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Prelude
To Power Acts
1:1-11 Ascension
Sunday, Year A A Sermon preached at FUMC De Queen/Gillham, AR on May 4, 2008 by the Revd David S Williams So What’s Next? You may recall
in The Lord of the Rings, the wise,
old Christ-like wizard Gandalf is with the hobbits for a while on their
adventure, but then he leaves them on their own for some time. They face
horrific difficulties, requiring ferocious courage and intense hope; they
need one another and stick together in a fellowship that would rather suffer than falter. Gandalf shows up again at the climax, but then bids them farewell
once more. Luke begins the
story of the Acts of the Apostle’s in similar spirit. The gospel of Luke
narrates the life of Jesus, beginning at the miracle of his birth, his
ministry of healing, teaching and preaching of the We know that in
a similar way that Luke wrote his gospel, he begins the Acts of the Apostles at the ending. At the departure. The ascension. At good-bye. At the
prelude of another move into the story-line. Luke wrote both
his gospel and Acts to an important leader in the Christian community named
Theophilus, friend or lover of God.
If Luke’s gospel story was considered Act 1 in the Jesus drama, he now writes
this friend of God Act 2 in the
drama that will unfold the activity of God’s spirit in the life of the
disciples who will enact the life and ministry of Jesus on earth. The disturbing
question that Luke seems to be trying to resolve at the beginning of the book of Acts, - the closing of Jesus’ earthly life - is what’s next? If Jesus is leaving, how does what Jesus began continue? You and I, like
the disciples, are the answer to
the question, “So what’s next?” We are called to write the next chapters in
the church’s life and kingdom mission. On the one
hand, the disciples had to say ‘good-bye’ to the Christ who was before them
and beside them but saying ‘good-bye’ made it possible for the disciple to
say ‘hello’ to the Christ who was to come to dwell within them through the power of the Spirit filling the Church. So Christ says,
good-bye, not to ever return and not to suggest that he would be absent. No, Christ will be with us through the gift and power of
the Holy Spirit. The disciples are to wait in prayerful anticipation of this
gift and power of God. If the ascension
is Jesus’ ‘good-bye’ to the disciples, then the gift of the coming Holy
Spirit is the de-scension, God’s
‘hello’ to the disciples and the world.
Asserting Ascension Many struggle
with our creed by asserting something so strange as, “I believe … that he has
ascended and is seated at the right of God the Father …” After all, we modern
people understand our world to be round, not flat, and the cosmos to be
expansive and far reaching. But as Christians, we need to remember that the
ascension is not about meterology. The cloud is not a cosmic
taxi cab taking Jesus away from us.
The ascension is about theology. It is Luke’s
way, and the church’s way of asserting something theological about Jesus. Jesus, who died unjustly under the heel
of Caesar, was vindicated by God through the resurrection and is now exalted, sitting at the right hand
of God the Father. All authority, power, and dominion on earth and above and below the earth have
been given to Jesus Christ. The one who suffered as Lamb of God is the one who is the exalted Lion of Bishop Will
Willimon says it like this: “It is time to stop gazing up into heaven (Acts
1:11), [concerning ourselves with meterological
matters] and start looking on earth for evidence of his rule because no matter who is in the White House
or what the newspaper says, Christ is
Lord. Christ holds the whole cosmos in his expansive embrace. Because God has gone up, we have something to say to life in the valley. To the mother weeping for her starving
child, to the person with terminal illness, the unemployed, the suffering we
say to them what he has said to us, “I
am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn
20:17)…” (Sermon, “God Has Gone Up,” Pulpit
Resource [Vol. 30, No. 2), pp. 26-27). So part of the answer to the question, “So
what’s next?” is that even though Christ is saying ‘good-bye,’ Christ is
still in control, in charge, and will bring history to its climax and
completion in God’s good timing (1:7). The Hand-off The other part of the question, “So what’s
next?” is that now that Jesus has
completed his earthly kingdom mission, and is now in control of the cosmos, and will return in time, it’s our
turn. Luke, in this
ascension story is suggesting, that it’s our hour, it’s our time, it our turn
to take the lead – we are to receive the baton; Christ has passed it on to us. The ascension story is the hand-off to us, it is the prelude to the power we will receive
when the Holy Spirit is given; the prelude
to Pentecost. “It is like the
son who has been working in his father’s business and one day the father
comes to the store and says, ‘Son, I’m not going to be coming in as much any
more; you can handle things here.’ It was a day the son knew was coming, but
could he handle it? Could he keep up the things that his father had begun?”
