St Anne’s Brown Edge – Sunday after Ascension 2016
Psalm 47 1-10, Acts 1.1-11, Ephesians 1.15-23, Luke
24.44-53.
The ascension of Jesus and three questions.
1) Where is Jesus now?
2) Where is heaven?
3) Does the answer we give to those questions make any difference
to our lives and the world we inhabit?
We have had a catalogue of
readings this morning from Psalms, Acts, Ephesians and from Luke.
I would like us to focus
on the ascension account from Luke and from Acts.
You will see very quickly
that as Luke ends his Gospel account so he begins his account of the outworking
of that Gospel spreading across the Mediterranean and beyond.
Luke ends his Gospel with
an account of the ascension…
When he had led them out to the
vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them,
he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they
worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And
they stayed continually at the temple, praising God
He begins The Acts of the Apostles
by referring to his first book and giving an account of Jesus’ ascension.
Ascension Day begins to
draw to a close the celebration of Easter.
Our thoughts now begin to turn towards the promise Jesus made to the
disciples.
“I
am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until
you are clothed with power from in high.’
In my home church, we have
Growth Groups. Between six up to a dozen people who gather together weekly to
enjoy each other’s company, study the Scriptures, pray, and support one
another.
In the Growth Group I
belong to, we have been exploring the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection
appearances.
It has been a fascinating
exploration.
Of course, it is very
important to remember that the disciple did not understand nor did they expect
Jesus to rise from death. As far as they could see on Good Friday, it was all
over, a beautiful dream turned into a nightmare and another failed would be
Messiah.
In his resurrection
appearances, Jesus is not always recognized at first. Think of the story Luke
tells us of the couple on the road to Emmaus. Or of Mary in the Garden on that
first Easter morning.
Jesus can apparently come
and go and locked doors present no barrier to him. Yet he can eat and drink, and
has flesh and bone, he is not a ghost.
In Matthew 28.9 we read; ‘Suddenly Jesus met them? “Greetings,” he said. They
came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him’.
They clasped his feet
because ghosts did not have feet.
Therefore, this is Jesus,
fully, totally and utterly bodily raised from death. However, it is a new kind
of body, a body that is at home both in heaven and on earth.
That then begins to lead
us into answering the very important first question – where is Jesus now?
Remember Newton’s hymn,
‘How Sweet the name of Jesus sounds’ with the verse that says;
Jesus, our Saviour, Shepherd,
Friend,
Our Prophet, Priest, and King;
Our Prophet, Priest, and King;
Jesus was of course all of
those things and much more as well. That is what the Gospels testify.
Then recall Jesus’s words
to Mary in the garden, Jesus said,
"Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go
instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your
Father, to my God and your God.'"
You see, although Jesus
had a resurrected body it was still spatially bound. He could not appear to
Thomas and show his hands and side, be at the seashore to cook breakfast for
Peter and the other disciples and walk along the Emmaus Road all at the same
time.
Mary wanted Jesus locked
down and never to let him go having miraculously got him back from death.
However, that would limit
Jesus spatially and he could then only be in one place at a time.
Therefore, Jesus, our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend, our Prophet,
Priest, and King, takes all of that and ascends to the throne of God in heaven
- as well as the scars inflicted upon him.
Where is Jesus now – at the right hand of God where as we read in Matthew
28.18 ‘All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’
King Jesus now reigns over
heaven and earth and is seated at the right hand of God.
However, I do like the account Luke brings us of the first martyr Stephen. As he was close to death, Stephen said…
Look,"
he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand
of God."
It is as if Jesus is
standing to welcome the very first Christian martyr, encouraging him to remain
strong and faithful.
At the right hand of God, Jesus intercedes for us…
Christ
Jesus who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of
God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8.34
‘Therefore,
He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He
always lives to intercede for them.’ Hebrews 7.25
‘Therefore,
since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.’
Hebrews 4.14
‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.’ Hebrews 5.15
To put it in modern
parlance, Jesus has been here, done that, bought the T-shirt and is now in
heaven rooting for you and for me.
Let us move on to try to
answer our second question – where is heaven.
(Recommend Paula Gooder ‘Where on earth is heaven?’ & ‘Heaven’)
The first balloon flight
was in 1783.
In 1903, the Wright
brothers made the first powered flight.
Subsequently we have
explored the far reaches of our galaxies.
We know of a fact that
heaven is not geographically located up there.
Although we continue
within popular culture to locate heaven somewhere up above – ‘there’s a home for little children, beyond
the bright blue sky’
This is because we have
inherited the cosmological worldview of the Biblical Hebrews; heaven was
located above the clouds. This was a place created by God to be His realm where
he could dwell alongside his creation.
Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth.
