The end of the beginning
Commentary
Although the first lesson for several Sundays has come from the Acts of the Apostles, this day -- Ascension Sunday -- gives one a unique opportunity to put this book of the New Testament into perspective since the reading is from the opening verses of the first chapter. If there is any book in the New Testament that can serve as a paradigm for what the church should be in any age, it is this one. While the Gospels are important for understanding the mind and the mission of Christ, and while the letters of the New Testament gives us a glimpse into particular churches, the Acts of the Apostles gives us the broader picture of who we are to be and what we are to be.
In answer to the first question -- Who should we be? -- Acts 1 makes it clear that we are to be people of the Spirit. After sharing with Theophilus a very brief review of what had happened to Jesus during the interim following his resurrection, Luke is anxious to get on with his story of how the church was born. Though his writing came to be called "The Acts of the Apostles," Luke wants it known from the outset that the story of what they did makes no sense unless one begins with an accounting of what God did to make it all possible. His is not an account of what the apostles did, but what the Spirit did through them.
1:8 is thus the key to the entire book. Here is the outline for what will unfold in the chapters that follow: The witness in Jerusalem and Judea, chapters 1-7; the work in Samaria, chapters 8-9; the expansion of the mission to the known world, chapters 10-28. The question raised in verse 7 is closely linked to the promise of the Spirit in verse 8. Speculation was running high that the return of Christ might be immediate. The call to witness to the "ends of the earth" means that the church is being reminded that it has much work to do before that day will come.
Since the observance of the actual day of the Ascension of the Lord is muted in the church -- especially in the West -- it is important to use this Sunday to remind our hearers of the importance of this day in the calendar of the year.
Ephesians 1:15-23
If the Ascension of the Lord seems to us like a minor blip on the scene of the church year, this text should change our minds! The ascension marks that moment when Christ was "seated at (God's) right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named...." If you read this lesson in the original Greek you will note that it is all one sentence. You can not read it in a single breath! But this illustrates an important point: namely, that the entire section hangs together as one piece. It begins with a very intimate expression of the writer's love for the believers in Ephesus, followed by the testimony to the divinity of Christ which we have just noted, but coming to its point in the words about the nature of the church as a body in which Christ "has been made the head over all things...."
Believers are characterized as persons of "faith," and love," the distinguishing marks of Christians. Faith is specific -- faith "in the Lord Jesus." Those of Gentile background had come out of no religion or religions alien to the Gospel. There is no room for compromise. Whatever value there may have been in their previous experience, they have been ushered into a radical new way of life. Conrad J. Bergendoff, now well past his one hundredth year, wrote in his book I Believe in the Church of the importance of this commitment in local congregations: ". the most important work of the church today is the enthroning of Christ in the unity of the parish church. If there is to be a regeneration of American communities, be it in the metropolis or in the highway crossroads village, it must come from the small unit of a Christian congregation whose members have Christ as King in their lives."
This faith will lead to "love of the saints" and to intercession for one another. While the rest of the world is surely not to be forgotten, it is often the case in the New Testament that believers are urged to begin their works of love within the community of believers. That makes sense. If we cannot love those closest to us, including our family, what point is there in trying to love those who are out of sight and whom we do not know?
The ultimate power of our lives is that we might know Christ and "the hope to which he has called you." And who is this Christ in whom we are to put all trust? The marks of his Lordship that are piled up in verses 20-23 almost take one's breath away! The One who has been raised from the dead has authority (seated at the right hand of God), power, dominion and a "name." What's in a name? Everything. Jesus, the Son of Man. Christ, the Son of God. Immanuel, God with us. Good Shepherd. Door. Vine. Bread of Life. Savior of the world.
An unknown author captured the power of the name:
Name of Jesus, softly stealingO'er a world of strife and shame,Thou canst bring us heavenly healing,O Thou all-restoring Name.
Luke 24:44-53
Since few congregations celebrate the Ascension on its proper day, most of us will have to make the most of it on this Sunday. If we are in doubt as to what is the essence of the day, the answer may be found tucked away in the middle of today's lesson, and in one of the shortest verses in the New Testament: "You are witnesses of these things."