(Charles C. Williamson, “Acts,” Interpretation
Bible Studies [Louisville: Geneva Press, 2000], p. 10). The Power To Witness Now, here is
the part that we can get wrong if we are not
careful. The hand-off, the prelude to
power is not for us to rule – it is for us to witness. Sometimes in
the church we forget who is in control, in charge – that is why we need
ascension. Sometimes we think that now, here we are in the church, stapled
down in our pew, we’ve paid our dues, we’ve become members, we have worked up
in the ranks, now we have some sense of power, control; we ourselves rule
with name, rank, pedigree and prestige. No. That is not what this power is about. It is a power to witness. It’s not about popularity polls; it’s about consigning
ourselves to a story of raw suffering and empowering witness. The word is martyr. No thanks! We do not feel called to be martyrs. Timothy Merrill
says, “To be a witness, no doubt, is a scary thought. That is why we don’t
like to do it. We see a crime, too often, we do not come forward. Ø
We
do not want to get involved. Ø
We
do not want to be in court to testify. Ø
We
do not want to swear anything. Ø
We
do not want to be true believers whose lives become a cliché: people who know
one tune and play it all the time. Ø
We
do not want to be like that. We avoid people
like that. We will walk on the other side of the street to avoid people like
that.” But whether we like it or not
we are witnesses of some kind. The
question is, “What kind of witnesses are we?” “Our lives may
be saying that there is no way we can know God and be part of a caring
community of believers; or our
lives may suggest that we have tapped into a power, a resource, that gives us
the strength and courage to live PG in a X-rated world, to live with
integrity and virtue in a world of greed and consumption” (Great Themes Of The Bible: Community, You
Will Be My Witness [Nashville: Abingdon, 2005], p. 17). We are promised
the gift of power as we are called to be witnesses to the
life-changing message, death and resurrection of Christ (1:4-5, 8). Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582) wrote; “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but
yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go
about doing good, yours are the hands with which he is to bless … now” (As
quoted in Charles Williamson’s, Interpretation
Bible Studies: Acts [Louisville: Geneva, 2000], p. 11). The Answer The question
is, “So what’s next?” The answer, “We
are.” Jesus has no other plan for next
but us. The angels in heaven wonder,
“O, but Jesus, what if they fail on earth?” The good news is Jesus has
ascended, and he has promised us the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses in the world. So let’s quit
standing around with our hands in our pockets looking into the heavens, and
let’s get going with our arms around each other, looking at the world and all
its need. Ø
Let’s
get our feet moving – following up
on new guests, our neighbors, and our inactive members – moving to the outer
reaches of our city and world, from De Queen to New Orleans, from America to
Iraq. Ø
Let’s
get our hands sharing – digging
deep into our pockets, giving generously to the work of God’s kingdom;
extending the right hand of fellowship to those who are not yet members; taking
the baton without dropping it. Ø
Let’s
get our eyes looking in the right direction
– by participating in compassionate work in a Prison ministry, food panty, or
building a Habitat Home or of serving the needs of the elderly in a nursing
home. Church we have
been given our marching orders. Jesus’ said
‘Good-bye’ so that we could welcome the Holy Spirit’s ‘Hello.’ Let us prepare in prayer for the power of
Pentecost to be Christian witnesses in the world. The gift has
been given, will we be found faithful? In the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
