Coronation day
Commentary
A successful businessman had built up his corporation from a whim and a dream to a
global economic powerhouse. His story was the American dream, and he liked telling it.
By the time he reached his mid-fifties, he had become an internationally best-selling
author and a hot ticket on the speakers' circuit. Traveling was almost more home to him
than his post office address, and awards were tossed his direction from organizations he
had never heard about.
A few folks had marked the journey with him, including his trusted administrative assistant. Originally, he had hired her as a "secretary," but now he grew in stature and political correctness, and carried her along as a constant help and indispensable support. She knew him so well, in fact, that not only did she log his calendar and make his travel arrangements, but she even prepared his speeches, for she had heard so often the things that he said people wanted to hear from him.
One afternoon as he breezed through his office again, in between yesterday in Tulsa and tomorrow in Tampa, he grabbed the sheaf of papers she had neatly stacked on his desk, took the files and the tickets, stuffed everything into his briefcase, and tossed her a tiny nod as he rushed off to the airport. The next morning he walked up to the podium at a large convention center amid anticipatory applause, and opened the file marked "Tampa Speech." Quickly, he gave a brilliant introduction that got the crowd laughing and hanging onto his every word. He was good and he knew it.
At the bottom of the page came the transitional line, "and now we shall discuss these things further under seven separate headings." But when he flipped to page two, only five words were printed boldly on an otherwise blank sheet: "YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW!" In that moment he realized how much he had taken his administrative assistant for granted, and just how much he had underpaid her.
While the circumstances were very different for the first disciples of Jesus, their reaction to his ascension must have stirred the same feelings. After three years of growing confidence crowned by the incredible powerplay of Easter resurrection, they were riding Jesus' coattails to glory. The worst was behind, the future was bright, and the "kingdom" was about to spangle and sparkle (Acts 1:6). Then, in an instant, he was gone from them. In stunned silence, all they could think about was the gnawing void of his absence. Around them a world taunted their feeble hearts and quivering knees: "YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW!"
Whatever our take on Ascension Day, this must at least enter our psychological purview. Jesus, the Master of our worldview, the Captain of our salvation, the Lord of our existence, has decided to leave us on our own, without his constant visible presence. Is it foolhardy? Is it a challenge? Is it overstretched confidence? Whatever it is, today we need to explore that, and all that goes with it.
Acts 1:1-11
There are enough clues in Luke's writings to help us find his "game plan." There is, first of all, the introductory note that forces us to take his gospel and this treatise as a two- volume work. Thus we must understand that Luke is writing to a non-Jewish audience about things neither he nor they experienced firsthand (until Acts 16) which he believes are vital to their outlook on life. Furthermore, Luke passes along to us his sense of the reliability of his testimony, for he insists that he has gone to the sources (see Luke 1:1-4) and dug deeper than just relying on other published accounts of Jesus' life and the subsequent events that shaped the Christian church. Finally, Luke makes it clear that he is addressing these matters to "Theophilus," who might either be a named person or a generalized recipient, since the appellation means "God's friend." Curiously, in his earlier introduction at the opening of the gospel, Theophilus is called "most excellent," a formal address often reserved for government officials (see Acts 24:3; 26:25). All of this gives us certainty that Luke is very intentional about this writing, and that he presents it with confidence as a sourcebook to ground the Christian faith of non-Jewish converts.
Second, Luke deliberately ties the record of the early church to the tales of the gospel. We call this book "The Acts of the Apostles," but that is only a publication convenience. In Luke's mind it is absolutely clear that Jesus continues to act. First, he did so through his bodily form in the incarnation and ministry recounted in the gospel. Now, however, it is the work of Jesus that continues through the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. These next pages will not describe the "Acts of the Apostles," for Luke as much as they will summarize the continuing "Acts of Jesus."
Third, using Jesus' own words, Luke declares the literary outline of the tale to come. In Acts 1:8 Jesus describes what will follow: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." This becomes, for Luke, the operative shaping tool to delineate the story. The gospel penetrates Jerusalem (1-7), then Judea and Samaria (8- 12), and finally processes in ever-widening circles to the ends of the earth (13-28).
