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05/01/2008
May 1, 2008 (Ascension Day)
by The Very Reverend William Thomas Deneke
Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-53
Ascension Day is a principal Feast of the Church. It comes forty days after Easter Day and ten days before Pentecost. Tonight’s gospel from Luke tells the story of Jesus’ blessing the disciples and then withdrawing before he was carried up to heaven.
The Ascension story cannot be separated from that of Pentecost. As Jesus prepared to return to God the Father, he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to those left behind.
The Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday are all about defining God after the Incarnation. Following the Resurrection, the Easter experience that affirmed life over death, goodness over evil and forgiveness over revenge, the Christian story was faced with the completion of God’s presence in Jesus of Nazareth.
John’s gospel deals with the theology of this challenge forthrightly. His theological position is that God was made human in Jesus; the eternal word became flesh. After the Resurrection, Christ ascended back to God, but not before he breathed the Holy Spirit upon his followers.
The Ascension is one of the foundation stones for the Trinity. It places Jesus back into the Godhead. And Jesus had to return to the Father to validate the Incarnation. He simply couldn’t retire and write memoirs. He came from God, was of God and returned to God.
What Jesus took back to God was our humanity. Jesus at the right hand of God the Father puts our humanity right next to the God who is wholly other and beyond our understanding. Because of the Ascension Jesus informs, reveals and pleads the case of humanity. Because of the Ascension the joys and sorrows of people have an advocate before the throne of grace. God knows our longings, our deceit, out hard heartedness, our generosity, our strengths and weaknesses.
The gospels are not quiet on the subject of what kind of advocate Jesus is at the right hand of God. Forgive them, Father, he says. The ascended Christ intercedes for us.
The Holy Trinity requires a lively imagination. Not because it is so other worldly but because it brings together heaven and earth, the infinite and the finite. Once the presence of God was revealed in the Incarnation, things got theologically complicated. The Trinity helps us to sort out the complexity. But because it is relationship based, the relationships of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity carries with it the fluidity of the wonders of God. Relationships are never static, especially those of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of Life. The Ascension speaks to the depths of divine relationships.
So, first came the Incarnation, then the Resurrection followed by the Ascension and Pentecost and celebrated in the Holy Trinity. These are great markers of God’s love for people. And we need to celebrate and hold to that love. It is a sacrificial and life giving love. It needs to define our personal and world perspectives. Without such a great feast as the Ascension, the world would be a lot more hopeless and diminished. In a time of demoralizing war, world hunger, mindless distractions, lost opportunities, and stewardship neglect, it is important to celebrate that Christ has taken our humanity to the right hand of God.
What do we want God to know about us? What kind of definition do we want for ourselves? Jesus holds out his hand to us. What message do we want him to take to God? What do we want him to remember when he comes into his kingdom?
These are questions for this evening of celebration and thanksgiving.
Let us pray.
Thank you, Jesus, for coming to be with us. For showing us your way and our salvation. This night we thank you for taking our humanity to heaven, for not forgetting or abandoning us. Thank you for sending the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, to love and guide us. Help us to follow the Spirit. And help us through your grace to clothe our humanity in the abundant way of living you revealed. Amen.
The Ascension story cannot be separated from that of Pentecost. As Jesus prepared to return to God the Father, he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to those left behind.
The Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday are all about defining God after the Incarnation. Following the Resurrection, the Easter experience that affirmed life over death, goodness over evil and forgiveness over revenge, the Christian story was faced with the completion of God’s presence in Jesus of Nazareth.
John’s gospel deals with the theology of this challenge forthrightly. His theological position is that God was made human in Jesus; the eternal word became flesh. After the Resurrection, Christ ascended back to God, but not before he breathed the Holy Spirit upon his followers.
The Ascension is one of the foundation stones for the Trinity. It places Jesus back into the Godhead. And Jesus had to return to the Father to validate the Incarnation. He simply couldn’t retire and write memoirs. He came from God, was of God and returned to God.
What Jesus took back to God was our humanity. Jesus at the right hand of God the Father puts our humanity right next to the God who is wholly other and beyond our understanding. Because of the Ascension Jesus informs, reveals and pleads the case of humanity. Because of the Ascension the joys and sorrows of people have an advocate before the throne of grace. God knows our longings, our deceit, out hard heartedness, our generosity, our strengths and weaknesses.
The gospels are not quiet on the subject of what kind of advocate Jesus is at the right hand of God. Forgive them, Father, he says. The ascended Christ intercedes for us.
The Holy Trinity requires a lively imagination. Not because it is so other worldly but because it brings together heaven and earth, the infinite and the finite. Once the presence of God was revealed in the Incarnation, things got theologically complicated. The Trinity helps us to sort out the complexity. But because it is relationship based, the relationships of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity carries with it the fluidity of the wonders of God. Relationships are never static, especially those of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of Life. The Ascension speaks to the depths of divine relationships.
So, first came the Incarnation, then the Resurrection followed by the Ascension and Pentecost and celebrated in the Holy Trinity. These are great markers of God’s love for people. And we need to celebrate and hold to that love. It is a sacrificial and life giving love. It needs to define our personal and world perspectives. Without such a great feast as the Ascension, the world would be a lot more hopeless and diminished. In a time of demoralizing war, world hunger, mindless distractions, lost opportunities, and stewardship neglect, it is important to celebrate that Christ has taken our humanity to the right hand of God.
What do we want God to know about us? What kind of definition do we want for ourselves? Jesus holds out his hand to us. What message do we want him to take to God? What do we want him to remember when he comes into his kingdom?
These are questions for this evening of celebration and thanksgiving.
Let us pray.
Thank you, Jesus, for coming to be with us. For showing us your way and our salvation. This night we thank you for taking our humanity to heaven, for not forgetting or abandoning us. Thank you for sending the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, to love and guide us. Help us to follow the Spirit. And help us through your grace to clothe our humanity in the abundant way of living you revealed. Amen.
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