Acts 1:6-11
Are We There Yet?
April 24, 2005
Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg
Long trips in our automobiles bring out the best in our families don’t they? What parent doesn’t relish the thought of 8 or 9 hours in the car with their beloved children, and how many children can’t wait to jump into the family truckster for a day of listening to mom and dad’s John Denver, Elton John, and Amy Grant cassettes as the family rolls down the highway? Yes, friends, summer vacation is only a few months away.
Inevitably, every family car in America is witness to a singular question that is so loaded I can hardly bear to ask it now: “Are we there yet?” Whether the trip is an hour or 20 hours this question is bound to be asked, and what gets under the skin of those who have to answer is the fact that everyone in the car knows that we aren’t there yet. What a great question! What an annoying question! Are we there yet?
This morning, as we continue in our study of Acts, we come to the account of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. I am willing to bet that most in this sanctuary have not heard many sermons concerning Jesus’ ascension, yet this is an important event in Jesus’ ministry and in the Church’s life. To understand the ascension we need to look at it from two viewpoints or perspectives: that of Jesus and that of the disciples.
Before applying the meaning of the ascension to our lives, let’s be sure we get the story of Jesus’ ascension straight. This event takes place 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection and 10 days before Pentecost – the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Jesus has appeared to his disciples 10 times since his resurrection and he has made it clear to them that his body is real and that he really did rise from the grave. The disciples seem to sense that something important is going to happen. They ask Jesus, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
We should hear in this question that familiar refrain from our lives spent in cars: Are we there yet? The disciples think it is finally time for Jesus to take control of things and establish his kingdom. Its what they’ve been waiting for all along and its finally time to see the show. No more Romans and no more Greeks, it’s us and the Lord. So much had happened in the disciples’ lives; we really can’t blame them if they thought Jesus was bringing a political kingdom. We can even give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they thought Jesus was at that moment going to bring spiritual redemption in the form of the Kingdom of God. Whatever the case was the disciples wanted to know whether or not they had arrived at their destination.
Jesus’ answer to that question is an emphatic “No!” Then he tells the disciples that they are going to be his witnesses not only in Jerusalem but in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the world. If they had lived among us Jesus might have said his disciples would be witnesses in Newport County, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and to the ends of the world. As if to emphasize to the disciples that they were not there yet, Jesus then ascends into heaven. Think about it, if Jesus is no longer on earth, then the work of being witnesses to the resurrection really is the disciples’ work and the question, “are we there yet?” takes on even greater importance.
We get a taste of this in the final verses of today’s text as the disciples peer into the sky, an awkward group of men staring into space wondering what had happened to Jesus. It’s sort of comical to think of these 11 men standing together gazing into the heavens as Jesus is hidden from view by a cloud. We can imagine that they stood silently for some time looking up, wondering if Jesus would return. Their silent gazing is broken by two angels who tell the disciples: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." With these words the work of the Church is begun and the disciples discover that the answer to their question “Are we there yet?” is “We’ll be there when Jesus returns.”
That’s the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, knowing the story is one thing, understanding why Jesus was lifted up into heaven is another, and as I noted earlier, the best way to understand this event is to look at it from Jesus’ perspective and then from the disciples’ perspective.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus appeared to his disciples 10 times after his resurrection, having them touch his body and eating with them? Wouldn’t one time have been enough? One time would have been enough, but I think that Jesus appeared a number of times in order to prove to his disciples, whether they lived then or now, that he had risen from the dead not just spiritually but physically. His body rose from the grave. Christians have always believed that Jesus was fully God and fully human, and when he rose from the grave he rose as one who was still fully God and fully human. He did not leave his human nature in the grave.
You may be thinking that I’m getting awfully technical here and wondering what the big deal is about Jesus being fully God and fully human. Here’s the big deal. When Jesus is lifted into the heavens, he is still fully God and fully human. Up until that point humanity had been cut off from the presence of God because of sin. Jesus ascends to heaven making a way for humanity to join him there. Remember that God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the garden. Before sin, God and humanity enjoyed a full relationship, but because of human rebellion, that relationship was shattered, as all humanity stood far off from God. Jesus’ ascent to heaven opens the possibility of our dwelling with God, for as the Apostle Paul says, “Since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1Cor 15:21-22). Friends what a great hope we have that we will rise with Christ.