The Ascension of the Lord is a pivotal point in the Gospel story. The work Jesus came to do is complete. His life here, his teaching, his works of love, his suffering, his resurrection are all in the past. We learn from other sources that the disciples floundered in the days immediately following the resurrection. Some had returned to the nets. They seemed at a loss to know what to do, where to go, what to say. At this critical point the ascension occurs. Gathering his befuddled disciples around him, our Lord says, "You are witnesses of these things." It is exactly the word they need. We are reminded of the well-chosen perspective Churchill gave to discouraged British troops early in World War II in North Africa: "This is not the end; it is not even the beginning of the end; it may be the end of the beginning." The Ascension of Christ marks such a time for the church.
Except for a couple of brief missionary forays, the disciples had been mostly on the listening and receiving end of things. They had seen Jesus do his work, they had heard his words of wisdom, they had gone through the agony of the crucifixion and the ecstasy of the resurrection. The ascension is their answer to what comes next. Now they must go and tell what they had seen and heard.
Many churches mark this day, May 4, as the commemoration of Augustine's saintly mother, Monica. He recalls a time with her when she was near death. She could see no reason for living on now that her prayers had been answered in seeing him become a Christian. Her life was so focused on the life of Christ that her only purpose and hope was to see that the faith she embraced should be lived out in the son she loved so much.
As Christ prepares to depart this world we feel the same heartbeat. His task is complete. He has no need to linger in this world. Now his energy is directed exclusively on those he loved most, his disciples. His longing is that they will take the mantle. His desire is all summed up in that simple phrase, "You are witnesses of these things."
Suggestions For Preaching
Like the disciples, our listeners are accustomed to being on the listening and receiving end. That is why they come to sit before us, and it is good. And it is good to worship, to learn, to live in fellowship, to receive the Supper of the Lord. But it is only the beginning. Ascension is a day to jar us and our people into action. The Lord has ascended. Now, we "are witnesses of these things." If the world is to hear the Good News of forgiveness and life it will have to hear it through us.
On Easter Eve it is the custom to give a candle to each worshiper and invite each to light his or her candle from the Paschal candle. Then each passes quietly out into the night. There is a sense in which the Ascension of the Lord completes that drama. As the Paschal candle represents Christ and all he has done for us, so we now take that light, with its source in him, and carry it to the world.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
Acts 1:1-11
Some years ago in a provocative study of the ministry, Richard John Neuhaus described pastors -- by extension, all believers -- as "ministers of a disputed sovereign." Both the vulnerability and the power of such a sovereignty are evident in the Ascension story.
In normal expectations, messiahs can't die; raised from the dead, they don't just disappear. Instead, emerging from hard scrabble, turning problems into possibilities, the usual redeemers -- politicians, new coaches, social workers, preachers, doctors, and so forth -- move through the reversals toward transcendence, in a beeline to glory. On such a scale, the resurrection would be the last triumph, ultimate trump, the power to remain forever, cashing-in.
Maybe that is why Ascension has become something of an embarrassment. The packed churches of Easter morning have long since shown their usual empty spots; Ascension Day, only the most faithful appear, if there are services at all. Why show up for an absence, especially when the forces of everyday -- sin, death, and the devil -- are so evidently still present?
It's just like Jesus, accustomed as he is to flying in the face of every human expectation, to turn such a departure promising. And of course, that's just the point: instead of simply going into remove, Christ does himself once more in the triune way, becoming even more intimately present in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That doesn't make it any easier. A friend, a deeply faithful psychiatrist, commonly observes that the gospel is, psychologically, the hardest way possible. For like the grain of wheat that cannot give fruit until it dies, Jesus always insists on going under, laying himself out for sinners, justifying the godless, raising the dead.
Yet that is his power. As the world stirs through the remains of its broken immortality projects, filling air and water with the filth left behind by its conveniences; as one by one the bandied hopes become exposed illusions; as the threads of promised transcendence snap under the relentless pressure, the Spirit broods over the brokenness of this old creation, moving through Christ's word and sacraments to grasp hearts for whom the emptiness has become intolerable. The one who creates out of nothing, who gives ears to the deaf, eyes to the blind, legs to the lame and good news to the despairing, does not and will not go away. Instead, ever maternal -- always brooding but never able to keep hands off -- this one gives once more, beyond all reservation, forever present.