Fourth, Luke makes clear the mutual honoring of the moment of Jesus' departure. Jesus goes upward, a symbol of ascendancy to a higher position of authority and prominence. Furthermore, Jesus' transition from this frame of reality to another world is gated by way of the celestial cloud that both hearkens back to divine glory-cloud appearances in the past and separates heaven from earth. At the same time, Jesus' parting words are a royal blessing that instructs and equips. Those who remain are under orders, empowered by divine indwelling, and therefore their work and ministry will not fail. They do not represent themselves, but they are the ambassadors of the great king.
Finally, angelic messengers declare that Jesus is truly gone, and that with absolute certainty he will return. This immediately colors the ministry of the disciples and the character of the church with urgency. All of life now revolves around Jesus' mission. That mission has been commuted to the disciples and the church. The mission is global in size and transformation in character. And now it is also time-limited. Jesus left; Jesus will come again. So get to work. From now on all you do will be shaped by a clear and all- encompassing eschatology.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Paul's letter to the Ephesians is alive with power, prayer, and purpose. If Galatians is energized by passions of anger over the wayward failings of some in the community, Ephesians is energized by a transcendent vision. Jesus is alive. Jesus is powerful. Jesus is the ascended king over all principalities and power. Jesus is the mediator between divergent social groups. Jesus is Lord of the church. Jesus is head of the body. Paul can hardly heap up enough transcendent metaphors about Jesus.
It is likely that this letter was not originally intended for just one congregation, and that only enhances its impact. Rather than being burdened with specific troublesome issues (like Corinthians, Galatians, and Colossians) or intimately connected to particular persons (as is true with Timothy, Titus, and Philemon), it seems that Paul wrote this letter to be widely circulated in western Asia Minor as a general treatise of encouragement. We know, for instance, that the introductory words "in Ephesus" (1:1) were not originally in the document. Also, Paul makes no personal or contextually localized references within the letter that would tie it to a particular group of people or ground it in a specific occasion, other than linking through the letter-carrier Tychicus (6:21) this missal with those of Colossians and Philemon. Finally, there is the cryptic reference to a letter sent to the Laodiceans in Colossians 4:16 that has made many think it might be a reference to this letter, and that it is only called "Ephesians" because the church in Ephesus eventually became most prominent among the congregations in the region and thus likely became the collector and repository for letters like these.
In any case, Ephesians has a general letter feel about it. The issues it addresses are common to all Christians, and there is a great balance between philosophic theological cosmogony (who is Jesus -- what is his ongoing role in the world and in the church -- how are heaven and earth related) and practical ethical instruction. The former, for Paul, clearly drives the latter, and that is the significance of today's reading. It is precisely because Jesus is risen (overcoming death) and ascended (located in a position of global perspective and unmitigated authority) that he has the strength and power and influence to shape life on earth.
For Paul, the ascension of Jesus was the final step in his comprehensive work. The full cycle is briefly told in the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11, but here it is clear that Paul viewed the ascension as the triumphal coronation that naturally followed from Jesus' resurrection. The first person of the Trinity declared Jesus' work a success, and transferred to him the fullness of divine rule. Any activity on earth that wishes to have value or succeed must therefore align itself with the power and glory of the risen and ascended Christ.
The theological perspectives that leap from Paul are very similar to those emerging from the pen of Luke. This is a likely consequence of Luke's conversion under the ministry of Paul, and his constant companionship with Paul through subsequent years. Nevertheless, it ought to be noted that just as for Luke, Paul understands the church to be the ongoing earthly existence and visible expression of Jesus. Jesus' personal bodily experience lasted a few brief years (as related by the gospels), but his never-ending personal ministry continues through the church. It is precisely because Jesus is the ascended king that he can spiritually infuse the entire church with his presence. Thus, what happens in and through the church must be considered the work of Jesus. Also, those who identify themselves as part of the church must live in ways that reflect this identity. In this short prayerful passage, Paul wraps these tightly together.
Luke 24:44-53
This short conclusion to the gospel of Luke is actually the brief anticipation of the story that Luke will relate in Acts. The ideas here closely parallel Acts 1:1-11 -- there is a close tie between the "kingdom" as understood in Old Testament times and this new but ongoing kingdom work of Jesus. The newness of the current age hinges on the pivot of Jesus' coming and presence in the world; the defining testimony that assures the authority of Jesus' ministry is his unwarranted death and unique resurrection. This message is entrusted to the disciples of Jesus who become the church; the church exists as a missionary agency, spreading the healing serum of forgiveness throughout the entire world guided by a divinely initiated territorial plan. This mission will only commence at the appropriate moment, when divine power clearly descends from heaven; furthermore, it will progress out of the city of Jerusalem, so one ought not to expect spots of it to arise elsewhere or to fly other flags; the mission is declared as a divine commissioning at the exact moment of Jesus' own coronation.
