Is this real? It almost seems too good to be true. Are we really so fortunate to be able to gather in the same place for worship? Is this a dream? Are we really going to be receiving the Lord’s Supper in a short while? Can we really do it in this difficult time?
Is it real? Is Jesus really present here with us, even as He is reigning over the whole church and our world? Of course it is all real. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
It is real, Jesus will return. And until He returns we are not left to just gaze up in the sky with a feeling of abandonment or lack of purpose. We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can even today live in the joy of God’s kingdom coming among us- so that we can live out our lives in faith and trust in Jesus until he returns. Jesus not only reigns over the whole world, but over our congregation and our own individual lives. Jesus ascended into heaven so that we would know Him through the church- through Word and Sacrament, through forgiveness and love, self sacrifice, and hope. How amazing! This is real!
The rule of Jesus at the Right Hand of the Father means that everyone can know Jesus- not just the disciples. Remember the promise from the Old Testament: “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.”
Do you feel the beauty of this promise fulfilled in our time today? Through Christ we have received the same promise of God. Through our personal devotions and prayers we have know Jesus with us through a time of social isolation. And now the time has come where we once again can hear this promise to know Jeus each and every Sunday as God’s Word is read.
“They shall be my people, and I will be there God.” No matter if we are wearing masks or if we are separated by unusual precautions- we are here, we shall always be His people and Jesus shall always be our God- who reigns above.
Notice in verse 6 of our reading the anticipation the disciple had for Jesus as they came together with Jesus after His resurrection: For forty days Jesus had been appearing to them and others showing them his resurrection glory. Everyone was all together now, they asked him, “Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”
This was a question heavy with expectation, yearning and hope. ‘Lord will you at this time fulfill your promises to us?’ ‘Will you deliver us from the sufferings and the uncertainties of this world?’ ‘When will the day come when every eye will behold you?’
Jesus answered, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”
Perhaps some knowledge is too great for us. Psalm 131 puts it well: “O LORD my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high, I do not occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul.”
We ourselves are not strangers to occupying ourselves with great questions. Why this illness in our society now with so many complications to our lives and so many losses?
Why this ongoing struggle with managing difficulties of maintaining a church? Why this cross to bear? We would like to have all of the answers. But God’s Word tells us not to let ourselves become occupied with questions too great for us. We are to let God’s Word quietly and gently calm our restless souls.
The disciples may have asked, ‘Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom? ‘ But it was not yet time for Jesus to restore the kingdom and bring about the great transformations of the last day. Jesus had a plan even so. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
He was telling them something marvelous. My kingdom will indeed come as you asked. But you are going to play a part in bringing it forth! I am giving you all the gift of the Holy Spirit so that through you my Word will go out in great power to the ends of the earth. You will be my witnesses until the day I return. You will be my body.
Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous
is like the light of dawn,
which
shines brighter and brighter until full day.
In last Sunday’s readings we heard from 1Peter chapter 3
1Peter 3:15 ‘always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you’ We want to be prepared to describe the hope we have in Jesus, no matter how difficult the time we live in. Our hope is not just in the fact that Jesus is risen, but that he has ascended and will return.
In other words our hope is not just that one day we will be with Jesus because he is risen, we shall rise too- our hope is also that because Jesus reigns over all even today our current life circumstances are directed and ordered by our Savior.
He cares for our needs and walks with us, even through our suffering. Peter references the ascension a few verses later in chapter 3: “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers having been subject to him.”
Peter knew that the church was not alone since Jesus ascended to heaven. He saw how all things were now subject to Jesus- even as he saw the church experience the persecution he references in 1Peter chapter 1.
We are not asked to live our faith on our own. We are never alone. As he spoke to the 11 on the Mt. “see I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We already have been equipped with everything we need. We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and we have a living Savior who fights for us. He has taught us His truth and now we as the church are to be his witnesses in places he himself never traveled to during his earthly ministry.
He Ascended to heaven and left the disciples in Jerusalem so that he might exercise his full power at the right hand of God. Just as we confess in the Apostles Creed, Jesus Ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
When we say Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Father, it does not mean that Jesus is sitting on a throne next to the Father. But instead that Jesus is ruling over Heaven and earth. He ascended above to heaven not to distance himself from us, but so that he could come in the power of His Word to all people throughout world.
He shows the power of his rule at the right hand of the Father as he makes himself present with us and all believers. He comes to us in the Lord’s Supper at our church and in churches throughout the world. There are no limits to what Jesus at the right hand of the Father can do. There may be rulers and authorities of this world that do not acknowledge him, yet His truth reigns throughout the world.
Ephesians tells us that “In glorifying Christ God also raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
He has ascended and he has raised up us his church as well. We wait in faith on the sure promise of God. It is with this sure promise that the church prays, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
We rejoice in the church today as we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. It certainly is comforting to know that Jesus reigns over all. As we celebrate this weekend Memorial day along with the rest of our nation, we give thanks for the courage Jesus gave to those who have served our nation. Certainly we can see the reign of Jesus in the form of the countless men and women who have served our nation in times of war.
It is a wonderful thing to know that Jesus rules in love each day in our world, no matter the trials we experience. He is risen indeed Alleluia!
