Today we come to the end of our
sermon series, “The After Party”. As you
heard, we’re talking today about Jesus’ ascension into heaven, as told to us by
Luke in the book of Acts.
As often happens, I’m struck by the incredibly
matter-of-fact tone the Bible takes in describing an incredible event. Let me just read verse nine again. “After Jesus said this, he was taken up
before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” I mean, that sounds like it was a perfectly
ordinary thing. It’s about like saying,
“After we’re done with worship today, I’m going to get in the car and go home.” Like it happens every day. No big deal here. Same old same old.
Think about what that must have been like for the
disciples. As far as we know, they had
no reason to think Jesus was going to leave them on that particular day. We know, because Luke tells us, that Jesus
was on earth for forty days after his resurrection, but we have no indication
that the disciples knew Jesus would leave after forty days. In fact, we don’t know whether the disciples
knew Jesus was leaving at all.
Really, the
question they ask Jesus right before this—“Lord, are you at this time going to
restore the kingdom to Israel?”—sounds to me like they expect him to be around
for a while. And the way it reads, it’s
about thirty seconds after they ask that question that Jesus leaves. He says, “It is not for you to know the times
or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And then, he’s gone. Taken up, and hidden by the clouds.
Imagine you’re
one of the disciples. I think I’d just
be standing there with my mouth hanging open.
I mean, think of it. You were
just talking to Jesus. You were having a
conversation. And suddenly, he’s
gone. Vanished in the clouds.
What do you
suppose they thought? At first, they
probably did not think anything. They
were stunned. Then they started
thinking, okay, now what? Maybe Peter,
James, and John had a flashback to the transfiguration, when they saw Moses and
Elijah with Jesus and a cloud covered them all.
They stand there for a while, just looking up at where Jesus had
been. Where did he go? When is he coming back?
And then,
apparently out of nowhere, two men dressed in white appeared. And that’s presented very matter-of-factly,
too. Who were these guys? Were they angels? Maybe, but the Bible does not specifically
say so. It simply describes them as two
men. And the disciples don’t seem
particularly startled to see them. Maybe,
after Jesus dying and being resurrected and appearing to them several times and
then vanishing into a cloud, maybe after all that nothing much surprised the
disciples any more. Anyway, the two men
are there. And they say to the
disciples, what are you doing waiting around here? What are you looking up into the sky
for? Jesus is not there. He’s gone up to heaven.
So,
eventually, the disciples left. And can
you imagine the conversations they had along the way. At first, they were probably silent, stunned
by what they’d seen. Then one of them
speaks. Maybe it was Peter—after all, it
seems like he always had something to say, no matter what the situation
was. And then the ice was broken. Everyone starts talking, in tones of awe and
wonder and probably a little fear, too.
They start out
by talking about what they’ve just seen and heard. And maybe that was enough conversation on the
road home. But when they get back to the
place they were staying, the start talking about other things. They talk about all the things Jesus told
them. They talk about what Jesus said
were the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love each other. They talk about the mission statement Jesus
gave them, to go and make disciples of all nations.
And somewhere
along the line, they realize that now it’s up to them. Yes, Jesus is coming back, sometime, but they
don’t know when it will be. And they
realize that until Jesus does come back, whenever that is, they’re in
charge. They’re in charge of spreading
God’s word and showing God’s love.
They’re in charge of making disciples of Jesus Christ.
That’s a
pretty awesome responsibility they had, you know? So, what did they do? They prayed.
They “joined constantly in prayer”, as our reading told us. And eventually, they received power from the
Holy Spirit. And then, they went to
work. They started doing what Jesus told
them to do.
We talked last
week about how we, too, are disciples of Jesus Christ, so what Jesus told the
disciples to do now applies to us. That
means that now, it’s up to us. You and
me. The men, whether they were angels or
whatever they were, are saying to us what they said to the disciples. They’re saying, what are you doing waiting
around here?
We’re the ones
who are in charge now. You and I are in
charge of spreading God’s word and showing God’s love. You and I are in charge of making disciples
of Jesus Christ. Not just us here in
this church, obviously. Us along with
everyone else in all the other Christian churches in town and around the
world. But still, it’s up to us. Jesus told each one of us to spread God’s
word and show God’s love. Jesus told
each one of us to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
It’s a pretty
awesome responsibility we have. So,
what’s the first thing we should do?
Pray. We’ve had a prayer emphasis
for a while now on the unchurched families of our parish, both the unchurched
children and the unchurched parents. I
know that a lot of us having been praying for them. But please, keep praying. Pray for God’s guidance, so that we will know
what to do and what to say, so we can reach those unchurched families. It’s okay to pray that God will help us reach
other people too, of course. We don’t
mean to slight anyone with this prayer emphasis. But we know that children have a special
place in Jesus’ heart, and they should have a special place in our hearts,
too. Please pray that God will touch our
hearts and theirs, so we can reach those unchurched families for God.
If we pray
with open, sincere, honest hearts, and if we’re willing to follow where God
leads us, we will receive power from the Holy Spirit, just like the original
disciples did. There may not be tongues
of fire that appear on us, the way it happened with the original disciples, and
you can read Acts Chapter Two if you want to know more about that story. But we will receive power from the Holy
Spirit. If we dedicate ourselves to God
and are truly willing to follow wherever God leads, God’s Spirit will come into
our hearts and into our lives and we will be able to do things we’ve never
imagined, because all things are possible with God.
And after
we’ve prayed, and after we get that power, we need to do what the original
disciples did. We need to go to
work. And again, I know a lot of people
here have been working. I know there are
a lot of people here who are trying hard to share God’s word and show God’s
love. And we’ve seen some things
happen. And we’re going to see more
things happen. So please, keep doing
it. Keep working.
And don’t get
discouraged if things don’t happen in the way we planned or as quickly as we
wanted. I’m sure there were times when
things did not happen the way the original disciples planned, either. And I’m sure there were times when things did
not happen as quickly as they wanted.
And they probably got discouraged sometimes. But they did not quit. They kept working. They trusted God enough to know that if they
did what they were supposed to do, God would make things work out the way
they’re supposed to work out, even if that was not the way they had planned or
on the time schedule they had in mind.
The original
disciples gave us the perfect formula, really.
At first, they were waiting for Jesus to come back. But then they realized he was not coming back
right away, and that now it was up to them.
So they prayed. In response to
their prayer, that got power from the Holy Spirit. And then, they went to work. And God helped them start spreading the
gospel across the entire world.
That formula
worked for the original disciples. And
it will work for us. Pray sincerely,
openly, and honestly. If we do, both as
individuals and as a church, we’ll get power from the Holy Spirit. And if we then go to work, God will help us
spread the gospel across our entire parish and beyond.
We know what
to do. So let’s do it.
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