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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Ascension Day 5/5/13

Ascension Day 5/5/13 Text: Acts 1:1-11 Title: The Importance of Ascension Day This coming Thursday is Ascension Day. It takes place each year ten days before Pentecost which is fifty days after Easter. Since I am not going to be here we are celebrating Ascension Day today. It is a special day, but for most of Christianity it is a day that is not celebrated. That is a shame, for if it were not for Jesus’ ascension the Christian church would not be what it is today. The physical ascension of Jesus also plays a large part in our understanding of his presence in Baptism and His Supper. In the The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Martin Luther wrote in response to the false belief that Baptism is just and outward symbolic act: Beware of making any distinction in baptism by ascribing the outward part to man and the inward part to God. Ascribe both to God alone, and look upon the person administering it as simply the vicarious instrument of God, by which the Lord sitting in heaven thrusts you under the water with his own hands, and promises you forgiveness of your sins, speaking to you upon earth with a human voice by the mouth of his minister. (LW 36:62–63) Now I know what I just read you is somewhat technical, but I hope you heard the part where Luther wrote that Jesus baptized you. That Jesus baptized you with his own hands. He said that Jesus is speaking on earth today with a human voice, the mouth of a pastor. Wouldn’t that be something; Jesus actually being present in the act of Baptism in the hands and voice of the pastor? That is a big deal. Jesus ascended back into heaven, or at least just beyond what your eyes can see. Ascension Day is the day when a huge, heavenly procession leads Jesus to the Ancient of Days, to his Father in heaven. Ascension Day is Jesus Coronation Day. Every knee already starts bowing in heaven, on earth, and even under the earth. Jesus is Lord. In heaven, an exciting, majestic celebration of the Feast of Victory is underway forever. With the ascension, Jesus is seated upon his mighty throne in heaven. But if Jesus is in heaven seated at the right hand of God the Father which he is, then how can Luther say that Jesus is still on earth, baptizing you, speaking to people in a voice that human ears can hear? It is pretty simple actually for St. Paul says in Ephesians 4:10 that Jesus “who descended [came down from heaven] is the one who also ascended [not simply to heaven but] far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” Jesus ascends to fill all things, everywhere, as he is, as a man. He ascends to fill this place, this liturgy, and the bread and wine. The ascension did not take Jesus away from the earth. Luther got it exactly and profoundly right. Others didn’t and still don’t today, for they teach that since Jesus is in heaven that he cannot be here now, especially in the bread and wine. But it is true, for Jesus’ ascension allowed him to fill the earth with his human glorified body that allows him to be where he wants without taking up space. So, as hard as it might be to understand Jesus in his ascension is not further away from you but closer than he ever could have been, if he had stayed on earth in his physical glorified body. But your say, “Jesus disappeared at the ascension, for we are told, ‘A cloud took him out of their sight.” We are told that he will return in a cloud just like he left. In his ascension he didn’t lose his being “made man,” his being like you. His flesh and blood are not traded in as useless or gone from him. The Bible never tells us that, for we are told by Jesus himself, “This is my body. This is my blood.” We also hear him say, “You are not orphans” John 14:18 and “I am with you.” Matthew 28:20 .Kind of hard to believe isn’t it; that he is still here, for we can’t see or hear him? On your own you can’t believe it. That’s why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, for in the coming of the Holy Spirit he created as we are told in Ephesians 4:11, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Jesus does not need apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to fill his creation. He still would, but he would fill it invisibly and silently. This might help you to get a better grasp of what I mean. Water is everywhere right? We are on the average 57% water yet when we look at ourselves we don’t see water. Water is everywhere, in the clouds above, underground, and in the air that we breathe which was close to 75% water the last few days, but it does us no good until it is gathered in a place we can drink of it. Water is part of you. It is in you, yet you have to go to a faucet of some kind to drink of it, or to wash yourself off in it. Jesus’ Word and Sacraments are somewhat like a faucet, for that is where Jesus shows himself in mercy. It’s where you can see him, hear him, touch him with your own hands just like you can hear, touch, and taste water, except in the Word and Sacraments you can hear and touch and taste God himself, the Mighty One sitting on the throne in the heavens. Sound impossible? It would be if he had not given his Holy Christian Church the office of pastor, for in that office he gives human hands to baptize you, a mouth to speak in every place forgiveness and consecrate the bread and wine for forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. In and through the office of the pastor Jesus preaches. Jesus baptizes. Jesus communes you. That’s the miracle and wonder of Jesus’ ascension and the purpose of his sacramental ministry for us. The Divine Service, this Divine Service we are doing right now is where heaven and earth come together for us; Jesus giving us his gifts. He really is as we are told in Luke 22:27, “among [us] as the one who serves” you. He fills us, as we are told in Colossians 2:9-10 "In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." So Luther is exactly right to say that the Lord, sitting in the heavens and at the right hand of God which is everywhere, baptized you with his own hands and promises you forgiveness of your sins, speaking to you upon earth with a human voice by the mouth of his minister. As Luther said in his Small Catechism, “We receive absolution . . . from the pastor as from God himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven” Jesus’ ascension is a milestone in world history. Christ sits at the Father’s side and resumes full divine qualities. He is now our ever present Savior, who can intervene anywhere with his saving presence. He leads his Church on earth and has given his witnesses the power to witness “In Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Jesus does not lie. He is here. It is his Word, and his forgiveness in the Absolution. It is his body; it is his blood on the altar; God himself! Ascended to be present here today at Saint John Lutheran Church in Hattiesburg Mississippi where God and you meet, for forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. That is why my dear brothers and sisters in Christ we celebrate Ascension Day. Hope and joy fills our hearts, a hope and joy that needs to be shared with a hurting world. Amen.