When we think of Christ and his ascension we also can take great comfort in the fact that he speaks in our favor with God the Father. Christ has ascended and now is able to intercede for us. He is also able to be known by all who would come to him. When we think of his earthly ministry, we are reminded that he was close with only a small group of people – 12 to be exact, and of those 12 he was only very close to 3 disciples, and of those 3 he near with only one: John. There was no way that Jesus could be in relationship with everyone during his earthly ministry, but as one who has been lifted up to heaven, he is able to be in relationship with us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus dwells in our hearts and we are one with him. When we take communion we come into the presence of the risen Christ, supping with him and being strengthen for our journey. This is only possible because of the ascension of Christ.
As we look at the ascension through Jesus’ perspective, we should make a final note and that is that Jesus’ ministry on earth has been completed. His work of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and of calling sinners to repentance is done. He will no longer engage in this work. When Jesus returns, there will not be another invitation to become a citizen of the Kingdom, for Jesus’ return will bring a division between those who know him and those who do not. Jesus’ ascension demonstrates that he has been faithful to the task given him on earth; he has defeated sin and death and conquered the evil one, and as he is taken into heaven, he is Lord of all creation. When telling of Jesus’ ascension, the writer of Hebrews notes, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool” (10:12-13). So it is that when we look at Jesus’ ascension from his own perspective, an upward perspective, we discover this event is full of significance for our lives of faith.
We will discover the same thing when we look at the ascension from the disciples’ perspective, an outward perspective, for there we see the foundations of the mission of the Church. When Jesus was lifted up, the disciples were left on the ground and they stood there gazing into the sky. I wonder if they were thinking something along these lines, “If we aren’t there yet, what are we supposed to do now? Maybe if we keep looking up, he’ll come back.” The two angels burst that bubble and the disciples are left to be Jesus’ witnesses throughout the world. Just think, the disciples could have decided to keep quiet about all that had happened. They could have gone home and tried to forget what the Lord had done in their lives. Our gathering together this morning in Jesus’ name proves to us though that they did not keep quiet about what they had seen.
How could they have kept quiet? Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would come upon them with power so that they would be witnesses throughout the world. So they waited for ten days and on the day of Pentecost the Spirit did come upon them with power and over 3,000 came to Christ on that day. The Church blossomed into existence and no power could or can stand in its way, for it is the body of Christ proclaiming the Kingdom of God in a fallen world.
Of course, the disciples didn’t know that as they stood gazing into the sky; they only knew that their leader was gone and that something new had begun. They came to understand that they were living in an in between time in which God was using the Church to proclaim the opportunity of life everlasting to the world. As Christ tells us, no one knows how long this in between time will last, that is the Father’s knowledge alone, but we do know that this time is shorter now than it was 2,000 years ago. We also know that the church has a mission to go out and be a witness for Christ.
We know too that the Church has not been left alone for this task. The Holy Spirit has been given to the Church in order to help the Church accomplish its mission. It is the Spirit who seeks to make Christ known in the world, and it is through members of the Church, people like you and me, that the Spirit does his work. Can you imagine that 2 billion people know Christ today because of those 11 uneducated fishermen who stood gazing into the sky on a hill outside of Bethany so long ago? The Church accomplishes its mission not because of the greatness of its members, the size of its financial endowments, the oratory of its preachers, or the political influence of its institutions. The Church accomplishes its mission because the Holy Spirit is at work in and through its members in ways that are seen and unseen.
So it is that the Church is most effective when its members recognize themselves not as respectable Christians in a surfacy, meaningless, religious way, but the Church is most effective when its members recognize themselves as those who were broken and lost, adrift in a sea of meaninglessness, hungry and afraid, without hope in a fallen world. When we can see ourselves as the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame that God the Father invited to take part in his banquet (Luke 14:13-24), the Holy Spirit will work in a powerful way to use us to proclaim the Kingdom of God. We aren’t used in our strength; we’re used in our weakness.
Jesus’ first disciples, who stood together dumbfounded on a hill looking into the sky, found this out, and when we take the opportunity to follow Jesus we will discover this too. Jesus has ascended into heaven and he is glorified there as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Those who follow him wait for his return and in the meantime we go about our work as witnesses of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord.
Are we there yet?
May it be Lord! Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
Bibliography
Kennedy, D. James. Knowing the Whole Truth: Basic Christianity and What It Means in Your Life. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell. 1985.
Mills, Robert P. I Believe . . .: The Apostles’ Creed for the Third Millennium. Lenoir, NC: PLC Publications. 1998.