Therefore, we arrive at triple-decker universe with heaven above, the earth and then hell below.
Then it is but a short
hop, skip and a jump to say that heaven - ‘up there’ - is our final destiny
once we have escaped the shackles of being earth bound. We become disembodied
spirits doing whatever disembodies spirits do. Those who are nasty people are destined
to spend eternity down below – in hell.
If science and technology have helped us to understand,
that heaven is not ‘up there’ - then it has helped us with the concept of
parallel universes and other dimensions of time, space and matter.
Though a cloud him from
their sight, that does not necessarily mean Jesus went up into the clouds like
a Star Trek character being beamed up by Scotty. We must read these accounts
within the framework of Biblical Hebrew cosmology.
There are numerous time
where God’s presence appears as a cloud having descended.
Think of the
Transfiguration for example.
In 2 Kings 6 we read the
story of Elisha whose servant wakes up one morning to find that an army has
come and encamped around them meaning to take and kill Elisha. The servant is scared
witless by this and so Elisha says to him, "Do
not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with
them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Where is heaven – it is
here all around us and yet in another dimension.
C.S. Lewes brought this to
our understanding in his wonderful Narnia Chronicles. A whole world opening up
at the back of wardrobe and yet with a completely different time frame.
Therefore, instead of tying ourselves up in knots over Jesus ascension into the clouds, is there another was we can think about Jesus ascension?
Well, yes, a far more
important way – and having a quick trawl through pictures, it is one way that sadly
gets very little attention.
Who is celebrating a very
special 90th birthday this year?
A very important date was
the 6th February 1952. That was the day King George V1 died. From
that moment onwards, Queen Elizabeth 11 was a different person and everything
changed for everyone in the United Kingdom and the Empire and indeed across the
whole world.
There was now a new Queen as
head of State in Great Britain. You may
love the new monarch, you may hate the new monarch, and you may be living
somewhere where you are hardly aware of a new monarch.
However, the reality
remains the same; Queen Elizabeth 11 is the reigning monarch having ascended to
the throne.
(The Queen's Coronation was
on the 2nd June 1953 – but that is not her ascension.)
That is the ascension we
are referring too when we talk about Jesus’ ascension.
We should make it clear
however, that Jesus did not ascend to the throne upon the death of God – rather
he ascended to be co-regent.
Therefore, Jesus has
ascended into the heavenly realm, which is the realm of God, which is not
located spatially or geographically in the clouds or somewhere up there.
The Christian Celts often
talked about ‘thin places.’ Where heaven and earth seemed to be very close and
open to each other? Places of great devotion and prayer.
There are times –
sometimes in worship or in deep contemplation when we can become very aware of
heaven all around us, yet as if hidden behind a cloud or curtain.
Therefore, to answer our
third question, what difference does this make?
Let me refer you back to the reality of the Princess Elizabeth becoming Queen Elizabeth.
Everything changed from
that moment onwards.
As Jesus, our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,our Prophet, Priest, and King, ascends to sit at the right hand of God we
recall from Matthew he was given all authority on heaven and earth.
Therefore, you may hate King Jesus, or you may love King Jesus, or you may
not know that he is the King over all in heaven and upon earth. Yet the reality remains the same.
Those of us who know and
love Jesus the King will seek to live by the power of the Holy Spirit and have
our lives guided by the Scriptures.
All that Jesus did and was
during his earthy ministry he still is - only now in a much wider cosmic sense.
As followers of Jesus the
King, we acknowledge his supreme authority over each and every part of our
lives. We acknowledge Jesus’ supreme authority over each and every part of our
planet and our universe and beyond.
St Augustine said, ‘if
Jesus is not valued above all, then he is not valued at all.’
Next week all Churches
across the U.K. have been invited by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury to engage in a week of intentional prayer for the evangelization of our nation. The focus of this initiative is the Lord Prayer.
Our Father in Heaven, may
your name be honoured, may your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.
However that prayer, so
simple and yet so profound can become something we say almost by rote.
I invite you to repeat
after me this personalized version of the Lord’s Prayer as we pledge our allegiance
to the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ – who is now the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords…
My Father in heaven:
May your holy name be honored in my life;
may your Kingdom come wherever I am;
may your will be done in my heart as it is in heaven.
Give me today the food I need.
Forgive me the wrongs I have done,
as I forgive the wrongs that others have done to me.
Do not bring me to hard testing,
but keep me safe from the Evil One.
May your holy name be honored in my life;
may your Kingdom come wherever I am;
may your will be done in my heart as it is in heaven.
Give me today the food I need.
Forgive me the wrongs I have done,
as I forgive the wrongs that others have done to me.
Do not bring me to hard testing,
but keep me safe from the Evil One.
Amen
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