One of the interesting features of Luke's gospel is that it is very worship focused. The story of Jesus begins in the temple with the tale of the priest, Zechariah, receiving a divine revelation, and it ends with the disciples, who have just received a divine revelation and commissioning, going back to the temple to worship and praise God.
In both the opening chapter of Acts and also here, Luke makes it clear that those who spent time with Jesus just before his departure were certain that Jesus described his work as a continuation of what God had already been doing through the nation of Israel. All of the scriptures that were honored as the word of God by the Jews were pointers and predictors of Jesus' life and ministry. So it is that whatever the mission and the ministry of the disciples was about, it should not be separated from the previous mission and ministry of the nation of Israel. The only difference between the two would be the direction of the thrust. Whereas, in Old Testament times Israel was planted on the few acres of real estate at the center of the political systems of its time in order that all might pass by or come through and see what God was doing, the New Testament church would be flung back into the international mix. For the former expression of God's care and love people had to be drawn centripetally to the land of Palestine; in this new age the great centrifugal force of the Holy Spirit would disperse the message throughout the nations in ever-widening circles of influence. Nevertheless, the message of God's grace remained the same. The only nuance of difference was the personalizing of God's favor in Jesus. Thus, the temple, the house of God, serves well as a rallying point both at the beginning and at the end of the gospel.
Application
Too often, in our myopic and self-interested religious culture, the ascension of Jesus is ignored. It doesn't impact us in the way that the rest of the Jesus stories seem to. We all stand in wonder of the incarnational gift at Bethlehem. We all enjoy the fresh and punchy teachings of the great rabbi. We are all shaken in silent horror by the nasty tragedy of Jesus' insider betrayal, corrupt trial, public mocking, and excruciating death. We are all thrilled by the power of the resurrection on Sunday morning, and we get excited when the Holy Spirit breathes with energy through the crowds on Pentecost Sunday.
But the Ascension of our Lord is tucked away in between, and generates little fanfare in our world. More than any other lingering image we are left with the dopey, dumbstruck faces of incoherent disciples suddenly bereft after riding the wave of Jesus' power.
Perhaps we need to enter the vantage point of heaven on a day like today and consider what Jesus' ascension meant from other points of view. First, for the angels of glory, it was welcome home time. The second person of the Trinity had long cavorted with the angelic hosts whose spiritual eyes and senses were attuned to a supernatural world. While Jesus was on earth a few ministering spirits crossed the gossamer veil that separated the realms and brought comfort and strength to him, but by and large he was as blind to the creatures of heaven as are the rest of us. On Ascension Day, the angels must have welcomed Jesus back home with bands and dances and royal processions.
Second, in the ascension something very new was added to heaven. It was the second person of the Trinity who left glory in order to become earthbound for a unique redemptive work; but it was the incarnated God-man Jesus that returned. The Son of God is eternal, but the person Jesus was born in time. Yet, the two became inseparable. So it is that when Jesus ascended back to heaven, human flesh and blood for the first time began to occupy space and presence in the realm of the divinity and angels in a way that had never before happened. This is why the apostle Peter would later write that the ascended risen Jesus brought into the incorruption of heaven our human flesh as a guarantee and a security deposit for our own bodily resurrections. Something very new happened on the day of ascension.
Third, as Paul notes, the Ascension of our Lord is a coronation day. While we see merely the fleeting departure of one we had grown, through the disciples, to love, what happened after the cloud received him out of our sight was striking and exhilarating. J.R.R. Tolkien, in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, gives depth to this celebration in the final installment, The Return of the King. Though he pictures it in earthly terms, he has captured the essence of the coronation that awaited king Jesus when the final battle with death was accomplished.
Fourth, Jesus ties his ascension directly to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There is a clear theological implication that you can have either the individual personal flesh and blood Jesus or the widely dispersing and energizing mystical Holy Spirit, but you can't have them both at the same time. In order for the love and ministry of Jesus to become broadly available it was necessary that the individualized human flesh of Jesus leave so that the greatly disseminated spiritual presence of Jesus by way of the Holy Spirit could emerge.
