A sermon
preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 28 May 2017,
Ascension Sunday, by the Rev. Dr. Judy Chan. The scripture readings that day were Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:11-23.
Good
morning. Last Thursday, May 25th was a special day in the life of
the church. Not KUC in particular, but the Church universal. Last Thursday was
Ascension Day. It celebrates Jesus’ ascension into heaven 40 days after his
Resurrection. Ascension Day is a major feast day in many churches, falling between
Easter and Pentecost in the Christian calendar. Some churches like the
Catholics and Anglicans celebrate it on the Thursday, which is a public holiday
in some countries. Others celebrate it three days later on the 7th
Sunday of Easter, today.
I didn’t
think I had ever celebrated the Ascension at Kowloon Union Church. Then Pastor
Maggie reminded me that we had back in 2008 when Rev. Kwok Nai-wang was here,
and she herself has preached on the Ascension. So I stand corrected. For all I
know, some of you may preached on Ascension Sunday when I wasn’t around. But
one thing I do know is I have never preached on the Ascension of Jesus in this
pulpit or any pulpit. So I decided this morning to focus on the Scripture
reading from Acts, Chapter 1 as a challenge to myself and a chance to learn
something new.
One of the
new things I learned right off is that churches like to do something special in
worship for the Ascension. For example, every year in a Lutheran Church in the
U.S., they fill up hundreds of white balloons with helium. They stuff them into
big white bedsheets that have been sewn together. Eventually, the sheets began
to fill out and get puffy like a giant cloud. Then they pin the clouds shut and
release them to float above the sanctuary during the service. The pastor said
it was a glorious sight to behold, but there were a couple of problems. One,
the congregation kept looking up most of the time and ended up straining their
necks. The other problem was they were so distracted by what was floating above
them, they didn’t pay attention to the sermon. So this morning, I decided we’re
not going for the cloud effect at KUC because one, I care about your health,
and two, I want you to pay attention to the sermon!
I remember
visiting the Holy Land back in the 1980s. Whenever pilgrims go there, one of
the places that you’re always taken is the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mt.
of Olives. This shrine is built over the very place they believe Jesus ascended
to heaven. When you go inside the Chapel, there’s a slab of stone on the floor
that’s said to contain one of his actual footprints – the right foot. Now, I
know this is a sacred shrine, but I couldn’t help thinking at the time that it
all felt like a tourist trap. How do we know that’s Jesus’ last footprint? And
even if it is, what difference does it make? He’s not here anymore.
He’s not here anymore.
Thirty
years later, I realize maybe that’s the point of visiting the Chapel of the
Ascension, to remember where Jesus
left this earth and to reflect on how
and why it had to happen.
So let me
share some thoughts this morning to help us make sense of an event in salvation
history that the church affirms in the ancient Creeds and we can affirm in our
modern hearts. For the story of the Ascension is also a story full of God’s
wonderful promises – promises for earth and promise for heaven. And just like
the first disciples on the Mt. of Olives, we are standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God.
Let’s start
with earth. What’s the setting of the Ascension? According to Acts 1, it had
been 40 days since the Resurrection. We often think of Jesus’ earthly ministry
ending on Good Friday or Easter, but Acts tells us that the risen Christ spent
40 more days on earth with his disciples. He made multiple appearances in order
to assure them he was alive and well, and to give them final instructions. Then
it was time to say good-bye. And how did he take leave from them? Not by land.
Not by sea. But by air. Acts 1:9 tells us Jesus was lifted up by a cloud and disappeared
from their sight. He was taken directly up to heaven in a manner reminiscent of
Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament.
As 21st
century Christians, we’re naturally a bit curious how that early space travel
worked. Was it like the video game I heard about called Jump Jesus Jump? The
risen Christ hops from cloud to cloud on his way to heaven. Well, no, because
that game ends when Jesus misses a cloud and falls back down to earth. Then he
has to start all over again. The real Ascension definitely was a one-way
journey! And actually, we aren’t meant to know the details. That’s why there
was a cloud – it was a sign of divine presence, and a way of hiding what we’re
not allowed to see. All we need to know is that Jesus went to glory having
completed his mission on earth.
You have to
wonder, though, if those disciples on the ground were prepared for all this.
Jesus had told them earlier that he must return to his Heavenly Father. But
what’s the hurry? Remember they were traumatized after his death on the Cross.
They believed all hope was gone. Now here he was back from the grave, just as
he had foretold. Why must he go so soon? How could his work be finished when
the Jews were still living under foreign occupation? Remember the last question
they asked: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to
Israel?”
Jesus
surprised them with his answer: “It is not for you to know the times or periods
that the Father has set by his own authority.” In other words, that’s not your
concern, that’s God’s business. Then Jesus surprised them again, this time with
a promise: “But 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.” In other words, get ready. It’s your turn now.
