, their eyes, and their hearts to know, see, and love all that he had taught and foretold. His final act before the ascension is to make sure that they understand the story, to ensure that they can witness to his fulfillment of all that was promised and prophesied in “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.”
The Ascension, therefore, is not some random ad-hoc, isolated event. It is not as though God got to this point of the story and said, “Oh my me, how should I get Jesus up to heaven? You know what I’ll do? I’ll ascend him with computer graphics!” NO!
Seen from the perspective of Luke’s gospel, the ascension is the final element of the Paschal Mystery, or that which we would call the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. You have to have all four together for the whole to make sense.
Try and pluck one out of that lineup and define or explain it independently and you will see just how nonsensical it is. For example, the crucifixion is meaningless without the resurrection. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says that if Christ is not raised from the dead then we are still dead in our sins and to be pitied more than anyone else on earth.
What about the resurrection without the ascension?
It would mean that Christ is alive, no longer dead, yes;
But an ascension-less resurrection would mean he is still confined to “distant years in Palestine.”
The ascension matters a great deal!
Did you know that Mother Cynthia and I were in seminary together? My first class at Fuller Theological Seminary was Systematic Theology II and we sat next to each other every class–two little peas in a pod. This was before children, so Rebecca and Ellis would go out to dinner when we had class and they would pray to the Almighty and merciful God that we didn’t receive any grades that would lead to a competitive squabble…
ANYWAY, our professor was Dennis Okholm, Doc Ok for short, and he was fond of saying, “We need to get Jesus ascended!” This is what Jesus is explaining to the disciples in Luke 24.
The ascension means that…
Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of the Father;
Where he reigns over creation;
Where he fills all things;
Where he rules over all things;
Where he intercedes on our behalf as the Great High Priest;
And from whence he will come again to “judge the living and the dead.
All powers, principalities, and people are subject to his rule.
It means that our fallen humanity has been assumed and redeemed—Jesus, the one who is fully God and fully man—has ascended in the fullness of his divinity and humanity!
His work is finished, his salvation is perfect, his life is eternal, his kingdom is forever!
As Bishop Brewer preached this morning, the Ascension is the coronation of Jesus as he is exalted to the heavenly throne room.
We caught an imperfect glimpse of the joy and triumph of a coronation two weeks ago with King Charles. The 2,000 people inside Westminster all proclaimed, “Long live the King!” and their voices reverberated around the abbey walls… but imagine the voices of tens of millions, hundreds of millions of Christians across time and space crying out in joy to their King as their God “goes up with a shout.”
Long live the King!
Long may he reign!
Long may his Kingdom be!
That is the celebration of Ascension.
And this brings us to Ascension 2.0–the redux–in Acts. For everything that went well and for everything the disciples “got right” in Luke 24, we are given a much different picture in Acts 1. Luke again references power through the Holy Spirit and a period of waiting in Jerusalem, but meaning comes into sharper focus in verse 6 when the disciples have the shocking audacity to ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?”
Jesus has invited them to “Stump the Savior” and this is the best they can come up with! You have to imagine Jesus putting his face in his palm!
In reality, Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for their sheer stupidity, but rather he pastorally corrects them. Perhaps you are thinking that I am being too hard on the disciples…let’s not miss the significance here: they have just witnessed the most amazing three year period in the history of humanity. Beginning with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, they have been present to see the dead brought back to life, they have heard the voice of God boom from on high, they have witnessed miraculous healings and feedings. More recently, Jesus has taken the form of a servant and washed their feet, explaining that Kingdom-of-God-power does not look like kingdoms-of-the-earth-power, that true power and true love is laying down one’s life for one’s friend, that it is body broken and blood poured out, love poured out, on the cross. And they have seen and heard and been present for all of this…and still they decide to ask if now is the time for the kingdom to be restored!
