The Feast of the Ascension

Wait for Power from on High


Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

We read in the Acts of the Apostles that following the Resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples many times. He speaks with them about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he orders them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.

Waiting is something that we humans do not do well. We can all appreciate how difficult it can be to wait. Remember as children what it was like. “I can hardly wait for my birthday!” we would say, as we anticipated ripping the wrappings off one present after another.

Our feelings, of course, vary according to the circumstances. Fear, anticipation, excitement. There are a lot of people who do not know how to live without excitement, without stimulation. Whether it comes from pleasure or from crisis, they simply thrive on activity. They want to be doing things, solving problems, moving ahead with their plans. They love that rush of adrenalin that gets them moving.

But inevitably there come times when even the most A personality must just wait. The time that exists between one crisis or another, between one activity or another is regarded by many people as dead time, as time that is lost. Even people who are not adrenalin junkies find it difficult to face a period of time in which not much is happening, a period of time in which they must wait for a promise to be fulfilled, for an event that they are looking forward to taking place.

I suspect that is a little of what is behind the disciples’ question of Jesus. “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Isn't it strange that of all the questions they could ask the risen Lord, that is what comes springing to mind? What kind of kingdom are they hoping for? Are they looking for a detached God to suddenly transform history and society? When will they understand that it is they who are to proclaim the Gospel of salvation? They have been witnesses to the resurrection. Yet they are not prepared in any way for his response.

“It is not for you to know the time,” Jesus tells them. And then he offers them a promise, a promise of power from on high. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”

It is a huge task he is leaving to them. They are to proclaim the gospel that he has been teaching them. He leaves them as well with a promise that they will be fully equipped to do the job. They simply need to await the fulfillment of the promise. And then he is gone leaving them literally holding the bag.

What must it have been like for them to have to wait? After all, they had done their share of waiting already. Following the death of their beloved leader it was all they could do. They retired to the upper room in fear, almost debilitating fear. And then he was back with them for a time. The sense of fear gave way to trust, to trust in the promises Jesus had made to them. Yet he has reappeared just long enough to say goodbye. Like a dream he leaves no trace of himself except the sense that his presence is real and his absence temporary.

Yet that is not so difficult for us as humans to understand. The stories about the ascension of our Lord say that he is taken up into heaven. While we might question exactly how this happened, nevertheless we understand it emotionally. We know about loss. Loved ones are suddenly taken away from us. Even when someone we love has been ill for a long period of time, that passage from life to death is such a fleeting moment. It fills us with awe. We can hardly believe that the person is gone. Even though we know they are in a better place, even though we express our faith that the person is with God, still it takes our breath away. We get that feeling that they will come walking into the room and everything will simply resume where it left off.

The Feast of the Ascension is very much tied in to our Christian attitude about death and dying. The disciples must face a harsh reality. Jesus is gone. He rose, not simply from the dead, but from the world. He is no longer with them. And yet what hope there is in that reality! For if Jesus rose from the dead and is alive, so too our loved ones who have died are alive in Christ.

The question is, what do we do with a time of waiting? How do we wait? Do we question God continually about the purpose of our waiting? The disciples accepted Jesus’ promise that the whole world would be theirs. “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth,” Jesus told them. And they accepted that promise. They trusted in what Jesus told them. And so they waited in expectation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The waiting this time is different somehow. They head, not for the Upper Room, but for the Temple. They did what Jesus told them to do. They set out to witness knowing that from Jerusalem the gospel would be taken to the ends of the earth.

What we need to remember somehow is that times of waiting are not times of inactivity. They are times of preparing ourselves for what lies ahead. They are times in which we work at what is at hand, at what needs to be done right now, in order to forge the way ahead to the future. Our call as Christians is always to live now in the way God intends us to live. The disciples used the time as an opportunity to pray. They stayed together and they prayed. They prepared themselves for the job Jesus had told them they would do.

That is always a good thing for us as Christians to bear in mind. Prayer is of central importance to us as we seek to do God's will and to seek the fulfillment of God's promises.

Comedian David Brenner tells the story of his graduation from high school. Other classmates received expensive gifts from their parents, trips, cars, new clothes. David’s father reached into his pocket and took out a nickel. “Buy yourself a newspaper. Read every word. Then turn tot eh classified section. Get yourself a job. Get into the world. It’s all yours,” he said to him. And he was right. He gave David, not instant gratification, but the opportunity to wait and see what life had in store.

There are times both in our own lives and in the life of the church when we need to withdraw. There are times when we are in need of spiritual renewal. We need to take time to pause and reflect on our purpose as a worshipping community. We need time to wait and pray. This time in the church year can be such an opportunity. That poses difficulties for us, living as we do in a society which is geared to results. Like David's classmates, we judge the gift by its value right now. We are not ready to wait and allow God's gift to come to us in God's time. We find it impossible to fathom that God could possibly be working in us and through us even as we wait. We forget that although the Spirit came to be with the Church forever, we must still constantly pray, “Come, Holy Spirit”. The gift of the Spirit is a promise, not an assured prayer. And so we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit and renew the face of the whole earth.”

We pray it knowing that we are the disciples of Christ, authorized and commissioned to continue the ministry of the suffering, resurrected and reigning Lord Jesus Christ in our world today. We are enabled by the Spirit to do the task. God continues to carry out God’s purpose in our church in the community and in the world. Amen