And He Ascended into Heaven

Ascension Day (Observed)

Sunday, May 20, 2012

“And He ascended into Heaven”

Luke 24:44-53

Grace mercy and peace to you from our risen and ascended Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The feast of the Ascension is one of the most important yet seriously neglected feasts of the church year. It is right up there with Christmas and Easter in its importance.  I have chosen to break a little with tradition this year and observe it on the 7^th Sunday of Easter since the Feast actually occurred on Thursday. 

The church year places it on a Thursday because Jesus ascended forty days after he had risen from the dead.  Unlike Christmas and Christmas Eve it is much more difficult to take the time off to celebrate Ascension Day when it falls mid-week.  But in every way it is just as important as Christmas if we are observing the church year. And why do we Lutheran Christians observe the church year?  Simple because it keeps us focused on the life and work of Christ.

Is that relevant?  I mean does it matter and help me in my day to day life?  Very much so if you understand that in your baptism , many years ago you died, and now your life is in Christ.  You are the body as St. Paul writes to the baptized Ephesians and Jesus is the head.  Where ever the head goes the body goes.  If Jesus has risen from the dead, and he has, so will you.  If Jesus ascends into heaven and sits at the right hand of God so will you.  You see it matters and the ascension of Christ to the throne of God is a feast to celebrate.

So let’s get into the text.  Jesus before he ascends teaches and then commissions his Apostles.  The text says he opened up their minds to understand the scriptures. The twelve men as we read in the Gospels to be his Apostles seem to have had a hard time understanding what Jesus meant.  Time and time again even at the Ascension, as recorded in Acts, they were looking for Jesus to establish his political kingdom. Prior to Jesus suffering death and resurrection the twelve seemed to even ignore Jesus notices that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer and die and be raised on the third day.

You see human nature is so naturally corrupted that it only wants to hear what it wants to hear and it denies reality. We need our minds opened by Christ to understand otherwise we get the scriptures all wrong. We interpret it through a theology of Glory as instead of through the lens of Jesus Crucifixion.

Jesus opens their minds so that they see that His suffering death and resurrection were prophesied in the books of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets.  In fact the whole of Old Testament Scripture is about and points too Christ in some places more obviously than others.  Such as in the story of Abraham and Isaac where our Lord provides a substitutionary  sacrifice, a Ram stuck in a thicket.  And in all the Levitical ceremonial sacrificial Laws for Temple worship, they point to our need for cleansing forgiveness and Christ’s one time atonement.

In the Psalm 22 we have practically a full account of Jesus suffering on the cross and at the end we hear the words, “Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.”  Isaiah the prophet in chapter 53 also speaks of the coming Christ as the suffering servant.  This is what Ethiopian eunuch was reading when he encountered Phillip and was then baptized. This is why the Old Testament Scriptures are still read in the church today they continue to point too and are also about Christ.

So be open ears, be open mind, for what you hear of Christ is relevant, is pertinent to you. This Old Testament prophesy is fulfilled. Jesus suffered and on the third day rose from the dead and in addition to that repentance for forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus will be proclaimed to all nations.

This is Jesus commission to his Apostles, his established office of the ministry, to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus.  The office of the Ministry is also a means of grace. It is the preaching of the Law that accuses you of our sin and the preaching of the gospel that shows us where and causes us to repent or turn to receive forgiveness, that is the purpose of this sermon and every sermon preached.

Notice the purpose of the Sermon or proclamation is not to help you live a better life, to make you healthier, wealthier or wiser or to extract worldly rewards. 

My dialysis clinic recently moved to a new location where we now have a new HD flat screen TVs to watch. The trouble is I noticed the programming has changed.  We do not have the same channels we once had. Between 5:00am and 7:00am there are is a lot of prepaid programming. In particular there is a lot of so-called televangelism .  Without exception every preacher did not preach repentance for forgiveness, some of them barely mentioned Christ and if they did it was as an example and not as Savior. Instead they preached prosperity. They preached about accessing rewards on Earth through saying the right prayers to a Santa Claus like God.

They called them heavenly but they are really worldly. The real gifts, the means of Grace, were not mentioned. I did not hear about the promises of baptism, absolution, or the Lord’s Supper.  No, if the Ethiopian had come across one of these preachers he would still be confused about Isaiah 53 and still be un-baptized. Plus he would have ignored the message for he was already living large under his Queen.   Good preaching leads it hearers to Christ’s gifts.   False preaching leads them away from Christ to focus on oneself. So do not be fooled, repentance is not your work but Christ’s work in you accomplished by the hearing of His word.

Jesus told His apostles that you not only have heard the prophesy from the scriptures but that you have witnessed it. You have seen with your own eyes the fulfillment.  You have witnessed my suffering, my death and my resurrection, and now you will proclaim what you have witnessed to all the world. But first I will send you to Jerusalem where you will receive the promise of my Father you will be clothed with power from on high.  In other words, Jesus will be sending to them the Holy Spirit. We will hear more about this next Sunday.

The text says, Jesus blessed them and while he was blessing them he was carried up into heaven.  This is what we celebrate the Son of Man now ascended into Heaven. Jesus our brother, in so far as his incarnation, has been exulted to the right hand of God.  Jesus will always be our Savior and our God both in office and in essence. But He has also elevated mankind so that it once again has fellowship with God.  Jesus is the Man the Father intended  Man to be and yet He is the only begotten Son from all eternity. 

Some of you are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia, a series written by C.S. Lewis.  In the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, the son of Adam is redeemed through the sacrifice of the Lion, however the Lion due to His righteousness is resurrected and thus vindicated. He then peruses and defeats the evil white witch. Do you recall the result?  He places the Sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve on the throne in Narnia. In others words they rule with him.  This is what Christ the King of Kings does. He is the head and whatever the head receives the body, those baptized into his name receive.

This is glimpse into our future. Only first it is Jesus who will return to earth in the same way to carry us with him to heaven. The sign will be when we see Him again.

Jesus Ascension into heaven does not mean He is physically restricted.  Just because the senses cannot perceive Him does not mean He is not present.  Jesus now appears hidden under the means of grace. It is by hearing the word and believing when he says, “this is my body and blood” that he is really present but not seen. If we could see him then it would not be by faith but by our senses. We know he is there, and to assist our feeble faith he does provide something tangible, bread and wine, to accompany the promise of His Word.

So Jesus is present here as He as promised when we gather in His name. He did not leave us to run things as we see fit in the church. That would be a decapitated church.  And there are lots of those. No, he is here where his Word is preached and the means of grace that he instituted are administered.

The much neglected feast “The Ascension of our Lord” is the great coronation of Jesus Christ the Son of Man in Heaven.  The angels and the host of heaven marvel as a flesh and blood Man receives the crown and is given all authority in Heaven and on Earth. His rule is one now of grace and mercy where repentance for the forgiveness of sins is preached.

Perhaps our neglect betrays the fact that we are still under the cross that glory really goes no further then Jesus hanging on the cross. Even though he reigns in Heaven He still carries for you the marks of His crucifixion. He is the Lamb who was slain. Sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, behold your King!