Ascension Deficit Disorder?

 A brief sermon for the Ascension 

Look away now if you are coming to church tonight (St Giles, Dallington, 7:30pm, Thurs 18th May)

Acts 1:1-11 (p1092)

Luke 24:44-end (p1062)

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

It’s so easy to be distracted or pre-occupied, isn’t it?

 

Perhaps we live in an especially anxious age.

And maybe TV and social media have destroyed our attention spans.

But these dangers of distraction and pre-occupation seem to have afflicted the Apostles too.

They are very much part of life in 21^st Century Britain, but they are also part of the human condition.

Indeed, if we wanted to risk being corny, we might say that we are in danger not only of attention deficit disorder but of ascension deficit disorder.

Perhaps the ascension can help us if we feel distracted or preoccupied.

 

First, the disciples seem distracted.

They have a pressing question for Jesus in Acts 1v6.

It’s on page 1092 if you want to look at it and you’ve lost it.

The disciples ask Jesus, 1v6, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

That’s their big question.

Jesus has been speaking to them about the kingdom of God (v3), and they have a question about the kingdom of Israel.

Maybe they hope to see a proper king of Israel restored and the Romans booted out.

Perhaps they think still in nationalistic terms, whereas Jesus is going to send them to the ends of the earth.

We know that the disciples competed for the top jobs in Jesus’ kingdom:

They wanted to sit on Jesus’ right and left when he came into his kingdom.

Perhaps they’re still hoping for earthly power and prestige.

They are going to receive power from on high, but maybe not quite the sort of power for which they hope, and maybe not for the purposes which they imagine.

Jesus’ disciples, perhaps, still have much to learn.

And no doubt, so too, do we.

Jesus’ ways are not often our ways.

He might surprise us, as he often seems to have surprised his first disciples.

 

Jesus tells them, in effect, to mind their own business – not worry their heads with these matters.

V7, Jesus says to them, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Don’t worry, he tells them, God the Father has it all under control.

He has his plans and he doesn’t necessarily want to tell you the schedule or all the details you’d like to know.

But God also has a plan for you: a purpose, a mission.

V8: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

That’s the programmatic verse of the book of Acts which we see playing out in the following chapters and in the rest of human history.

Jesus doesn’t give his disciples all the answers, or all the information they’d like.

He doesn’t satisfy their curiosity.

But he does give them a job to do.

He tells them what they need to know to do it.  

And he’s going to give them the power to do it – the supernatural power of God the Holy Spirit.

 

So Jesus’ ascension challenges our priorities.

It might encourage us to ask new and better questions:

To change our focus and our hopes:

To look to the Kingdom of God and the Word of God, rather than our own hopes and plans.

 

Jesus then ascends to heaven and is hidden from their sight (v9).

It’s hardly surprising that, v10, they stand there looking intently up in to the sky.

No doubt they’re amazed and preoccupied.

If they had questions before, perhaps they have even more now.

Who knows how long they would have stood there looking up into the sky if the angel hadn’t intervened.

The angels ask them why they are standing there looking up into the sky (v11), and it’s not hard to say why:

We’ve never seen anyone ascend to heaven before!

Suddenly Jesus is gone.

It takes some getting your head round.

They have to sort out their ascension deficit disorder.

 

But the angels speak of the plan of God:

V11: “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you in to heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

 

Maybe they are distressed and confused by Jesus’ going.

The angels want them to think too about Jesus’ return.

 

Jesus had spoken to them about the kingdom of God.

Jesus was God’s king.

When Jesus came he announced and inaugurated the kingdom of God in a new way.

His death and resurrection secured his kingdom and demonstrated his kingship.

Now Jesus’ ascension is his enthronement as king.

It was very nice of the UK to arrange a coronation as a helpful small-scale illustration of the enthronement of the world’s true king.

 

And one day the king will come again as judge to bring in his kingdom in all its fullness.

As the disciples set about their mission to be witnesses for Jesus in the whole wide world, they must keep in mind that second coming of Jesus.

That is the great event to which all history is now moving.

They are to urge people to get on board with the way the universe is going, to be ready for what’s coming:

To be ready for who is coming, because Jesus the risen king will return in glory to judge the living and the dead.

 

So as Jesus’ disciples, we are to be neither distracted not pre-occupied.

Rather, we too share in the Apostolic Mission to be witnesses to Jesus the King to all the nations.

He now claims their allegiance.

And God the Holy Spirit will empower us.

 

Jesus the King has come.

Jesus reigns as king.

Jesus the king will come again.

 

If we are distracted or preoccupied, perhaps the ascension can help to heal our disorders.

 

So let us be about the business of the King.

Let us give ourselves to His Majesty’s Service:

Confident of his rule and equipped for his service.

 

And so to God the Father, God the risen, ascended Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory and power, for ever and ever. Amen.  

(The phrase “ascension deficit disorder” was taken from a cartoon seen on Facebook)