Acts 1:1-11
May 17, 2015
One of the many questions I had
about church as a child concerned the weekly offering. Why did we have to give
money to the church? My parents would try to explain to me that we gave the
money to help Jesus. That actually confused me more, because the understanding
that I had of Jesus was that he lived in heaven and watched over us from there.
So the only thing I could figure was that after everyone left the church and it
was dark and quiet, Jesus came down from heaven, gathered up all the money from
the offering plates and took it back up with him to heaven. The picture I had
of Jesus was of a kindly looking man with a beard and blue eyes sitting with
his arms outstretched in welcome. So that’s what he looked like when I saw him
coming down from heaven – Jesus with arms outstretched. On his return trip to
the sky his arms were full of the money that was obviously needed in heaven.
First, this is a vivid example of
why you don’t use abstract concepts to explain things to children who think in
concrete terms. Second, without even realizing it, I had formed my own mental
picture of Jesus ascending into heaven. Mine was of Jesus doing this on a
weekly basis with his arms full of money, but still, it was ascension. This
past Thursday was actually Ascension Day. We don’t put much emphasis on this
day in our tradition and in this country, but I know that Christians in other
places and other traditions do. In some countries I believe Ascension Day is a
religious holiday. People get out of work and schools are closed. This is the
day that Jesus ascended into heaven, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
I doubt that Ascension Day will ever
take on that kind of importance in our culture, but that doesn’t take away from
the meaning of this moment in Jesus’ life on earth; his last moment on this
earth. At the YMCA bible study this past week, we had a discussion about the
literalness of this event. Was it like the prophet Elijah being carried up to
heaven on a fiery chariot? Did Jesus just vanish, and the cloud was a cover? If
it happened today, would Jesus have been picked up on radar or mistaken for a
UFO – or should I say a UFJ? As with other supernatural happenings in Jesus’
life, I don’t worry too much about how this actually took place. Whether Jesus
literally soared up into the clouds or was just no longer seen again, I think
the ascension has a deeper significance than its logistics.
In our Christian narrative, we seem
to stop with the resurrection. Jesus was brutally crucified. He was willing to
die for the truth he brought about God and God’s kingdom. But his resurrection
changed everything. And it did. But in the ascension we find completion. It is the
completion of Jesus’ life here on earth. But while Jesus’ tenure in the world has
come full circle, the ascension is the beginning for the disciples. Several
commentators refer to the ascension as the “passing of the baton.” Jesus’ earthly life is finished, but the work
isn’t. The gospel of good news about God’s love has to be told. Jesus brought
the kingdom of God into our midst, but we have a responsibility to broaden its
reign.
Jesus’ words to the disciples are
that they must “be my witnesses.” The
power and strength to do just that will come to them, as we will hear next
week. But Jesus’ command is clear. “Be my witnesses.” Just as in the stories of the resurrection,
when Jesus is no longer in in their sight, angels are. Two men, dressed in
white, appear to them. They ask one question, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand
looking up toward 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.”
The men’s question focuses on the
disciples looking up. But implied in their question – at least as I see it – is
a second one. Why aren’t you looking out? Why aren’t you looking out into the
world God created? Why aren’t you looking out at the people who are living in
darkness? Why aren’t you looking out at the ones who are living in poverty and
sorrow and hopelessness? Why aren’t you looking out?
It seems to me that one of the
greatest challenges we face as Christians is to remember to look out. It’s much
easier, and often much nicer, to look up. If we’re looking up toward the
heavens, we’re looking only at God. If we’re looking up, we can focus solely on
when Jesus will return the same way he left. If we’re looking up, we don’t have
to see the broken world around us. If we’re only looking up, then it’s just
about God and us, God and me. Jesus died for my sins. He rose again for my
sins. Let’s look up, shall we?
But in the ascension, Jesus tells
the disciples – and us – to “be my witnesses.” The only way we can truly be his
witnesses is to look out. But it can’t just stop with the looking, we have to
go out. When the disciples receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that is exactly
what they do. They go out. They heed Jesus’ words to be witnesses. They know
that they are sent, and they take that sending seriously.
If you take a look at the last page
of our bulletin, that send word is pretty easy to spot. It’s the last section
of our worship service. We gather. We hear the word. We respond. We are sent.
When I teach the structure of worship to youth or to adults, I always explain
that the Word – the reading of the Word, the hearing of the Word – is the
central point and focus of our worship. Our gathering points us toward the
Word. The Word calls for our response. The Word sends us out. Here’s the thing,
by the time we actually get to the sending, I feel like we’re losing steam. Let
me rephrase that. I feel like I am losing steam. It’s not that I don’t love all
the moments that we have in worship, I do. Yet, I have to be honest and say
that I breathe a sigh of relief that I’ve made it through another sermon. So
much of my focus goes to the sermon that the sending can be an afterthought.
However the sending is as important and crucial as all of the other pieces of
our worship. If we don’t take the sending seriously, then I think we’re just
spending the majority of our time looking up, forgetting that we are also
supposed to be looking out. It seems to me that Christians often divide
themselves into two theological camps. There are those who focus more
exclusively on the looking up, the personal relationship with Jesus, the
devotion and worship of God. And there are those who see only the social
justice side. But to me it is a both/and. Our worship together is the most
important thing we do together. It is the heartbeat of our life together.
Worship provides the foundation and the framework for everything else we do. We
need time to look up. But being sent is also the most important thing we do
together. We are sent to be witnesses. We are sent to strengthen the weak, feed
the hungry, and be advocates for the oppressed. We are sent because we are called
to look up and to look out. The baton has been passed from Jesus to the
disciples, from the disciples to the early church, from the early church to
each generation of believers that follow. The baton has been passed to us.
A seminary friend of mine posts a
cartoon on a regular basis called, “Coffee with Jesus.” It features different
people drinking coffee and chatting with Jesus. Sometimes the people espouse
questionable views of what they think being Christian is all about. Sometimes
the folks ask questions. The one I saw most recently was a young man asking
Jesus a question. His question was, “Why do you let so many bad things happen
in the world? Why do you let people starve and suffer and live in terrible
conditions?” Jesus responded, “That’s funny. I was about to ask you the same
question.”
Jesus has passed the baton to us. We
are called and we are sent to be witnesses. Why are we still looking up?
Let all of God’s children say,
“Alleluia!” Amen.
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