Ascension Sunday
Acts 1: 1-11; Heb 9: 24-28; 10: 19-23; Luke 24: 46-53
Dc. Larry Brockman
What will you do? Imagine that you were there for the Lord’s Ascension. You are there as one of the Apostles. Before your very eyes, this man whom you had come to love and depend on, who suffered and died a horrible death; and then, in the middle of a desperate feeling of depression three days later, when you felt abandoned, and confused, and without hope; you saw him resurrected in body, eating and talking with you. Wow. And this goes on for 40 days, this Easter experience. Â
But now, after the 40 days, he tells you that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem”. Then he tells you that you are witnesses to all of that. He doesn’t mean that you were there for it, although as an Apostle, you surely would have been that kind of witness. No, what he means is that you are to witness to all of that, meaning you are to give testimony to what happened. You are the one being asked to proclaim what happened. Indeed, you are to be the person who proclaims the message of repentance beginning in Jerusalem. You, as a party to all of what happened, are called to be that kind of witness- just think about that.  Â
But then, even before all of that could sink in your mind, He takes you out to a neighborhood hill overlooking a garden valley, and while he is blessing you, He parts from you. Parts from you- what does that mean? The reading from Acts, also authored by St. Luke but later, says that he was lifted up and disappeared from them in a cloud. But that’s not what Luke’s Gospel says. It says that He “parted” from them. It is as if He vanished from them- poof- right in the middle of the blessing, just as he did to the two Emmaus brothers in Luke’s earlier story. How would you feel if you experienced all that? What will you do?  Â
Some 2000 years later, all of us hearing this story of the Ascension in the pews this morning, can hear the story of the Ascension one of several ways. First, you can hear the story of the Ascension as a detached critical observer. That means you hear it like any other old story from history- something that is quite a yarn, and something that you hope is true, but deep down- you need more proof. You will just have to wait and see, maintaining all your options.  Â
A second way you can hear the story is in your head, in which case, the Ascension story is something you decide to believe in, something that becomes part of your “faith”. That means that you believe that God, in the person of Jesus, took on our nature and became human, that Jesus underwent suffering and death, then was Resurrected, and finally ascended into heaven. Theologically, that means that God came very close to us for a while, close enough for some people that lived at the time to see and touch God. And then, He  went back to God in heaven. Wow! Isn’t that awesome, the one God dwelt amongst us as one of our own. God who is the creator of everything, was that close to us. That, in itself is a mind numbing piece of knowledge for those who believe.Â
The fact that God so loved us that he came close to us is unique to our Christian Faith. It is not something that Jews or Moslems or Hindus or Oriental Faiths believe that God would or could do. It is unique to Christianity; we call this the Immanence of God. Other faiths believe that God is so immeasurably greater than us that there is, and always will be, a separation between us, called a “Transcendence”- and so God Transcends us. The Ascension shows us both the Immanence and the Transcendence of God- it is the transition from Immanence to Transcendence that we witness in the Ascension story today. And that is all very good for us to understand with our heads.  Â
But there is a third way to hear the story of the Ascension- with our hearts. As we come to realize the full revelation of the mystery of God, the simultaneous Immanence and Transcendence of God, we can feel that in our hearts. It is a feeling of tremendous Joy, the joy of knowing that we are that close to the one true God who is also so far above us. That’s what the Apostles realized in the Gospel. Not only did they experience the story of the Ascension with their minds, but they also experienced it with their hearts. And that’s why they did him homage, returned to Jerusalem, and continually praised Him in the temple. Because the Apostles realized that if God was that close to them, and also infinite in power, then nothing, absolutely nothing, could harm them. They trusted in the God that they experienced, no matter what. They trusted Him so much that they went into the Temple where Jesus had been hauled before a tribunal for Trial and conviction and execution. They were no longer afraid of anything like that, but rather, were ready to be the witnesses He had called them to be.  Â
If you heard the story of the Ascension with your heart today, then you, too, can experience the joy of complete trust in God, and be His witness here and now, 2000 years later.   Next week, the Church celebrates Pentecost, when the energy, the life force, the inspiration, and the strength to follow through on your joy will be given to you. As the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, then when we are armed with the Holy Spirit, we, who trust in God’s will for us, can all do great things. We do this as we witness for Him in this cold, secular, and increasingly Godless world- wherever we work; we shop; we go to school; we play; we vote; we talk; and we walk. We can be His witnesses, witnesses to the truth of Christianity, preaching the repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His name, by what we do and say.
What will you do?  Â