Ascension Sunday
Ascension Sunday is Sunday, May 16, 2021. If a congregation is going to do much with the Ascension story, it will likely gravitate toward Acts 1:1-11 (one of the texts assigned to this day in the Revised Common Lectionary). And yet, that text contains so much that cannot be dealt with on any single Sunday. It begins with the address to Theophilus, whose name means “God’s friend,” who may have been a real person and possible patron but may also be a metaphoric designation for any believer.
In this pericope, we have what I believe to be the thesis statement of Acts—Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Woven together in that single verse are the major themes of the early church’s story: power to the disempowered, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the movement of the gospel out of comfortable enclaves into previously forbidden territory.
There’s a flat reading of the text that lends itself to the kind of preaching that has both blessed and burdened the church. Jesus ascends into the sky, is hidden by a cloud, and two messengers appear and inquire, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” The question reminds me of a phrase that my Dad often said, “Some people are so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” There’s an opening in this text to deliver the sort of “Quit sky-gazing and get busy” kind of sermon that flows fairly easily from many of us, myself included. There are moments when the congregation needs to hear such a message, but does that kind of sermon do justice either to the day or to the text? I’m not sure that it does.
Acts 1:1-11 emphasizes the connections between the power of God at work in the church and the work the church is meant to do in the world. Acts is the second part of the Gospel Luke. I actually prefer referring to the two-part set as “Luke-Acts.” The connections between the life, death and ministry of Jesus as described in the Gospel and the work of the church as described in the History deserves more than just scholarly attention; it is a pastoral word to congregations as to who they are and what they are called to do and be.
Jesus instructed the Apostles to remain in Jerusalem and they would receive the promised gift from God—the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5||Luke 3:16). While the official name of the book is “The Acts of the Apostles” it could easily be called “the Acts of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is named over forty times in the book. The bearing witness in tied to the Holy Spirit’s presence.
The passage also emphasizes the ongoing work of Jesus. When the messengers ask the question, “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” They do not follow that up with chastisement—“get to work,” “go on get busy.” Rather, they point to the promise of Christ’s continued life, presence, and return. “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” While we might roll our eyes at those who obsess over Christ’s return and make predictions (and not a small amount of money) over it, the promised return of Christ conveys the reassurance that Christ is not done with Christ’s work. His Resurrection was not his retirement. He did not pass the baton. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the ongoing work of Christ. Ascension says—Jesus continues his redemptive work.
Of course, this is not to suggest that we give up and simply wait for Christ to come back and make all things new. We are called to bear witness. We are called to continue the work of Christ. Yet, Ascension Sunday should renew us in the work and remind us that the work we do is work we do because the Holy Spirit empowers us. In one of the collections of Mother Teresa’s words, she emphasized the value of the sisters of Charity taking communion each day. They began the day not with a to-do list, but in remembrance of Christ’s ongoing presence. There is a claim and there is a call embedded in the Ascension story. The claim—Christ’s own activity, ministry, and authority have not come to an end. That’s the claim and this is the call, bear witness. Bear witness in your words. Bear witness in your works. Bear witness as you open the scriptures. Bear witness in your repentance and in your proclamation of forgiveness. Bear witness. You are witnesses to these things.