In answer to the first question -- Who should we be? -- Acts 1 makes it clear that we are to be people of the Spirit. After sharing with Theophilus a very brief review of what had happened to Jesus during the interim following his resurrection, Luke is anxious to get on with his story of how the church was born. Though his writing came to be called "The Acts of the Apostles," Luke wants it known from the outset that the story of what they did makes no sense unless one begins with an accounting of what God did to make it all possible. His is not an account of what the apostles did, but what the Spirit did through them.
1:8 is thus the key to the entire book. Here is the outline for what will unfold in the chapters that follow: The witness in Jerusalem and Judea, chapters 1-7; the work in Samaria, chapters 8-9; the expansion of the mission to the known world, chapters 10-28. The question raised in verse 7 is closely linked to the promise of the Spirit in verse 8. Speculation was running high that the return of Christ might be immediate. The call to witness to the "ends of the earth" means that the church is being reminded that it has much work to do before that day will come.
Since the observance of the actual day of the Ascension of the Lord is muted in the church -- especially in the West -- it is important to use this Sunday to remind our hearers of the importance of this day in the calendar of the year.
Ephesians 1:15-23
If the Ascension of the Lord seems to us like a minor blip on the scene of the church year, this text should change our minds! The ascension marks that moment when Christ was "seated at (God's) right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named...." If you read this lesson in the original Greek you will note that it is all one sentence. You can not read it in a single breath! But this illustrates an important point: namely, that the entire section hangs together as one piece. It begins with a very intimate expression of the writer's love for the believers in Ephesus, followed by the testimony to the divinity of Christ which we have just noted, but coming to its point in the words about the nature of the church as a body in which Christ "has been made the head over all things...."
Believers are characterized as persons of "faith," and love," the distinguishing marks of Christians. Faith is specific -- faith "in the Lord Jesus." Those of Gentile background had come out of no religion or religions alien to the Gospel. There is no room for compromise. Whatever value there may have been in their previous experience, they have been ushered into a radical new way of life. Conrad J. Bergendoff, now well past his one hundredth year, wrote in his book I Believe in the Church of the importance of this commitment in local congregations: ". the most important work of the church today is the enthroning of Christ in the unity of the parish church. If there is to be a regeneration of American communities, be it in the metropolis or in the highway crossroads village, it must come from the small unit of a Christian congregation whose members have Christ as King in their lives."
This faith will lead to "love of the saints" and to intercession for one another. While the rest of the world is surely not to be forgotten, it is often the case in the New Testament that believers are urged to begin their works of love within the community of believers. That makes sense. If we cannot love those closest to us, including our family, what point is there in trying to love those who are out of sight and whom we do not know?
The ultimate power of our lives is that we might know Christ and "the hope to which he has called you." And who is this Christ in whom we are to put all trust? The marks of his Lordship that are piled up in verses 20-23 almost take one's breath away! The One who has been raised from the dead has authority (seated at the right hand of God), power, dominion and a "name." What's in a name? Everything. Jesus, the Son of Man. Christ, the Son of God. Immanuel, God with us. Good Shepherd. Door. Vine. Bread of Life. Savior of the world.
An unknown author captured the power of the name:
Name of Jesus, softly stealingO'er a world of strife and shame,Thou canst bring us heavenly healing,O Thou all-restoring Name.
Luke 24:44-53
Since few congregations celebrate the Ascension on its proper day, most of us will have to make the most of it on this Sunday. If we are in doubt as to what is the essence of the day, the answer may be found tucked away in the middle of today's lesson, and in one of the shortest verses in the New Testament: "You are witnesses of these things."