Alternative Application
Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11. A combination of the readings from Luke's gospel and his second volume (the book of Acts) may be a strong basis for a single homily. The ideas in the two readings are clearly parallel, as noted above. The gospel reading, however, emphasizes continuity between Jesus' ministry and that of the nation of Israel during the centuries past, while the Acts' reading shouts of eschatological anticipations as Jesus' disciples live under orders in the temporary setting of his brief disappearance. It might be profitable to make a hinged sermon in which one part seeks to ground the message of Jesus in the kingdom theology of the Old Testament while the second part pushes with all of the moral energy of eschatological expectations.
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 47
Psalm 47 conjures memories of long ago rock concerts where throngs of jubilant young people roared their delight in music that reached for a new day of understanding, peace, and gentleness. Fond as those recollections may be, they are but a starting point for the celebration entered into in this psalm. This is a total declaration of praise. It is a dance of sparkling clarity that claims God's power over all other powers. Clapping hands, shouting voices, and blaring trumpets may move the blood and excite the passions, but they are nothing compared to the wonders of this God!
This God gave us the dirt under our feet! This God gave us the gift of our heritage; our connectedness through the generations! This God rules over the nations! The greatness of this Creator King beggars our ability to describe or define. All that is left is the ecstasy of a holy noise. Stomp the feet, clap the hands, dance in celebration, and let trumpets blast the high note. It is an unrestrained improvisation of joy! Let the dance begin!
If such an outbreak of praise were to happen in a church today, what would it look like? What would it sound like? What would it feel like? And more to the point, where would it lead? If the declaration of praise and worship were so complete that there was not confusion, what might happen among God's people? What kinds of faithfulness might erupt from such a celebration?
If the church could claim the sovereignty of God with overwhelming power, what mighty things might happen? As the church looks into the clouds on this Ascension Day, what is it that God is calling for on the ground?
Stop for just a moment. Breathe deeply. Release the constraints of the so-called "real world." Look deep inside and find that new rhythm of praise. Bring the hands together. Tap the feet and give your body over to the music of God's transforming power. Our God reigns! There is nothing that cannot be done! The lame can walk! The deaf can hear! The oppressed shall be liberated, and the poor shall receive their due. This is God's time. This is God's world. And we, thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ, are God's people!
May the prayers from our hearts call us to faithfulness. And may this faithfulness lead us where God would have us go.
A few folks had marked the journey with him, including his trusted administrative assistant. Originally, he had hired her as a "secretary," but now he grew in stature and political correctness, and carried her along as a constant help and indispensable support. She knew him so well, in fact, that not only did she log his calendar and make his travel arrangements, but she even prepared his speeches, for she had heard so often the things that he said people wanted to hear from him.
One afternoon as he breezed through his office again, in between yesterday in Tulsa and tomorrow in Tampa, he grabbed the sheaf of papers she had neatly stacked on his desk, took the files and the tickets, stuffed everything into his briefcase, and tossed her a tiny nod as he rushed off to the airport. The next morning he walked up to the podium at a large convention center amid anticipatory applause, and opened the file marked "Tampa Speech." Quickly, he gave a brilliant introduction that got the crowd laughing and hanging onto his every word. He was good and he knew it.
At the bottom of the page came the transitional line, "and now we shall discuss these things further under seven separate headings." But when he flipped to page two, only five words were printed boldly on an otherwise blank sheet: "YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW!" In that moment he realized how much he had taken his administrative assistant for granted, and just how much he had underpaid her.
While the circumstances were very different for the first disciples of Jesus, their reaction to his ascension must have stirred the same feelings. After three years of growing confidence crowned by the incredible powerplay of Easter resurrection, they were riding Jesus' coattails to glory. The worst was behind, the future was bright, and the "kingdom" was about to spangle and sparkle (Acts 1:6). Then, in an instant, he was gone from them. In stunned silence, all they could think about was the gnawing void of his absence. Around them a world taunted their feeble hearts and quivering knees: "YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN NOW!"
Whatever our take on Ascension Day, this must at least enter our psychological purview. Jesus, the Master of our worldview, the Captain of our salvation, the Lord of our existence, has decided to leave us on our own, without his constant visible presence. Is it foolhardy? Is it a challenge? Is it overstretched confidence? Whatever it is, today we need to explore that, and all that goes with it.
