He will come again.... but in the meantime.... 1st June 2025 Ascension of the Lord

 2025  06  01  Ascension of the Lord    

Acts 1:1-11     Psalm 47 or Psalm 93    Ephesians 1:15-23    Luke 24:44-53

 

Today we are celebrating the feast of the Ascension.  Jesus had been killed by being nailed to the cross, but on the third day he rose from the dead and appeared to his followers.  After 40 days of appearances and instructions, Jesus ascended to heaven and was no longer seen by his followers.  Two angels appeared and said; “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."  Jesus will come back again! 

 

We read about the Ascension twice, and both times the author is Luke.  Luke was a doctor who travelled with St. Paul and he was writing to someone he names as Theophilus.   Luke's purpose for writing was to provide a detailed and trustworthy account of Jesus' life, teachings, so that Theophilus' could be assured that his faith was real and the truth.  This was Luke’s apologetics.  In other words, giving a logical, real and practical reason for belief.

 

Have you seen the movie or read the book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?  In this story by C. S.  Lewis, four children are sent to the country to live safely away from the bombs of the war.  When they were playing hide and seek, the youngest of the children, Lucy, hides in a wardrobe that seems to have no back and as she edges back, she finds herself in a whole other land.  She returns to this land a second time and her brother, Edward, finds his way there also.   She tells her other two siblings about this, but Edward refuses to back her up, and says she is making it up.

 

The matter causes conflict, and the owner of the house hears about it.  He says this; “  Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.”

 

Just like the professor in the story, we need to apply the same logic to the story of Jesus.  In fact, C. S. Lewis also wrote a book called Mere Christianity, in which he explains this logic.  Jesus was crucified because he claimed to be God.  Logically either he was lying, a lunatic or he is who he claims.   We then look at the other evidence and find no sign that he was inclined to lie, no evidence that he was a lunatic, so logically the indication is that he is who he claimed.

 

Our belief is reasonable, because Jesus really existed physically.  He is spoken about by a Jewish historian as performing wonderous deeds.  As for proof of his having risen from the dead, the letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:6) tells us that the resurrected Jesus appeared to "more than five hundred brothers at once," and that the majority of these were still alive when Paul wrote his letter who could testify to this.  If more than 500 people witnessed something today, what would be the verdict?  Would we consider it believable?  Certainly, it should be something that we need to seriously consider.

 

Those who believed the message of Christ, became so numerous and influential that our way of counting the years was changed to reflect the birth of Christ.  The year 2025 CE was traditionally 2025 AD meaning  Anno Domini, a Latin phrase meaning "in the year of our Lord".  More importantly, the truth about Jesus has consequences that effect our eternity.  

 

Jesus had appeared to his followers, and we are told that he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.  Some of those followers had been with Jesus for all his ministry and yet they needed to have their minds opened by Jesus in order for them to understand.  This teaches us that all that talk about apologetics is all good and well, yet even we who do believe, need Jesus to open our minds so that the message can be received and understood.

 

In both readings about the Ascension, Luke emphasizes that the disciples were to wait in the city until they received the power from on high – in other words, wait until they received the Holy Spirit. 

 

In our journey of faith, we come to a point where we believe and respond to God, but there will always be so many things that we don’t understand.  If we solely rely on our own intelligence we will remain completely limited, because the things of God are spiritual and need to be understood spiritually.  When we are baptized into God’s family we are Born of God spiritually, and we receive the Holy Spirit.  You might remember that Jesus breathed on his followers and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, yet it was later that they were, what we might describe as, baptized into the Holy Spirit. 

 

So, what does it mean?  Next week when we celebrate the feast of Pentecost we will hear about the story, but today’s message is to wait. The waiting doesn’t mean doing nothing.  They disciples continued in prayer and studying the scriptures, but to change the world, they needed…  Not skills, not effort, not a 5 year plan, and not an elaborate program… they needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit – to receive power from God.  

 

The Church today needs to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  There is a part in our Thanksgiving prayer that begins; “Renew us with your Holy Spirit”.  I encourage us all to pray this simple line, not just once a week, but every day.   We are a remnant – just a small number, but so were the followers of Jesus at one time.

 

St. Francis of Assisi is quoted as saying, “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.”  It is our actions and our love that speak louder about the love of God than any reasoned argument for faith .  But even to love as Christ loves us, is impossible without God moving and working in us.  We need a move of God to change our hearts and our world.  We need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

 

Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with us always.  That is part one of the Message of the Ascension.  Part two is that Jesus is sending a baptism of the Holy Spirit so that we can access the power that we need to impact our world by being Jesus’ witnesses.   Part three is that Jesus will come again.

 

Let’s pray; Lord God, we need your Holy Spirit.  We are small and limited without you, and we need the power from on high so that we can have courage to do all that you call us to.  We pray that wherever we go and to whomever we speak, that you will open both our minds and the minds of those listening, to hear and understand your perfect and wise ways.  Baptize us Lord, with your Holy Spirit.  Amen.