Ascension Day Acts 1: 6-14

And so today we come to the first Sunday after Ascension Day, a day which is all too often bypassed in the life of the church today. For in a way, the Ascension is something we find hard to imagine. I confess that I find it difficult to think of the Ascension without picturing in my mind the Apollo spacecraft lift offs which were such a big part of my school days. And of course, I know that the idea of heaven up in the skies above and hell in the depths below is a pre scientific view that was allegedly mocked by the soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin with the words;

“I don’t see God up here.”

So it that I know that my pictures of the Ascension of Jesus are inevitably flawed. It is clearly beyond us to comprehend exactly what the disciples witnessed other than to appreciate that Jesus is not subject to the physical restraints that we experience. As Markus Borg puts it;

“He is no longer restricted to or confined to our dimensions of time or space as he was in his historical lifetime.”

Powerfully, Ascension reminds us that Jesus is no longer physically with us but yet he is alive and a presence in our lives and in the world. As Fred Pratt Green memorably puts it in his Easter hymn;

“Christ is alive! No longer bound
To distant years in Palestine,
He comes to claim the here and now,
And conquer every place and time.”

This reminds us that Jesus is today as alive as ever. More than that, it informs us that his scope is greater than ever before for the physical limitations that we experience are for him now in the past. Yes, the Jesus who was crucified, is through Ascension set free to affect the world yet more than when restricted to a small portion of Middle Eastern land.

And yet this must have been a difficult experience for those who were closest to him. Those of us who have seen loved ones move to distant places know only too well the stomach pangs that come from physical separation. And for those closest to Jesus, this pain would be added to by them being taken out of their comfort zones. Notice how at the beginning of our scripture reading their concern was about restoring the Kingdom to Israel - a somewhat narrow concern. Yet Jesus whilst giving no answer to this matter, tells them that now they are to be called to think and act in a much bigger way. The very people who had failed Jesus in Gethsemane, are told that their future is to be standing up for and propagating the good news about Jesus in Jerusalem where they have failed him. And then the calling gets wider - firstly to surrounding Judea, on to hated Samaria a place to which they have in the past been hostile and then on to the very ends of the earth and all manners of peoples.

An unbelievable calling! A calling well beyond the capacity of this parochial bunch who this far have quite a record of not stepping up to the mark. But note here that this is not some sadistic challenge in which they are destined to fail. On the contrary the calling is linked to a promise, the promise of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is that the Holy Spirit will give them a power for the tasks that lie ahead, the Holy Spirit will enable them to do things beyond their expectations and imaginations. In this we see a linkage which continues to be relevant today. Calling and promise are entwined. For the promise is to enable the calling to be followed through whilst the calling is only given with the accompaniment of the promise that enables it to be given reality.

And so it is that Ascension is about the story of Jesus going on. During Easter we have seen his love in the self giving of Good Friday. In his resurrection we have seen God’s resounding Yes to all that Jesus has said and done, the victory over death, hatred and violence. Now through Ascension we see Jesus set free from limitations so that the story might continue through the likes of you and me as we are given help by the Holy Spirit. And now the story is no longer tribal or nation. On the contrary it is now for all nations and for all peoples.

I don’t know about you but I have always liked the men in white with their message to the followers of Jesus that they need not look into the sky. You see there is far too much speculation. The “Left Behind Books” are but one example of a tendency to speculate about end times and the likes. And such speculation is utterly useless and wasteful as Jesus has already intimated. There is no point idly looking above when there is a world to engage with and much work to be done.

Those present at Ascension made their ways back to where they were staying. With the family of Jesus and a number of women they engaged in community. They spent time in prayer as they sought to be about the continuation of the work of Jesus. And when Pentecost came, they went on to the streets of Jerusalem and soon they continued that work in Judea, Samaria and truly to the ends of the world as it then was known. And today as heirs to the promise of the Spirit, we are called to engage with the world in all its diversity sharing the hope that is at the heart of the message of Christ, loving and giving value to all those who experience need, condemnation or rejection, and building community.

Having during recent weeks looked at the stories of Jesus and celebrated that he is alive, today the story becomes personal. For now it is about us - how we follow on from Jesus. Yes, now it is about the Gospel according to us!


BIDEFORD METHODIST CHURCH MAY 4TH 2008