Acts 1:1-11
There are enough clues in Luke's writings to help us find his "game plan." There is, first of all, the introductory note that forces us to take his gospel and this treatise as a two- volume work. Thus we must understand that Luke is writing to a non-Jewish audience about things neither he nor they experienced firsthand (until Acts 16) which he believes are vital to their outlook on life. Furthermore, Luke passes along to us his sense of the reliability of his testimony, for he insists that he has gone to the sources (see Luke 1:1-4) and dug deeper than just relying on other published accounts of Jesus' life and the subsequent events that shaped the Christian church. Finally, Luke makes it clear that he is addressing these matters to "Theophilus," who might either be a named person or a generalized recipient, since the appellation means "God's friend." Curiously, in his earlier introduction at the opening of the gospel, Theophilus is called "most excellent," a formal address often reserved for government officials (see Acts 24:3; 26:25). All of this gives us certainty that Luke is very intentional about this writing, and that he presents it with confidence as a sourcebook to ground the Christian faith of non-Jewish converts.
Second, Luke deliberately ties the record of the early church to the tales of the gospel. We call this book "The Acts of the Apostles," but that is only a publication convenience. In Luke's mind it is absolutely clear that Jesus continues to act. First, he did so through his bodily form in the incarnation and ministry recounted in the gospel. Now, however, it is the work of Jesus that continues through the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. These next pages will not describe the "Acts of the Apostles," for Luke as much as they will summarize the continuing "Acts of Jesus."
Third, using Jesus' own words, Luke declares the literary outline of the tale to come. In Acts 1:8 Jesus describes what will follow: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." This becomes, for Luke, the operative shaping tool to delineate the story. The gospel penetrates Jerusalem (1-7), then Judea and Samaria (8- 12), and finally processes in ever-widening circles to the ends of the earth (13-28).
Fourth, Luke makes clear the mutual honoring of the moment of Jesus' departure. Jesus goes upward, a symbol of ascendancy to a higher position of authority and prominence. Furthermore, Jesus' transition from this frame of reality to another world is gated by way of the celestial cloud that both hearkens back to divine glory-cloud appearances in the past and separates heaven from earth. At the same time, Jesus' parting words are a royal blessing that instructs and equips. Those who remain are under orders, empowered by divine indwelling, and therefore their work and ministry will not fail. They do not represent themselves, but they are the ambassadors of the great king.
Finally, angelic messengers declare that Jesus is truly gone, and that with absolute certainty he will return. This immediately colors the ministry of the disciples and the character of the church with urgency. All of life now revolves around Jesus' mission. That mission has been commuted to the disciples and the church. The mission is global in size and transformation in character. And now it is also time-limited. Jesus left; Jesus will come again. So get to work. From now on all you do will be shaped by a clear and all- encompassing eschatology.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Paul's letter to the Ephesians is alive with power, prayer, and purpose. If Galatians is energized by passions of anger over the wayward failings of some in the community, Ephesians is energized by a transcendent vision. Jesus is alive. Jesus is powerful. Jesus is the ascended king over all principalities and power. Jesus is the mediator between divergent social groups. Jesus is Lord of the church. Jesus is head of the body. Paul can hardly heap up enough transcendent metaphors about Jesus.
It is likely that this letter was not originally intended for just one congregation, and that only enhances its impact. Rather than being burdened with specific troublesome issues (like Corinthians, Galatians, and Colossians) or intimately connected to particular persons (as is true with Timothy, Titus, and Philemon), it seems that Paul wrote this letter to be widely circulated in western Asia Minor as a general treatise of encouragement. We know, for instance, that the introductory words "in Ephesus" (1:1) were not originally in the document. Also, Paul makes no personal or contextually localized references within the letter that would tie it to a particular group of people or ground it in a specific occasion, other than linking through the letter-carrier Tychicus (6:21) this missal with those of Colossians and Philemon. Finally, there is the cryptic reference to a letter sent to the Laodiceans in Colossians 4:16 that has made many think it might be a reference to this letter, and that it is only called "Ephesians" because the church in Ephesus eventually became most prominent among the congregations in the region and thus likely became the collector and repository for letters like these.
In any case, Ephesians has a general letter feel about it. The issues it addresses are common to all Christians, and there is a great balance between philosophic theological cosmogony (who is Jesus -- what is his ongoing role in the world and in the church -- how are heaven and earth related) and practical ethical instruction. The former, for Paul, clearly drives the latter, and that is the significance of today's reading. It is precisely because Jesus is risen (overcoming death) and ascended (located in a position of global perspective and unmitigated authority) that he has the strength and power and influence to shape life on earth.
