Ascension of our Lord (Observed) May 20, 2018
Ascension of our Lord (Observed)
Luke 24:44-53 & Acts 1:1-11
May 13, 2018
“Where’s Jesus?”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What time of Jesus are we living in right now? Where is He? Right after this sermon we’ll say the Creed as we always do. And we’ll use all these past tense words for Jesus. He was conceived and born. He suffered. He was crucified. All past tense. The third day He rose. But then you finally get to the ascension and you get a present tense verb. Something that’s happening right now.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
He sits. Right now. Present tense. He is sitting at God’s right hand right now. Then, of course, you close with a future tense verb, “From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.”
The two days of Jesus that we make the biggest deal about are Christmas and Easter, His birthday and His resurrection. And that’s the way it should be. But, of course, it’s also true that the day we’re actually living in right now is in His Ascension. He is right now ascended and sitting at God’s right hand. That makes the Ascension somewhat important for us, right?
It’s interesting that after someone dies we don’t usually celebrate their birthdays anymore. We do with Jesus, of course. We still celebrate Christmas. But that’s unusual. With everybody else, after they die we usually are more concerned with the date they left. The date of their death. That’s the date we usually remember. In fact, the saints of the Church are commemorated on the day they died. Not on their birthday.
So with Jesus we should at least be a bit interested, not only in the day He was born and the day He rose, but also in the day He left. If you lived before Jesus was born, like Adam and Eve or Abraham or Moses or King David or Isaiah, then you were waiting for Him to be born. If you lived during the time of Jesus, then you saw Him in person and were waiting for Him to establish His kingdom through His death and resurrection. But if you’re living during our time, then Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God and we are waiting for Him to come again in His glory.
Everything I’ve said is just common sense. But it’s really important. The time of Jesus that you and I are living in right now is His Ascension. He’s right now sitting at God’s right hand. So much for that. But now, what is the right hand of God? Where is Jesus, really? Where is He?
I would love to know what you all picture in your mind when you hear, “Jesus is sitting at God’s right hand.” I think most of us have seen enough movies and TV shows where there’s one big throne for the King in the middle and then a smaller throne on each side of the big throne. So maybe we picture something like the Father sitting on the big throne and then Jesus sitting on the little throne to the right of Him. Or maybe you actually picture God the Father with a hand—and Jesus sitting on His hand. But sadly, if you picture anything with a throne or a hand, then your mental image isn’t really helping you to understand this.
The right hand of God is an expression. The Father, of course, doesn’t actually have a physical hand. He is spirit. But the Scriptures over and over use this expression of the “right hand of God” to talk about the place of authority and power. Jesus is in the seat of power. He is ruling and reigning right now. God the Father has put everything under Jesus’ feet. He is in complete control.
So if we’re picturing Jesus far away in some far off distant heaven sitting on a throne eating royal grapes and drinking royal wine—then we’re wrong. Jesus is not far away. Heaven is not far away. Heaven is all around us. And Jesus went up into heaven and took His place at God’s right hand so that He could fill the entire world and reign for us as our King. The right hand of God is everywhere! So where’s Jesus? Ephesians 4:10 says that He ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. In Matthew 28, the last thing Jesus says before He goes up is, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So where’s Jesus? Well, we might then say first of all that He is everywhere. Yes, this is true. But we’ll have to be a little more specific than that if we want to find Him anywhere. Because most of the time Jesus is filling the world invisibly and silently. So where do we find Him? For that, it helps to consider water. Water is everywhere. Water is underneath us in the ground below us. Water is all around us in the air we’re breathing. Water is above us in the clouds. Water is even inside of us. In our bodies. And yet we can’t drink water from any of those places, can we? We must have somewhere we go to actually get water to drink and water to cook with and water to wash with.
Jesus is also present everywhere. Yet He is present in certain particular ways and places for you to be able to find Him and know Him and hear Him and taste Him. You go to a faucet to get water. You go to the Word and Sacraments to find Jesus.
The most particular place He is present for us is His bodily presence in the Lord’s Supper. His true body and blood are present right up here at this altar for you. Now, of course, this is a great mystery. You can’t rationalize or totally comprehend it. But we believe it. He is present right here in His body today for us at Trinity Lutheran. At the same time, He is present at many other altars in many other churches in many other places around the world. But if you believe that God became man in Jesus, then you can also easily believe that this same God comes to us in His body and blood under this bread and wine in Holy Communion.
So where’s Jesus? He is at the right hand of God. He is filling all things. But also, He is bodily present in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.
Now that’s not the only faucet to get the living water, Jesus Christ. He is also present in a slightly different way, yet just as truly, in Holy Baptism, in the Word of God, in the Absolution from the Pastor, and where two or three are gathered in His name.
When you were baptized, Jesus was there. Yes, the pastor or someone else did the pouring of the water and the speaking. But it was Jesus there who was actually doing the work of baptizing. Remember our theme for the year, “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ!” Where’s Jesus? Well, He’s there in My Baptism. He washes me clean and He gives me new life and grants me His Holy Spirit.
And then in the Word of God. Whenever and wherever I hear God’s Word, Jesus is there again. Those words are His Words. Jesus says that whoever keeps His Word, the Father will love you and Jesus and the Father will come to you and make a home with you. (John 14:23). So where’s Jesus? Yes, He’s everywhere. But He’s specifically working at the right hand of God to be present with you in His Word.
Finally, there’s another that we don’t consider enough. Jesus says that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in our midst. So today we’ve got about 100 of us gathered. He is here. At Wednesday morning Bible Study we had five of us there and Jesus was there. In your backyard, when your Christian neighbor comes over and you talk about Christ, Jesus is there. When you and your family sit down for a meal and you pray, “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest,” Jesus is there. What a promise that is! If you and at least one other person are gathered in Jesus’ name, He is there with you.
So where’s Jesus? You see why this is important? He’s sitting at the right hand of God? But where’s that? Everywhere? But where can I find Jesus? In the Lord’s Supper, in His Word, in Baptism, and wherever two or three are gathered.
Right after Jesus went up, in Acts 1, the disciples were all standing there hypnotized with their mouths hanging open and their heads staring up into the clouds. So God sent two angels to say, “Hey, what are you staring at?” He will come again. It’s actually much to our advantage that Jesus has gone into heaven. Because now He is with each and every one of us in His Word and Sacraments. He fills all things and sends His Holy Spirit to us to give us faith and save us from our sins.
So this is the time of Jesus you’re living in right now. He sits at the right hand of God and He is with you in His Word and Sacraments. And during this time right now He’s very clear about what He would have you and I doing. In Luke 24 He tells His disciples. “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in My name to all nations.” That’s what this time right now is about. Repentance and forgiveness of sins. Jesus is sitting at God’s right hand to bring repentance and forgiveness of sins. So repent. Confess your sins to Him. Receive His forgiveness. And then bring Jesus to your family and friends to do the same. To bring them repentance and forgiveness. And finally, from thence Jesus will come. He will come. To judge the living and the dead. And then we will see Him face to face.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.