Jesus ascends into heaven/the clouds. Technically he did this Thursday, but have you ever tried to get people to show up to church on a Thursday? Even the Catholics gave up on this…
Luke 24:44-53; Ephesians 1:15-23; Psalm 47; Acts 1:1-11
Jesus is Risen! No, not quite like that, though it is still true. Today, being that it is Ascension Sunday, we celebrate Jesus poofing up into heaven. What’s curious is that Luke has slightly different accounts of this event in his gospel and in Acts. Well, maybe it’s not all that curious. Luke’s gospel is focused quite a bit more on who Jesus is and what He is about, whereas Acts is more focused on what the disciples did afterwards, so it’s understandable why Luke would edit a bit. But, for the purposes of today, let’s try and put the two accounts together.
Jesus and his disciples are hanging out one day in the midst of the 40 days after the resurrection, and he says to them something like, “You’re going to do some really cool stuff all around the world, but wait for a bit first. Don’t leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes and you are given power from heaven.”
Then there’s a break and some time passes, until another day comes along when Jesus and his disciples are close to Bethany near the Mount of Olives. The disciples, still not quite getting what Jesus was all about, ask, “Jesus, are you kick out the Romans and make Israel a self-governing nation again?” Jesus answers quite well (as he always does) saying, “You don’t need to know when the Father will do what he wants to do, but know this: the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you with power, and you’re going to tell others what I have done and said, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, and finally to all the ends of the earth.”
Then, all of a sudden, Jesus “was taken up” into heaven and hidden by a cloud. Two men dressed in white show up and say, “Stop looking up at the clouds, but know that Jesus, who just went up into the clouds, is going to come back in the same way.”
I really want to look at this last thing that Jesus said, cause there’s a lot going on. First is his response to when Israel will be restored. While it’s died off a bit lately, for a while there was always one person or another claiming that they knew when Jesus was going to come back and “restore the kingdom”. But instead of giving the disciples a straight answer to their question, he basically told them to stop worrying about what will happen, and worry more about following Him.
It’s actually quite a sensible answer. There are few things more frustrating than worrying about something that is completely out of your control, and I can’t think of anything we have less control over than God. So in not answering the disciples question, he actually answers it, by essentially saying, “Don’t worry about that, just follow.”
So what does it look like? Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses…” So let’s think about this. What does a witness do? According to the dictionary a witness is either “an individual who, being present, personally sees or perceives a thing”, “a person or thing that affords evidence”, or “a person who gives testimony, as in a court of law.” So a person who is Jesus’ witness will tell others about Him. That actually sounds quite a bit like mankind’s original role as “image” of God — showing the world what He is like — as well as Israel’s role as God’s chosen people, set apart that others may know Him.
So the disciples are told, as they are in Matthew and John, and to a lesser extent Mark, to go out and tell others about Jesus. Now Luke is quite a bit more specific, he says what order this will happen: first Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then all the ends of the earth. Coincidentally, and I say this with tongue firmly planted in cheek, that’s exactly what happens in the book of Acts. First the disciples preach in Jerusalem, then with the increase in persecution from the Jews, they spread throughout Judea and Samaria, finally reaching Turkey, Greece, and even Rome. The good news spreads just as Jesus said it would.
Now what does this mean for us? We obviously don’t live in the Middle East, so it’d be a little tough for us to start in Jerusalem. But the first place we are called to serve is our local community. If I were to switch Jesus words around to apply to us, it would be “You will be my witnesses in Brigham City, Utah, the United States, and even the whole world.”
Next week we celebrate Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. But we already have this power from God, it’s not something we have to wait for like the disciples. The Holy Spirit already dwells in us. It’s a matter of stepping out in faith, following Christ, and in doing so being his witnesses to all people — from our next-door neighbors to the other side of the world.