For Paul, the ascension of Jesus was the final step in his comprehensive work. The full cycle is briefly told in the hymn of Philippians 2:6-11, but here it is clear that Paul viewed the ascension as the triumphal coronation that naturally followed from Jesus' resurrection. The first person of the Trinity declared Jesus' work a success, and transferred to him the fullness of divine rule. Any activity on earth that wishes to have value or succeed must therefore align itself with the power and glory of the risen and ascended Christ.
The theological perspectives that leap from Paul are very similar to those emerging from the pen of Luke. This is a likely consequence of Luke's conversion under the ministry of Paul, and his constant companionship with Paul through subsequent years. Nevertheless, it ought to be noted that just as for Luke, Paul understands the church to be the ongoing earthly existence and visible expression of Jesus. Jesus' personal bodily experience lasted a few brief years (as related by the gospels), but his never-ending personal ministry continues through the church. It is precisely because Jesus is the ascended king that he can spiritually infuse the entire church with his presence. Thus, what happens in and through the church must be considered the work of Jesus. Also, those who identify themselves as part of the church must live in ways that reflect this identity. In this short prayerful passage, Paul wraps these tightly together.
Luke 24:44-53
This short conclusion to the gospel of Luke is actually the brief anticipation of the story that Luke will relate in Acts. The ideas here closely parallel Acts 1:1-11 -- there is a close tie between the "kingdom" as understood in Old Testament times and this new but ongoing kingdom work of Jesus. The newness of the current age hinges on the pivot of Jesus' coming and presence in the world; the defining testimony that assures the authority of Jesus' ministry is his unwarranted death and unique resurrection. This message is entrusted to the disciples of Jesus who become the church; the church exists as a missionary agency, spreading the healing serum of forgiveness throughout the entire world guided by a divinely initiated territorial plan. This mission will only commence at the appropriate moment, when divine power clearly descends from heaven; furthermore, it will progress out of the city of Jerusalem, so one ought not to expect spots of it to arise elsewhere or to fly other flags; the mission is declared as a divine commissioning at the exact moment of Jesus' own coronation.
One of the interesting features of Luke's gospel is that it is very worship focused. The story of Jesus begins in the temple with the tale of the priest, Zechariah, receiving a divine revelation, and it ends with the disciples, who have just received a divine revelation and commissioning, going back to the temple to worship and praise God.
In both the opening chapter of Acts and also here, Luke makes it clear that those who spent time with Jesus just before his departure were certain that Jesus described his work as a continuation of what God had already been doing through the nation of Israel. All of the scriptures that were honored as the word of God by the Jews were pointers and predictors of Jesus' life and ministry. So it is that whatever the mission and the ministry of the disciples was about, it should not be separated from the previous mission and ministry of the nation of Israel. The only difference between the two would be the direction of the thrust. Whereas, in Old Testament times Israel was planted on the few acres of real estate at the center of the political systems of its time in order that all might pass by or come through and see what God was doing, the New Testament church would be flung back into the international mix. For the former expression of God's care and love people had to be drawn centripetally to the land of Palestine; in this new age the great centrifugal force of the Holy Spirit would disperse the message throughout the nations in ever-widening circles of influence. Nevertheless, the message of God's grace remained the same. The only nuance of difference was the personalizing of God's favor in Jesus. Thus, the temple, the house of God, serves well as a rallying point both at the beginning and at the end of the gospel.
Application
Too often, in our myopic and self-interested religious culture, the ascension of Jesus is ignored. It doesn't impact us in the way that the rest of the Jesus stories seem to. We all stand in wonder of the incarnational gift at Bethlehem. We all enjoy the fresh and punchy teachings of the great rabbi. We are all shaken in silent horror by the nasty tragedy of Jesus' insider betrayal, corrupt trial, public mocking, and excruciating death. We are all thrilled by the power of the resurrection on Sunday morning, and we get excited when the Holy Spirit breathes with energy through the crowds on Pentecost Sunday.
But the Ascension of our Lord is tucked away in between, and generates little fanfare in our world. More than any other lingering image we are left with the dopey, dumbstruck faces of incoherent disciples suddenly bereft after riding the wave of Jesus' power.
