Psalm 68
John 17:1-11
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
Acts 1: 6-14
March 4, 2008
Rev. Patricia L. Liberty
Preparation, Prayer and Promise
Does this text sound a little Star Trek to you? “Beam me up Scotty…” It’s what I always think of…. In case you were wondering just how weird I really am….there’s a new piece of information….
This whole ascension thing….it sounds a little odd to us as 21st century Christians…but it wasn’t weird sounding to first Century Christians. In fact, the notion of Ascension was commonplace in the Hellenist world of the First Century of the Common Era.
According to Richard Fairchild’s exegesis, ascension it was generally interpreted as a sign of divinity and immortality for kings, heroes and prophets to be so transported to the realm of the gods. Platonism later extended this symbol of immortality to all humanity.
Go figure. There is your useless biblical factoid for this week.
So what, I guess is the next logical question and gratefully there is an answer. The focus of this text is not what on what happens to Jesus but rather on what happens to the disciples, meaning us afterwards. As the church is fond of doing, we often get the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
It’s easy to make a big deal about what the ascension really means and in some churches it is a huge liturgical feast. It would be easy to comfort ourselves with the preposterousness of it all so we don’t have to see what is there for us.
The two angels who say….why do you stand looking up to heaven. These are presumable the same two angels who met the disciples at the empty tomb asking why are you looking for the living among the dead.
All the energy of the resurrection points us to this moment, away from waiting for Jesus to do it and realizing that the work, the mission, the ministry is now entrusted to us. This text is about the unity of the faithful and the intimacy of the gospel that binds us.
Bruce Epperly comments,
“…the heart of this passage is that we have work to do here in this lifetime, in this precious and unrepeatable moment and in this beautiful world. This world is not the front porch to eternity, nor is it worthless in light of eternity. Rather, our life is in the here and now…and the very power of God that was at work in Jesus is now passed to the assembled community of women and men who follow him, from Jerusalem to Galilee across the ages to today, here, to you and to me.
Here we find, as recorded in Biblical witness, which is to say, what the early church believed to be true, the last words of Jesus.
As we know from our lives and relationships, last words are important
Last words are important words.
Knowing that - today I want to consider with you the last words of Jesus.
If you ask most people what the last words of Jesus were, chances are they might tell you that his last words were: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" -- or perhaps - "Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit".
When most people think of the last words that Jesus spoke here on earth we tend to think of those words that he spoke upon the cross - those words he spoke just before his death - and not of the words that he spoke to his disciples, and to all of the church, after his resurrection, on the day that he ascended into heaven, or whatever it is that happened happened.
The last words that Jesus uttered while still on earth in physical form while still walking about in his resurrection body were these:
"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you shall 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."
You shall receive power; you shall be my witnesses...
The first words are not just an injunction against earnest religious people trying to predict the end of the world, thought wouldn’t it be wonderful if that happened. It was mostly a corrective that reminded people that Jesus wasn’t going to fix it. Remember how the disciples wanted Jesus to come in like a storm trooper and restores Israel to its fortunes and prestige. This text is saying, get over it….that’s not what it’s all about. It’s the emphasis on the wrong syllable thing.
God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, they aren’t going to fix it for us either. God is not the giant Bayer aspirin that makes it all better. And though most of know that that, it doesn’t stop us from wishing it were true from time to time.
Mostly it’s the last verses…. About receiving power and authority for the work of witnessing that is the heart of the message.
Those are the last words of Jesus recorded by the early church. You shall be my witnesses, you shall receive power. It makes the angels’ question to them all the more understandable. They had received their marching orders and they were standing around looking up and kinda saying……..“Duhhhhhhhh”.
Witnessing is one of those words that makes us nice white bread Protestants more than a little uncomfortable, and not without reason. What one of us has not been accosted at some point in time by someone asking if we know the four spiritual laws, or someone knocking on our door to let us know we are going to hell if we don’t “do” Christianity in a particular way. Its little wonder the word witness has received such a bad rap.
