Easter 7 year C Sermon 07 Ascension
Luke 24:44-53
They will never touch him again in the flesh...but before he leaves them... Jesus explains once more... what’s happened...and how it’s gonna be from now on.
Jesus lays out the plan... He reveals to his friends... how God’s promises and purposes... have already been fulfilled... and how God’s promises and purposes will go on... being fulfilled through them.
through his friends... his followers...through us. [pause]
Before his death...they’d been mystified and confused... and concerned for his sanity and safety...alarmed when Jesus claimed the scriptures would be fulfilled in him... because that would mean suffering. But that was before the resurrection... before their time... with the risen Christ.
Now it was different. They’d touched him... listened to him... and shared food with him.
Right before their eyes and ears... stood the proof that God’s love was stronger than death...proof the Law and the prophets and the psalms... were pointing to Jesus... as Messiah.
This part of God’s promises had been fulfilled.
And only now...could Jesus open their minds... ‘so they could understand the Scriptures.’ you see,
"This is what is written... Jesus told them: ‘
The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day...and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’
You are witnesses of these things. You’ve seen the first part of the fulfillment of these promises with your very eyes.
But it doesn’t end with this...there’s work to do.
You need to understand... God’s promises won’t be fulfilled...until every ear in every nation...
has heard the call to turn back...to God’s way of love and receive forgiveness. [pause]
I can just imagine the conversation round the campfire at this point.... Hey wait a minute Jesus... this sounds a little ominous... you’re not going to leave us again are you? You don’t really think we’re capable... of fulfilling God’s promises on our own
do you? Get real...Jesus...
we’re the cowards who denied we even knew you when you were arrested. We’re the ones who ran away quivering into the shadows...
on the day of your death. So uh...why don’t you tell us ...exactly how will repentance and forgiveness be preached to all nations.... when there’s only us...
left behind to do it.
And I can just imagine... Jesus shaking his head... and thinking... you never learn...do you?
But Luke tells us... that out loud... Jesus reassures his friends.... Don’t worry about it...
‘I’m gonna send you what my Father has promised; but for heaven sake...stay in the city... until you’ve been clothed with power from on high.’
Don’t even think about trying to accomplish this under your own steam. It was never the plan...
for you to do this work on your own...left to your own devices.
And though you absolutely will... have to be my Body when my human body.... is gone from this earth...
the only way up can be it... is by not jumping the gun ... you’ve got to wait... for the help I’m sending. [pause]
Amazingly and astoundingly...Jesus is telling his followers... the incredible news... that the long expected Day of the Lord... predicted by the prophets ... is about to occur...the time ‘After the sun has turned to darkness... and the moon to blood...
the time promised by God... through the prophet Joel.
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD... will be saved.’
Poured out on all people...men and women...rich and poor...slaves and free...even the Gentiles even the unclean...even pagans... Even on us...here beneath these mountains and beside these lakes... even on us here at the ends of the earth. Visions and dreams of what could be.
And so when Jesus was finally gone from them...
what did his followers do... while they’re waiting for God’s Spirit to be poured out on them... [pause]
Well... they went back to Jerusalem and worshipped. They waited... together... patiently... [pause]
Why O why do we imagine it would be any different for us. Why do we try to be the Body of Christ... struggling to continue his work of... carrying the good news of God’s love...to those who don’t yet know it... slogging away under our own steam... without ever... ever... waiting together in worship... on the outpouring of the Spirit.
Why do we continue the modern illusion that this is an individual thing... and not something Jesus asked us to do together? Week after week... year after year... we allow our corporate pride to tempt us...once more into the illusion of self-sufficiency.
Forgetting Jesus promise... that the only way his followers can carry on his healing redeeming work...the only way we can effectively be his Body ...together for our community...for those who don’t yet know his love...the only way...is from time to time ...to wait patiently together...to receive what God has promised... [pause]
And when we receive it…. what does Jesus tell us… is going to happen?
Why then… we’ll be ‘clothed with power from on high’. Why then… we’ll be given strength to seek out those… whose backs are turned to the compassion of God… and the wisdom to tell them that God is longing for them…that forgiveness is already theirs ...because of what Jesus has already achieved. [pause]
You see my friends…Jesus coming…
his incarnation into our humanity… was a oncer…
some call Jesus entry into time and space to deliver the message of God’s love for all people… some call it the hinge of history… Those who walked and talked and touched Jesus… had seen the first part of God’s promises… fulfilled before their very eyes…. the Messiah had come… had suffered and died…
and Jesus had been raised to new life again…
they’d seen the power of the wielders of death… destroyed by love. [pause]
But the universe is still waiting for the second half of the promise to be fulfilled.
There are many still who haven’t heard the liberating message of Jesus.
Will we be obedient and wait for the guidance of the holy spirit before we set out on our mission. Unfortunately it seems to me we’re always in danger of thinking we can manage the future all by ourselves.
The church has often fallen under the spell of this illusion. And two thousand years… the body of Christ has often stumbled blindly on… struggling in the dark to defeat the powers of unbelief… injustice… hatred and death… without first waiting for the light and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, Jesus promised he would send the help we need.
So when we suddenly notice we aren’t tearing down the walls that separate people from God and God’s way of love… if we seem powerless to end the harm we do to ourselves to one another and to God’s creation… then maybe it’s because we really haven’t even tried to wait together obediently… for the guidance of the Holy Spirit…
Make no mistake…the Day of the Lord must come again and again… the Holy Spirit poured out on every generation…until God’s promise is fulfilled in every heart and God peace fills all the earth.
So may we find ourselves as a worshipping community…willing and eager to receive the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit…so God’s purposes of love can be fulfilled through us.