Perhaps we need to enter the vantage point of heaven on a day like today and consider what Jesus' ascension meant from other points of view. First, for the angels of glory, it was welcome home time. The second person of the Trinity had long cavorted with the angelic hosts whose spiritual eyes and senses were attuned to a supernatural world. While Jesus was on earth a few ministering spirits crossed the gossamer veil that separated the realms and brought comfort and strength to him, but by and large he was as blind to the creatures of heaven as are the rest of us. On Ascension Day, the angels must have welcomed Jesus back home with bands and dances and royal processions.
Second, in the ascension something very new was added to heaven. It was the second person of the Trinity who left glory in order to become earthbound for a unique redemptive work; but it was the incarnated God-man Jesus that returned. The Son of God is eternal, but the person Jesus was born in time. Yet, the two became inseparable. So it is that when Jesus ascended back to heaven, human flesh and blood for the first time began to occupy space and presence in the realm of the divinity and angels in a way that had never before happened. This is why the apostle Peter would later write that the ascended risen Jesus brought into the incorruption of heaven our human flesh as a guarantee and a security deposit for our own bodily resurrections. Something very new happened on the day of ascension.
Third, as Paul notes, the Ascension of our Lord is a coronation day. While we see merely the fleeting departure of one we had grown, through the disciples, to love, what happened after the cloud received him out of our sight was striking and exhilarating. J.R.R. Tolkien, in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, gives depth to this celebration in the final installment, The Return of the King. Though he pictures it in earthly terms, he has captured the essence of the coronation that awaited king Jesus when the final battle with death was accomplished.
Fourth, Jesus ties his ascension directly to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There is a clear theological implication that you can have either the individual personal flesh and blood Jesus or the widely dispersing and energizing mystical Holy Spirit, but you can't have them both at the same time. In order for the love and ministry of Jesus to become broadly available it was necessary that the individualized human flesh of Jesus leave so that the greatly disseminated spiritual presence of Jesus by way of the Holy Spirit could emerge.
Alternative Application
Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11. A combination of the readings from Luke's gospel and his second volume (the book of Acts) may be a strong basis for a single homily. The ideas in the two readings are clearly parallel, as noted above. The gospel reading, however, emphasizes continuity between Jesus' ministry and that of the nation of Israel during the centuries past, while the Acts' reading shouts of eschatological anticipations as Jesus' disciples live under orders in the temporary setting of his brief disappearance. It might be profitable to make a hinged sermon in which one part seeks to ground the message of Jesus in the kingdom theology of the Old Testament while the second part pushes with all of the moral energy of eschatological expectations.
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 47
Psalm 47 conjures memories of long ago rock concerts where throngs of jubilant young people roared their delight in music that reached for a new day of understanding, peace, and gentleness. Fond as those recollections may be, they are but a starting point for the celebration entered into in this psalm. This is a total declaration of praise. It is a dance of sparkling clarity that claims God's power over all other powers. Clapping hands, shouting voices, and blaring trumpets may move the blood and excite the passions, but they are nothing compared to the wonders of this God!
This God gave us the dirt under our feet! This God gave us the gift of our heritage; our connectedness through the generations! This God rules over the nations! The greatness of this Creator King beggars our ability to describe or define. All that is left is the ecstasy of a holy noise. Stomp the feet, clap the hands, dance in celebration, and let trumpets blast the high note. It is an unrestrained improvisation of joy! Let the dance begin!
If such an outbreak of praise were to happen in a church today, what would it look like? What would it sound like? What would it feel like? And more to the point, where would it lead? If the declaration of praise and worship were so complete that there was not confusion, what might happen among God's people? What kinds of faithfulness might erupt from such a celebration?
If the church could claim the sovereignty of God with overwhelming power, what mighty things might happen? As the church looks into the clouds on this Ascension Day, what is it that God is calling for on the ground?
Stop for just a moment. Breathe deeply. Release the constraints of the so-called "real world." Look deep inside and find that new rhythm of praise. Bring the hands together. Tap the feet and give your body over to the music of God's transforming power. Our God reigns! There is nothing that cannot be done! The lame can walk! The deaf can hear! The oppressed shall be liberated, and the poor shall receive their due. This is God's time. This is God's world. And we, thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ, are God's people!
May the prayers from our hearts call us to faithfulness. And may this faithfulness lead us where God would have us go.
