Sermon by The Rev. Charles Searls Ridge
The Feast of the Ascension, 2004
As the apostles were listening to Jesus, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he as going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven is one of the central mysteries of the Christian Faith. I wish I had asked, in the announcements at Mass last Sunday, if there was anyone present who really understands the Ascension… and if they would like to preach on it tonight? Alas, I did not ask… but I’ll bet there would have been a lot of people at St. Paul’s who would have said, “Oh please, may I?.”
What is true, however, is that even though I was the rector of the Church of the Ascension (Magnolia) for eleven years, I have no record of ever having preached on the Ascension. At the Church of the Ascension we always had a patronal party/event on the evening of Ascension Day––several years with St. Paul’s, who founded Ascension in 1936––but there usually wasn’t time to have a Eucharist… let alone a Eucharist with sermon! There was always time for the Evening Office, and, some years, for Evensong… without sermon.
So… how does one––how do I––handle this profound mystery of the Christian Faith? Well, one of the first things I do when I want to make sense out of a Christian mystery is go to a children’s dictionary of the Christian Faith. Children are much more open to––much better at dealing with––mystery than are adults. More than Words was published by the Seabury Press in 1958 as a resource book for use with the Seabury Series Sunday School curriculum. It raised some eyebrow in those days as it presupposed that Episcopalian children might not have to learn, first, that all Bible stories are literally true and learn later––around age 18 or older––learn that maybe the truth of these stories goes beyond literal truth.
More than Words says that because of Jesus’ Ascension the followers of Jesus had to know the Lord in a new way which is the way we know him today––through prayer, Scripture, liturgy (especially the Eucharist), and through serving other people. Thus, unlike when Jesus was on the earth and could only be known in one place at a time––where he could be seen and heard––we can know him any where and at all times at once.
Finally, More than Words reminds us that since we believe Jesus to be both fully divine and fully human, his Ascension means that when he returns to the Father he takes our humanity––our human experience––back with him to the Creator where it has eternal meaning.
The second thing I usually do when I am trying to figure out what to say about a central Christian mystery is to talk to someone who is into Christianity… but who is not ordained or licensed to preach. So, when I met on Tuesday with a woman whom I mentor as a Benedictine Oblate––she is an active United Methodist––I asked her what the Ascension of Jesus was about and she said, upon reflection, it is about three things.
-
First it is about joy: Jesus gets to return to his Father and his going there ahead of me which gives me the confidence that I will follow.
-
Secondly, it is about fulfillment: Jesus completes his purpose of coming into the world––of the Incarnation.
-
And thirdly, it is about relationship––our responsibility to be in relationship with God without Jesus being physically present with us .
Not bad for a United Methodist, hum?
Finally, I turn to Sam Portaro, this time his book, Daysprings––Meditations on the Weekdays of Advent, Lent, and Easter. Portaro, as he always does, makes several really helpful observations. The one I like best is around Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? He points out that when we try to understand the Ascension we find ourselves in the posture shared by the actual witnesses to the Ascension: mouths open and minds agape; staring blankly and uncomprehendingly into the heavens. “The suggestion of Jesus’ literal ascension into thin air” Portaro says “grabs our attention and wrests our limited faculties from their accustomed calm.”
Wrestling with the meaning of the Ascension event reminds us that Christian vocation is not a thing once-delivered to the saints, but a gradual, life-long waiting and a perpetual receiving. Wrestling with the Ascension also teaches us that, ultimately, there is nothing we can do to earn or explain our salvation; we can only humbly and gratefully receive it as God’s grace, wait for its completion (which will not be until all have been saved), and live our lives in gratitude for it.
As the apostles were listening to Jesus, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he as going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