Luke 24:44-53
They will never touch him again in the flesh...but before he leaves them... Jesus explains once more... what’s happened...and how it’s gonna be from now on.
Jesus lays out the plan... He reveals to his friends... how God’s promises and purposes... have already been fulfilled... and how God’s promises and purposes will go on... being fulfilled through them.
through his friends... his followers...through us. [pause]
Before his death...they’d been mystified and confused... and concerned for his sanity and safety...alarmed when Jesus claimed the scriptures would be fulfilled in him... because that would mean suffering. But that was before the resurrection... before their time... with the risen Christ.
Now it was different. They’d touched him... listened to him... and shared food with him.
Right before their eyes and ears... stood the proof that God’s love was stronger than death...proof the Law and the prophets and the psalms... were pointing to Jesus... as Messiah.
This part of God’s promises had been fulfilled.
And only now...could Jesus open their minds... ‘so they could understand the Scriptures.’ you see,
"This is what is written... Jesus told them: ‘
The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day...and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’
You are witnesses of these things. You’ve seen the first part of the fulfillment of these promises with your very eyes.
But it doesn’t end with this...there’s work to do.
You need to understand... God’s promises won’t be fulfilled...until every ear in every nation...
has heard the call to turn back...to God’s way of love and receive forgiveness. [pause]
I can just imagine the conversation round the campfire at this point.... Hey wait a minute Jesus... this sounds a little ominous... you’re not going to leave us again are you? You don’t really think we’re capable... of fulfilling God’s promises on our own
do you? Get real...Jesus...
we’re the cowards who denied we even knew you when you were arrested. We’re the ones who ran away quivering into the shadows...
on the day of your death. So uh...why don’t you tell us ...exactly how will repentance and forgiveness be preached to all nations.... when there’s only us...
left behind to do it.
And I can just imagine... Jesus shaking his head... and thinking... you never learn...do you?
But Luke tells us... that out loud... Jesus reassures his friends.... Don’t worry about it...
‘I’m gonna send you what my Father has promised; but for heaven sake...stay in the city... until you’ve been clothed with power from on high.’
Don’t even think about trying to accomplish this under your own steam. It was never the plan...
for you to do this work on your own...left to your own devices.
And though you absolutely will... have to be my Body when my human body.... is gone from this earth...
the only way up can be it... is by not jumping the gun ... you’ve got to wait... for the help I’m sending. [pause]
Amazingly and astoundingly...Jesus is telling his followers... the incredible news... that the long expected Day of the Lord... predicted by the prophets ... is about to occur...the time ‘After the sun has turned to darkness... and the moon to blood...
the time promised by God... through the prophet Joel.
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD... will be saved.’
Poured out on all people...men and women...rich and poor...slaves and free...even the Gentiles even the unclean...even pagans... Even on us...here beneath these mountains and beside these lakes... even on us here at the ends of the earth. Visions and dreams of what could be.
And so when Jesus was finally gone from them...
what did his followers do... while they’re waiting for God’s Spirit to be poured out on them... [pause]
Well... they went back to Jerusalem and worshipped. They waited... together... patiently... [pause]
Why O why do we imagine it would be any different for us. Why do we try to be the Body of Christ... struggling to continue his work of... carrying the good news of God’s love...to those who don’t yet know it... slogging away under our own steam... without ever... ever... waiting together in worship... on the outpouring of the Spirit.
Why do we continue the modern illusion that this is an individual thing... and not something Jesus asked us to do together? Week after week... year after year... we allow our corporate pride to tempt us...once more into the illusion of self-sufficiency.
Forgetting Jesus promise... that the only way his followers can carry on his healing redeeming work...the only way we can effectively be his Body ...together for our community...for those who don’t yet know his love...the only way...is from time to time ...to wait patiently together...to receive what God has promised... [pause]
And when we receive it…. what does Jesus tell us… is going to happen?
Why then… we’ll be ‘clothed with power from on high’. Why then… we’ll be given strength to seek out those… whose backs are turned to the compassion of God… and the wisdom to tell them that God is longing for them…that forgiveness is already theirs ...because of what Jesus has already achieved. [pause]
You see my friends…Jesus coming…
his incarnation into our humanity… was a oncer…
some call Jesus entry into time and space to deliver the message of God’s love for all people… some call it the hinge of history… Those who walked and talked and touched Jesus… had seen the first part of God’s promises… fulfilled before their very eyes…. the Messiah had come… had suffered and died…
and Jesus had been raised to new life again…
they’d seen the power of the wielders of death… destroyed by love. [pause]
But the universe is still waiting for the second half of the promise to be fulfilled.
There are many still who haven’t heard the liberating message of Jesus.
Will we be obedient and wait for the guidance of the holy spirit before we set out on our mission. Unfortunately it seems to me we’re always in danger of thinking we can manage the future all by ourselves.
The church has often fallen under the spell of this illusion. And two thousand years… the body of Christ has often stumbled blindly on… struggling in the dark to defeat the powers of unbelief… injustice… hatred and death… without first waiting for the light and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, Jesus promised he would send the help we need.
So when we suddenly notice we aren’t tearing down the walls that separate people from God and God’s way of love… if we seem powerless to end the harm we do to ourselves to one another and to God’s creation… then maybe it’s because we really haven’t even tried to wait together obediently… for the guidance of the Holy Spirit…
Make no mistake…the Day of the Lord must come again and again… the Holy Spirit poured out on every generation…until God’s promise is fulfilled in every heart and God peace fills all the earth.
So may we find ourselves as a worshipping community…willing and eager to receive the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit…so God’s purposes of love can be fulfilled through us.
