Jesus Ascends to Come, Not to Leave

Luke 24:44-53 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you:  Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, "This is what is written:  The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  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.

Last week, my sister Dawn was named the head coach for the women's basketball team of Northern Kentucky University. NKU held a press conference. They celebrated her arrival. They even had a cheesy play on her name calling it the “Dawn of a New Era.” There should be excitement for a new coach who is coming.

You don’t usually celebrate departures as greatly as you celebrate new arrivals. My sister had been the assistant head coach of the Michigan Wolverines for the past 5 years. U of M didn’t have a press conference celebrating her departure to another program.

But if I can be honest with you for a moment, I kind of prefer her departure. I wore the maize and blue to support my sister … and the clothing was free. But it also gave me hives. I’m excited to get rid of all that stuff and now wear the black and gold of NKU. If you know anyone who is a Michigan fan, they can gladly have my old stuff.

We celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ at His birth at Christmas with poinsettias and a full church. We celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ back from the dead at Easter with Easter lilies and a full church. But Jesus’ ascension into heaven doesn’t seem to garner the same amount of fanfare. There are no special flowers. The church is not full. Maybe that’s because Jesus’ ascension appears to be a departure and we really don’t like celebrating someone leaving us.

However, when you really focus on the events and accounts of the ascension, you learn that Jesus’ ascension really isn’t about leaving, it is about coming back. A coming like at Christmas and Easter. And if we can learn to think of it that way, we can celebrate this high festival with the same enthusiasm that the disciples had on that 40^th day after Easter.

So, how is Jesus’ ascension really a coming to us?

Notice how St. Luke, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describes the disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ ascension. “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.” They returned “with great joy.” You would think that after having spent three years of their lives with Jesus, then having Him ripped from them so drastically forty-three days earlier on Maundy Thursday and then dramatically witnessing His corpse placed into the tomb, they would want to hold onto Him and never let Him go. You would think this departure was an occasion for sadness … but the opposite was true. Because the disciples were finally starting to get it. They saw the completing of Jesus’ work for them. Though He was going to a far better country (Hebrews 11:16), they would continue as His loyal subjects, willing to have Him reign over them seated at the right hand of the Father, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion … with all things under His feet” (Ephesians 1:21,22). They saw the Son of God returning to His rightful place. They were convinced that though Jesus was leaving, in a little while – 10 days to be exact – He would send what He had promised – the Holy Spirit upon them with rushing wind and tongues of fire as their Comforter and Counselor.

Luke writes that Jesus began to “open their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” They were beginning to get it, but they weren’t totally there yet. Isn’t that a perfect description of ourselves? Beginning to get it, but not quite there yet. We worship. But we also skip church. We believe. Yet we doubt. We hear Jesus say that He’s in control. But still we worry. We know Jesus is watching over us and working everything out for our good. Still we complain. He promises the Holy Spirit working through Word and Sacraments. But we don’t make regular use of them. We know Jesus wishes to continue to open our minds in the Scriptures. But we haven’t attended Bible study in years. Jesus promises to be with us always. Yet we allow loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty to creep into our hearts and minds. We confess, but we also cringe. We witness, but we also waffle. We receive all of God’s good and gracious gifts, but we also regret having to give up so many enjoyable sins

Like the Eleven, we are not perfectly steadfast. We find ourselves divided. Our mind and emotions are torn. Our sinful flesh and our sanctified spirit are pulling us in two separate directions.

But that’s exactly why Jesus ascended to His Father! He ascends to answer our prayers. He ascends to help and forgive us divided and confused and doubting disciples. He ascends that we might believe. And that is why we are here tonight, and why we are celebrating this great day. To remember that Jesus’ ascension does not mean that He is gone and that we are now on our own – but that He ascended in order to be with us always.

Jesus ascends, but He doesn’t leave. Because the Son of God is now in the heavenly realms, He is no longer confined by time and space. As the God-Man, He is no longer humbly keeping His power and glory under wraps. He is right now exercising the full power and authority of God. For us. And even though He does not show Himself to our eyes anymore, He is still with us. As He promised. With us to serve us, to speak to us, to wash us, to feed us, to forgive us, to save us.

