Background
Today is Ascension Sunday, the final Sunday of Easter. Ascension means rising upwards.
The Easter story started on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross, but then he was buried and on the third day, Easter, he rose again, he was resurrected. Christ was alive! Everyone thought that he had died and they wouldn’t see him again on earth but Jesus was seen by his disciples and other people.
Some people didn’t recognise him at first but they knew that it was him through the words he spoke and by his actions. The disciples actually witnessed Jesus eating, drinking, walking and talking. He was truly alive.
Now, 40 days later, the disciples witness Christ’s Ascension to heaven. He is returning to God the Father.
I’ve brought something that marks Jesus’ ascension to heaven:
Can anyone guess why I have brought a heart balloon?
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, is so amazing that it is very hard to describe what or who God is but I think the closest word we will find to describe God is ‘love’. God is love and Jesus returns to God the Father in heaven on Ascension Sunday.
The story of the ascension is written in the bible to let the world know that Jesus’ life on earth had a definite closure, that he returned to the Father, but with the promise that one day, all in good time, he will come again.
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In our gospel reading Jesus is with his disciples – the time has almost come, darkness surrounds them, the atmosphere is tense, the mood somber – but he still has some final important lessons to tell his disciples before the journey to the cross.
Looking upwards to heaven, Jesus prays to his Father, to our Father, ‘the hour has come’. He speaks of glory but Jesus has no desire for personal gain, or status, or praise, all he desires is that what is about to happen will bring glory to God.
Jesus knows that his work on earth is done; he has taught his disciples all that God asked him to and they have followed him by obeying God’s word – they know who he is – that he is God’s Son, God himself.
In this prayer, Jesus reminds us that God has given him complete authority over all humanity so that all whom God gives him will receive ‘eternal life’ and Jesus prays for his disciples who are to remain there on earth after he has returned to God the Father as he is concerned for them. And he also prays that his disciples will be one, just as he is one with the Father. Jesus is praying for unity.
In our Acts reading, the disciples have just witnessed the ascension of Jesus to heaven. The definite closure of Jesus’ life on earth as he returns to the Father. They have been promised that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and so they wait prayerfully for the promised hour to arrive.
Both readings include the last words of Jesus to his disciples. His departing prayer for them before the cross and his departing words before the ascension. Both stress the importance of prayer, especially in the face of uncertainty and hostility, but there is also another theme and it is represented at the other end of the ribbon. The earth.
What do you think this earth represents?
This is representing the disciple’s work, our work, to be done here on earth.
Jesus has called the disciples ‘to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the world’. Jesus is ascending into heaven and is leaving the disciples here on earth and their worldly mission is to tell everyone about who Jesus is.
I love the part of the Acts reading when the angels are standing next to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension and they say “why do you stand looking up towards heaven?” What a fabulous image of the disciples staring up to sky, as Jesus ascends to heaven in the cloud. Staring up just like all of us were doing when the heart first floated up out of the box.
The angels are almost nudging them saying “why do you stand looking up towards heaven? Jesus will come again” There is almost a grounding to their feelings. The angels are drawing their eyes back down here onto earth.
Jesus has called them to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the world. So firstly, there is a calling of the disciples to return their focus to earth for here there was work to be done.
But secondly, Jesus never said it would be easy and in his prayer he pleads to God to keep them safe. Jesus prays for protection for his disciples because he is no longer in the world, but his disciples are in the world. And Jesus knows that the world will not receive the message he has entrusted to his disciples with open arms – he knows that they will suffer for Him.
‘Keep them safe’ Jesus pleads, for they have an ongoing task to do. They are to remain in the world for they have been commissioned with a God-given task to do, to spread the Good News of Christ. They are to bear witness to his life, to his death, to his resurrection – to the message that God in Christ brings love, forgiveness, healing, peace and hope to all humanity.
Jesus never said that being a Christian would be easy. Christians are to live by the standards of Jesus Christ and not the standards of the world which means that they, and we, stand out from the crowd. Goodness, kindness, selflessness, forgiveness, peace and harmony are values and actions which the world so often finds hard to fathom. We can be seen as different and the world often does not like those who are different.
‘Keep them safe’ he pleads. Jesus never said it would be easy.
But thirdly, whilst at times being a Christian may not be easy we have God’s protection and a promise that God equips all he calls to undertake his work.
From Jeremiah 29 we read ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’
And the promise that God equips all he calls to undertake his work. During the ascension Jesus said to his disciples ‘you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witness.’
Jesus was not leaving them or us to achieve anything on our own. In fact, the complete opposite. It is only when we let go and let the Holy Spirit work in and through us can God’s will on earth be fully revealed and achieved.
When God calls, he also equips. When God calls, he enables. God qualifies those he calls.
When God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses had trouble speaking, he stuttered, so God provided his brother Aaron to be the spokesman.
When God called David, he was initially a shepherd boy. Where others saw a shepherd boy, a ‘nobody’, God saw a mighty warrior and a king. David went on to defeat Goliath.
And what about those fishermen. That wonderful motley crew of the first disciples whom many of us can relate to with all their apparent shortcoming. Where would we be if they didn’t follow Jesus’ instructions on that Ascension Day ‘to be his witnesses, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
Jesus entrusted the disciples with the mission to tell all the world about who he was, the Son of God, God himself, and make disciples of all nations. If the disciples were not strengthened or equipped for their calling, we wouldn’t be worshiping here today some 2,000 later.
And there is even the promise that with his spirit in us we can do even greater works than Jesus. From John 14 ‘Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.’
So what are we waiting for?
God is entrusting us, like he did the original 12 disciples, with the disciples of tomorrow. That is an awesome responsibility if you think about it. God is entrusting us to mission to the disciples of tomorrow. We are his agents on this world. We are his voice, his representatives. God has no voice here on earth, other than by working through our mouths. God has no hands here on earth, other than through using our hands.
It is an awesome responsibility but we are not alone. When God calls us to do something, we need not fear – God will always provide the skills, ability, direction and resources we need to carry out His will. From Ephesians 2 ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’
The heart balloon represented Jesus’ ascension to heaven. The earth represented the disciple’s work, our work, to be done here on earth.
Jesus and the angels called the disciples to return their focus to earth for here there was work to be done. Jesus never said it would be easy for them and pleads to God in his prayer to keep them safe.
But God equips all he calls to undertake his work and with his spirit in us we can do even greater works than Jesus. So what are we waiting for? We, like the first disciples have a calling to fulfill. We are not to look heavenward but down into the reality of this earth to bring the Good News of Christ to all people. To reveal to everyone and everywhere, who he is and all that he accomplished. When God calls us. May our answer always be – “Here I am, send me!” Amen
Debbie Story 