Jesus Goes Away (Again)

 Luke 24:44-56

Ascension
Brian Whelan

May 12, 2024

 

Ascension -- the day when we remember Jesus

ascending into the sky 40 days after his resurrection --

is a big feast day in some places.

It’s actually a holiday in many places in Europe.

People get the day off work,

and those inclined to go to worship

even though it falls on a Thursday.

 

It’s a celebratory day,

some people say because it proves that Jesus was really divine.

Others say it’s because “now we have an advocate in heaven”

 

Other than that, I’m not sure why it’s such a celebration,

because Jesus is gone. Again.

I mean this time he just went up into the sky,

he didn’t die a horrible death like on Good Friday,

but he’s still gone.

And in my book, the worst part of death is that people

we love aren’t around anymore.

So Jesus being gone doesn’t sound like something to celebrate.

 

Sometimes I wish that Jesus had just

stuck around on the earth with us forever.

He could have lived somewhere, like a little

wooden hut on the beach.

 

I mean, they wouldn’t even allow Jesus to have

wooden hut on the beach in Hilton Head,

but maybe somewhere like the beach in El Salvador,

in the middle of all the fishing huts,

there would be Jesus hut.

  

Then when we needed to,

we could make an appointments

with him and ask him questions

and he could keep sharing his definitive

wisdom and parables with us about current topics.

 

But I think that would be fraught with problems.

There would be tourism built around him,

there would be lines and waiting lists.

There would be fights over who had access to Jesus.

Someone inevitably try to limit access to him

or lock him up so no one could get to him or hear from him.

And if he went against the wrong people,

I guess he would get killed again and again.

 

Or, even if all that didn’t happen, we’d always rely on Jesus

for all the answers, we’d always be going to the beach

to ask Jesus what to do and we’d never learn for ourselves.

So maybe that was the best choice for Jesus to leave like he did.

 

Jesus went away, and left his followers in charge.

Jesus left his original disciples and us to decipher

and live out his mission and ministry.

And it seems like it’s taken us 2000 years to do that.

And every era, every new challenge makes us rethink

How we are living out Christ’s mission and ministry.

 

Jesus left so that we would have

to think and learn and take over.

Jesus sacrificed his life on earth

so that his power would be given to us.

 

And that’s what Jesus instructions are before he leaves.

He explains the scriptures to the disciples,

he tells them that the Messiah had to suffer and die

and that gospel of repentance and forgiveness

should be told to the whole world.

Then he tells them that they will receive power.

They would be taking over the work that Jesus started.

 

In the Acts passage we heard earlier 

(and by the way, just a reminder that

Acts was written by the same person

who wrote the gospel of Luke)

On the last day that he was on earth, the last

thing that the disciples ask Jesus was,

“so is now the time you’re going to fix everything?”

They still didn’t understand that this was going to be

their job too, not just Jesus who would save the world.

 

And then, in the moment that is depicted in that

beautiful sculpture right there,

Jesus walks them about 10 miles outside of Jerusalem

and right in the middle of their conversation,

he is lifted up straight into the sky.

And the disciples look up and follow him and keep staring.

Which seems to be the natural thing to do

when someone rises up into the air like that.

 

But then two mysterious people in dazzling white robes

come by – probably the same two people

in white robes that met the women at the empty tomb --

and they give the disciples some good advice.

They say: “What are you looking up there for?”

They say, “that’s not where you’ll find Jesus.

Jesus will come the same way you saw him go.”

 

In other words, look for Jesus the same way

you met him the first time: in a real human life.

He will come to you as your neighbors, strangers,

in the people you meet, people in need.

 

In other words,

“Stop staring up into the clouds,

you’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Which is good advice for us too.

Don’t look up to see Jesus, look out.

 

So on Ascension, this time when Jesus leaves,

the disciples feel joyful, excited, full of anticipation.

Much more hopeful than that first time 43 days earlier,

when Jesus died, feeling depressed and neurotic and thinking about

everything that they did wrong,

this time, Jesus has left them with joy and hope.

And a mission.

 

Now they understand that Jesus death

was not some big mistake and failing on their part--

or on the part of Jesus or God.

And they know that Jesus mission didn’t end.

And the empires and powers of this world didn’t win.

They saw that God was still going to prevail.

 

And they have a promise of power,

they knew that Jesus hasn’t

left them completely alone,

they will be given the power and the tools

to do the work that they need to do.

 

They now have a job a mission, a purpose,

something to do, and that God trusts them to do it.

And they have the promise

that the Spirit will give them the power to do it.

Ascension shows that the Way of Jesus

is to pass on power to others, not keep it for ourselves.

 

And maybe that’s why Ascension is a celebration.

It’s about Jesus going away.

But it’s also about finding Jesus again.

But not up in heaven.

it’s about us finding Jesus here in each other,

in those we help, and those we work with,

it’s about finding Jesus mission in our lives,

it’s about finding Jesus power in us,

and finding Jesus Spirit alive in this world.

 

Ascension is about God entrusting

God’s whole ministry to us.

 

It’s the day when we remember the

moment that Jesus handed over everything,

all the joy, the pain, the defeat,

and the glory of his life and ministry,

and put it all in our hands.

 

It’s the moment when

we became alive in Christ

and Christ became alive in us.