In order that we might be sure of this, Jesus had to ascend. Suppose Jesus had gone on showing Himself as He did before His resurrection. Where would He be this evening? Here, or in some other church? Here in America, or in New Guinea, or Europe, or Africa, or where? And if so, we would say: If He is there, then He is not here. Then He is not wherever two or three gather in His name. Then He is not with us always. Then He is not present at the altar in the Lord’s Supper. But because Jesus ascended, we, His children, no matter where we are, know that He is with us, in any and every place, all at the same time!

A first grade teacher seated her students in a circle. She asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. One by one, each child got up and announced “I’d like to be a nurse like my mother,” or “I’d like to be a banker like my father,” or “I want to be a teacher like you, Miss Smith.”

The last child to speak was the most shy and timid boy in the class. He said, “When I get big, I’m going to be a lion tamer in the circus. I’m going to face those animals with my whip and chair and make them leap through hoops of fire and obey all my commands!”

Seeing the shock and disbelief on the faces of his classmates, he was quick to reassure them, “Well, you know, I’d have my mother with me.”

Having someone “with me” can make all the difference. Jesus promises that He will be with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He also promised, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). So, Jesus ascended in order to come to us personally, individually, continually, eternally.

But Jesus also ascended so that the Holy Spirit could be sent and also come to us. The Holy Spirit comes as the Counselor to sanctify and strengthen us. But this is not really two separate comings, but one and the same coming. For where Jesus is, there is the Spirit; and where the Spirit is, there also is Jesus. It’s not as if we can receive Jesus apart from the Spirit or the Spirit apart from Jesus. Jesus never gives you a part of Himself, but always all of Himself. In His Christmas coming, in His Easter coming, and now in His Ascension coming, Jesus gives you all He is and all He has. That you may be His own. That He may sanctify you and keep you until He comes again for you – either when you die or when He comes again in glory.

But Jesus and the Holy Spirit do not just descend on us out of thin air. They work together through the Means of Grace in the Gospel in Word and Sacraments. In the Word and Sacraments which are preached and taught and administered by pastors and teachers. We also heard from the inspired words of St. Paul: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Jesus and the Spirit descend on us through the four pastors at Epiphany and First Evan and New Hope. They come to our children through the ten teachers at WLS and in a few months, through our new principal, Mr. Patterson, and our new 1^st grade teacher from Martin Luther College.

Jesus ascended into heaven, not to leave us, but that He might multiply His ministry. That He might bring children into His Kingdom as the pastor pours water and Word over the infant’s head. That He might feed His new confirmands with His body and blood at His holy table. That He might train a child in the school desk in way she should go so that when she is old she will not depart from it. That He might comfort the dying with the sure hope of an eternal paradise. That He might offer absolution and blessing in the liturgy to the guilty and despairing.

Jesus ascended into heaven, not to leave us, but in order to equip the saints; for the work of His ministry; for the building up of the body of Christ; for unity in our confession of faith.

Jesus left. The disciples saw Him leave. But they weren’t sad. They weren’t disheartened. They were filled with great joy. Why? Because they knew what we now know. Jesus left, but He isn’t gone. He is with you now. With you everywhere you go. With you in His Word. With you in your Baptism. With you in His Supper. With you through your pastor and your teachers. With you in your church and in your home. With you with His forgiving compassion. With you with His loving concern. With you with His gentle understanding. With you with His watchful eyes, He scarred back, His pierced side, His holy hands, His determined path, His protective power. With you forever.

Arrivals are more fun to celebrate than departures. But Jesus’ ascension really isn’t a departure. It’s just another way of coming to us.

Jesus left heaven to come to us at Christmas. Jesus left the grave to come us at Easter. Jesus left this earth to earth so He may come to us in Word and Sacraments, with His Holy Spirit, through the public ministry, and come again to get us upon our death or His Judgment Day. Jesus ascends, not to leave, but to come. Amen.