Can you see
why Jesus needed to go away? As long as he was bodily present with his
disciples, they would depend on him to lead the way. As long as his footprints
were in Palestine, his disciples would never take their feet beyond the bounds
of their own homeland and religion. In reality, the Ascension is not the end of
Jesus’ mission but the start of the Church’s mission. In short, Jesus had to
leave so the Church could begin. Or in the immortal words of St. Augustine: “Without God [we] can’t, but
without [us] God won’t.”
So that’s
one reason Jesus had to leave but that’s not all. Remember the Ascension’s not
just about Jesus “going away”. It’s also about Jesus “going up”. Which brings
us another promise. As Jesus was being lifted up on the cloud, two men in white
robes appear beside the disciples. We assume they are angels, perhaps the very
ones who spoke to the women at the empty tomb. And what do they say?
“Gentlemen, what are you staring at? Jesus has gone to heaven, but we promise
he’s coming back just the way you saw him leave.” He’s gone to heaven but we
promise he’s coming back to get you.
Rosalind
Brown of Durham Cathedral says, “Resurrection and ascension belong together. If
there were no ascension, we would know that God raised Jesus from the dead but
have no firm hope for ourselves…. The ascension completes the incarnation – the Second Person of the Trinity who took on human
flesh and was born among us has taken humanity into heaven, opening the door
for us to enter heaven too.”
Think about
that. The risen Christ returned to heaven carrying a piece of our humanity with
him. Isn’t that amazing? Sitting at the right hand of God is a Savior with nail
scarred hands, a Master who washed dirty feet, a King who once wore a crown of
thorns. He knows the world we live in inside and out – a world still hell-bent
on living by the sword and dying by the sword, a world that exploits our pain
and fears and mocks our sorrow and tears, a world daring anyone to come singing
a song of love, faith, hope and peace. But that’s exactly what Jesus did. And
because he did and lived to tell the tale, we have his promise that wherever we
go, he has gone before us. And wherever he goes, he will come back and
take us with him.
Let me tell
a story to make that point crystal clear. It’s been around for a while, but
it’s worth telling again. It reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan,
so I call it the parable of the Good Friend.
A man had
fallen into a deep pit and injured himself. Once he comes to his senses, he
realizes there’s no way to get out by himself. It’s too deep to climb out,
there are no ropes or ladders. But he can see the sky and hear noises above.
“Help!” he yells when hears footsteps passing by. It’s a minister. The minister
comes over to the hole, looks down, writes out a prayer, drops it in and
leaves.
The man is
distraught. “What am I going to do now?” Then he hears more footsteps. It’s a
doctor. “Hey, get me out this hole!” the man calls. The doctor walks over and
looks in the pit. Then she writes out a prescription and an exercise plan,
drops it in the hole, and keeps on walking.
By this
point, the man is beside himself. Finally, he hears one more person walking
near. “Hello! I’m down here! Please help me!” It turns out to be his friend.
“Oh, praise the Lord,” the man says. The friend stops, looks down the hole, and
then jumps into the pit himself.
The man is
furious. “What’s the matter with you?” he screams. “Now we’re both in this
hole!”
“Yes,” said
the friend. “But I’ve been here before. I know the way out.”
Wherever we
go, he has gone before us. Wherever he goes, he will come back and take us with
him. Praise the Lord.
I’d like to
end this sermon where we started – at the Chapel of the Ascension in the Holy
Land. As we said, this is the place that commemorates the last spot on earth
that Jesus stood. But I had never realized it also marks the place where the
faithful believe that Jesus will land when he comes again. Though the angels
didn’t mention an exact location for the Second Coming, it does make sense. If
someone has gone missing, wouldn’t you go back to the last place he was seen to
look for him? But Jesus of course wasn’t really missing in action. He was just
on home assignment. And his disciples weren’t supposed to stay on the Mt. of
Olives waiting for him anyway.
But you
couldn’t blame them if they had wanted to. After all, once Jesus was taken out
of their sight, the picture didn’t look that great, on the surface. The great
Episcopal preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says, there they were: “11 abandoned disciples with nothing to show for all their
following. But in the days and years to come it would become very apparent what
had happened to them. With nothing but a promise and a prayer, those 11 people
consented to become the church, and nothing was ever the same again, beginning
with them. The followers became leaders, the listeners became preachers, the
converts became missionaries, the healed became healers. The disciples became
apostles, witnesses of the risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, and
nothing was ever the same again.”
So
today, clouds or no clouds, let’s join our hearts with Christians around the
world to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, including with those who do so
on the Mount of Olives to this very day. One Franciscan brother who lives in
the Holy Land wrote in his blog at the conclusion of their services: “Many
pilgrims climbed to the Chapel of the Ascension throughout the afternoon, night
and early morning hours, finding there, along with a spirit of prayer, true
joy. A wonderful way to enter into the waiting for Pentecost.” A wonderful way
indeed. AMEN.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, May 28, 2017