That is not witnessing its proselytizing. Witnessing to our faith need not be the obnoxious and offensive enterprise that often comes to mind when we think of the term. Witnessing to our faith in God is most often done in personal stories and a willingness to show care and compassion to someone in need.
It’s not about whacking someone over the head with a Bible, it’s about a phone call that says I care about you and I’m so sorry you’re having a tough time. It’s the silent hug that communicates a thousand words. It’s the lasagna that shows up at the back door when cooking is about the furthest thing from your mind. It’s the cup of coffee that occasions the sharing of a story that needs time and trust to take shape.
It’s a thousand small things and an occasional big thing that are always accompanied by a promise of prayer and presence that takes seriously the notion that we are witnesses to a life and love and truth that is more than the sum of its parts.
It is simple acts of care that make another’s life less lonely, it speaking up when it would be so much easier to keep your mouth shut. It is that willingness to take a risk for the sake of the Gospel and name evil, name hatred and bigotry.
As believers in Christ - as people baptized by water and by the Spirit we have the power, a power given to us by God, to make a difference out there: to bring people to the knowledge and love of God through what we say and do in their presence, through the story we have to share - in love.
We don’t need to have all the answers, or any of them, but rather a willingness to share the questions. We don’t have to have it all figured out, we are called to point to the truths that are beyond what we can see but not beyond what we can know.
It’s a messy enterprise, because we are not perfect and the church is not perfect. We stumble along, sometimes half heartedly, sometimes with embarrassment at what we believe or what we are unsure about; we make mistakes and manage to get the emphasis on the wrong syllable as much as not. We are no different from the first disciples or disciples of any age for that matter.
God chooses human beings to be the messengers of eternal love and grace. God chose Jesus. Jesus chose ordinary folk. When he was putting together his dream team it was fisher folk, tax collectors, shepherds and farmers.
Annie Dillard writes:
“A blur of romance clings to our notion of these people in the Bible as though of course God should come to these simple folks, these Sunday School watercolor figures, who are so purely themselves while we now are complex and full at heart. We are busy. So, I see now, were they. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? There is no one but us. There is no one to send not a pure heart on the face of the earth but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time. But there is no one but us. There never has been. There are generations which remembered, and generations which forgot; there has never been a generation of whole men and women who lived well for even one day." (Holy the Firm)
And God chooses us. There is no one but us. And this promise from Acts assures us that it is enough, more than enough, because of the spirit that comes to enliven our ministry and keep us focused on God’s desires for the world.
It is tempting to be place holders for the past…seeking former glories, remembering the good old days. It’s true for us in interim time as we figure out how the past will unfold not only into the present but into the future.
It’s true for all of us as we long for some version of the good old days, whether it’s weighing what our driver’s license says we do, or imagining some previous incarnation of our lives, our marriages, the church or society as a whole. We long for it all to make sense, as if it did during those times. We remember the way it was or the way it never was. It’s all like standing around looking up.
But what we long for is here in this moment. Sure, much is uncertain, but this moment is not.
You are here, you will eat at this table and be reminded once again of the truth of who God in Christ is and what it means to be Christ’s’ disciples. Others join with us today, making a commitment to walk with us from this moment into the future that God is unfolding in our midst. We celebrate the gifts, skills, faith and vitality that you bring as you partner with us.
The Spirit that anointed Jesus now anoints you and me. That's what Jesus tried to tell his disciples before he left them. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses." On this earth where he left his footprints.
Centuries later Dietrich Bonhoeffer kept the message going. "The body of Christ takes up space on the earth," he said. That is, the Body of Christ makes footprints. Bonhoeffer goes on, "A truth, a doctrine, or a religion need no space for themselves. They are disembodied entities that is all. But the incarnate Christ needs not only ears or hearts, but living people who will follow him."
There is no one but us, not in this time and space. By God’s grace it is enough, but God’s Spirit we go out and make footprints that witness to the way of Christ. Thanks be to God and Amen.