The Ascension of the Lord is a pivotal point in the Gospel story. The work Jesus came to do is complete. His life here, his teaching, his works of love, his suffering, his resurrection are all in the past. We learn from other sources that the disciples floundered in the days immediately following the resurrection. Some had returned to the nets. They seemed at a loss to know what to do, where to go, what to say. At this critical point the ascension occurs. Gathering his befuddled disciples around him, our Lord says, "You are witnesses of these things." It is exactly the word they need. We are reminded of the well-chosen perspective Churchill gave to discouraged British troops early in World War II in North Africa: "This is not the end; it is not even the beginning of the end; it may be the end of the beginning." The Ascension of Christ marks such a time for the church.
Except for a couple of brief missionary forays, the disciples had been mostly on the listening and receiving end of things. They had seen Jesus do his work, they had heard his words of wisdom, they had gone through the agony of the crucifixion and the ecstasy of the resurrection. The ascension is their answer to what comes next. Now they must go and tell what they had seen and heard.
Many churches mark this day, May 4, as the commemoration of Augustine's saintly mother, Monica. He recalls a time with her when she was near death. She could see no reason for living on now that her prayers had been answered in seeing him become a Christian. Her life was so focused on the life of Christ that her only purpose and hope was to see that the faith she embraced should be lived out in the son she loved so much.
As Christ prepares to depart this world we feel the same heartbeat. His task is complete. He has no need to linger in this world. Now his energy is directed exclusively on those he loved most, his disciples. His longing is that they will take the mantle. His desire is all summed up in that simple phrase, "You are witnesses of these things."
Suggestions For Preaching
Like the disciples, our listeners are accustomed to being on the listening and receiving end. That is why they come to sit before us, and it is good. And it is good to worship, to learn, to live in fellowship, to receive the Supper of the Lord. But it is only the beginning. Ascension is a day to jar us and our people into action. The Lord has ascended. Now, we "are witnesses of these things." If the world is to hear the Good News of forgiveness and life it will have to hear it through us.
On Easter Eve it is the custom to give a candle to each worshiper and invite each to light his or her candle from the Paschal candle. Then each passes quietly out into the night. There is a sense in which the Ascension of the Lord completes that drama. As the Paschal candle represents Christ and all he has done for us, so we now take that light, with its source in him, and carry it to the world.
FIRST LESSON FOCUS
By James A. Nestingen
Acts 1:1-11
Some years ago in a provocative study of the ministry, Richard John Neuhaus described pastors -- by extension, all believers -- as "ministers of a disputed sovereign." Both the vulnerability and the power of such a sovereignty are evident in the Ascension story.
In normal expectations, messiahs can't die; raised from the dead, they don't just disappear. Instead, emerging from hard scrabble, turning problems into possibilities, the usual redeemers -- politicians, new coaches, social workers, preachers, doctors, and so forth -- move through the reversals toward transcendence, in a beeline to glory. On such a scale, the resurrection would be the last triumph, ultimate trump, the power to remain forever, cashing-in.
Maybe that is why Ascension has become something of an embarrassment. The packed churches of Easter morning have long since shown their usual empty spots; Ascension Day, only the most faithful appear, if there are services at all. Why show up for an absence, especially when the forces of everyday -- sin, death, and the devil -- are so evidently still present?
It's just like Jesus, accustomed as he is to flying in the face of every human expectation, to turn such a departure promising. And of course, that's just the point: instead of simply going into remove, Christ does himself once more in the triune way, becoming even more intimately present in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That doesn't make it any easier. A friend, a deeply faithful psychiatrist, commonly observes that the gospel is, psychologically, the hardest way possible. For like the grain of wheat that cannot give fruit until it dies, Jesus always insists on going under, laying himself out for sinners, justifying the godless, raising the dead.
Yet that is his power. As the world stirs through the remains of its broken immortality projects, filling air and water with the filth left behind by its conveniences; as one by one the bandied hopes become exposed illusions; as the threads of promised transcendence snap under the relentless pressure, the Spirit broods over the brokenness of this old creation, moving through Christ's word and sacraments to grasp hearts for whom the emptiness has become intolerable. The one who creates out of nothing, who gives ears to the deaf, eyes to the blind, legs to the lame and good news to the despairing, does not and will not go away. Instead, ever maternal -- always brooding but never able to keep hands off -- this one gives once more, beyond all reservation, forever present.