It’s like a 20-hour family road trip with littles. Of course, there are the obligatory “are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yets?” in the opening hour of the drive. After those initial “are we there yets?” once you’ve settled in and explained that you won’t be to your destination until tomorrow, there is always one final “are we there yet?” when they know full and well that you aren’t in fact there yet.
Insert eye roll and face palm.
That’s what the disciples have just done.
They have undone or ignored all of the work, all of the teaching from Jesus, because they are still conceiving of power from a right-handed or worldly perspective. They still think that Jesus has come to vanquish Rome, to get rid of the foreign occupation and oppression.
You *almost* have to admire their commitment to being that thick. Almost.
Thanks be to God that Jesus is gentle with them because they are us! We are the disciples, my friends. We are the ones who constantly mis-conceive and misconstrue earthly power for kingdom of God power; who consistently contrive ways for God to act according to our constraints and controls. We miss it but Jesus is always gracious, always merciful, always slow to anger and abounding in love.
But why does the Ascension matter??
Ahh, that is a frightfully delightful question. What it means and why it matters are two entirely different ideas. It matters because in both instances, in both Luke and Acts, the disciples are given a job to do…we are given a job to do. While Luke may have tweaked the focus on the lens of the ascension, as it were, one thing remains the same between both stories: you will be my witnesses.
This is neither a question nor an imperative/command. It is actually a statement of fact and as Rebecca has been heard to say many times before: facts do not require our approval. Jesus isn’t given the disciples an option here nor an invitation, rather he is simply telling them that which will be. They will be his witnesses. Witnesses to the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God. Witnesses to his baptism, to his teaching, to his healings, to his miracles, to his passion, to his kingdom.
The ascension matters because it means that the disciples are his witnesses and they are waiting in Jerusalem to be clothed with power from on high.
And in being Jesus’ witnesses, the disciples are shaken out of their heavenly-navel-gazing and celestial-rubber-necking and brought back down to earth to get on with the “good works God has given them to do.” We can tack the last verse of Luke 24 onto this passage and find out that the disciples go forward from that place, from the lonely hillside in Galilee, and they return to Jerusalem full of joy, teeming with expectation and anticipation, as they await the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the powerful presence, the one who is comforter, advocate, and guide.
And that’s where we come in. The ascension matters because you are his witnesses and you have been clothed with power from on high. Paul tells us in Ephesians that Christ wants to make known in our hearts the hope we have in him, the riches of our glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of his power…a power which has has bestowed upon us, a power with which we are endowed and endued. It is this very power by which we are able to pursue and accomplish those good works God has given us to do.
So, my dear friends, what are your intentions?
You have heard the greatness of the Lord Jesus proclaimed this evening in song, Scripture, and sermon. Soon you will taste and see it in sacrament, as well. But you have a decision to make: what do you intend to do about it? What are your intentions regarding the fact that Jesus is “reigning over the nations and sitting on his throne,” as Psalm 47 says?
Perhaps I can make a suggestion… 😉
If Christ is on the throne then his work truly is finished.
If Christ is on the throne then we have someone advocating and interceding on our behalf.
If Christ is on the throne then we can boldly approach the throne of grace.
If Christ is on the throne then we are given the Holy Spirit.
If Christ is on the throne then there isn’t a square inch of creation over which he isn’t crying, “Mine!”
If Christ is on the throne, then our only choice, our only response, is to “sing praises” from Psalm 47, be his witnesses from Luke 24 and Acts 1, and to let the power of the Holy Spirit flow in, through, and out of us.
If Christ is on the throne then the proper response, the intended response to the ascension is to worship, to wait, and to witness.
We worship the living God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Cosmic King of Creation. At his name every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is Lord in wonder, love, and praise.
We join the disciples in waiting with the hopeful expectation and anticipation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
We witness to a hungry, hurting, and searching world, a world which goes to space to find meaning, and the witness we give is simple: Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
Child of God, what are your intentions? Amen!
Porter C. Taylor 