You are Witnesses
Ascension Sunday
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
Watch the sermon on YouTube / View the Bulletin
Does anyone wonder who Theophilus is? The book of Acts opens with the author addressing someone named Theophilus, saying, “In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven.” We do know that the first book the author is referring to is the gospel of Luke – and we know that the author of Luke and Acts is one and the same. We don’t know anything really--about Theophilus. The name means literally Lover of God, and so Theophilus might be a person who was interested in becoming a follower of Jesus, or really just a name addressing all who claim to love God. Pretty cool? I thought so.
The author recounts that forty days pass after the resurrection, during which time Jesus continued to appear to disciples, teaching about the kingdom of God, and directing them to stay in Jerusalem until they received God’s promise of the Holy Spirit. On the fortieth day, they’ve gathered together with Jesus, and they ask him: “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?” How very exhausted Jesus must be to have to tell them yet again that that is not what he’s really been about. Jesus moves on quickly, and what he does remind them of is that the power they will be getting is the power of the Holy Spirit. What the disciples will be- are witnesses of Jesus to the ends of the earth. Then, Scripture tells us that he was lifted up into heaven and “a cloud took him out of sight”. Now this is a bit of a strange scripture so if you are new to church today and you’ve never heard this story before—don’t feel bad—it is weird and even those of us who hear it year after year still wonder about it!
In the church we call this the Ascension. Can you imagine what the disciples were thinking that day? My guess is that they were all standing there looking up and saying, “Where did he go?” Or, “did that really just happen?” Or, “what do we do now?” And that’s when they hear this voice. And there are two men dressed all in white, saying “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you sow him go into heaven.”
I love these messengers. I need some in my life. I think that sometimes we need people like them who call us to redirect our attention from gazing up at the clouds to the world we live in now. And we need them to remind us that we have a task here as Jesus’s disciples. The Ascension, is almost like Jesus passing the baton to the disciples (and us) as we are left as witnesses to his life and work, and we are called to BE the church. And we won’t get very far in that work if all we do is keep looking up with our heads in the clouds-as tempting as that might be!
Let’s rewind a little because what I find fascinating are the parallels here between this account of the Ascension and Luke’s account of the Resurrection. Remember, on Easter Sunday, we read that the women came to the tomb and found it empty. But as they were wondering over the empty tomb, two men in white appeared, even as the women were gazing at the emptiness, to ask: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen.”
At Easter, the messengers of God help to direct the attention of the Jesus-followers away from wherever they gotten stuck at, and instead to redirect it to getting moving, getting the message out, getting the news announced - Jesus is on the move, not stuck in a tomb of death! Jesus is on the move, and the women have to get going to help tell the story.
I think the same thing is happening a bit here at the Ascension. The disciples are gazing up at heaven, because the only thing they can focus on is that Jesus is gone-gone. Yes, he’s resurrected. Yes, he’s conquered death. But in that moment, when he’s leaving earth, not going to be with them physically any longer, I can only imagine that they are overwhelmed with anxiety and fear and loneliness. And so they gaze up at the sky, hoping perhaps to catch one last glimpse. The messengers of God appear to pull them back into their present reality. Why are they gazing up at heaven? Jesus’ work on earth - at least in that way - is done. Now the work of the disciples is about to begin, and it’s time for them to get moving!! So, what’s next?
The whole Book of Acts is about what happens next. Today’s reading is the very start of that book. And it’s what happens when the disciples become the first church. It’s about how they go from this small group of people who followed Jesus to a community that grows and spreads and endures to this day. Yet, it starts with this: the disciples looking up in the clouds and getting their attention called back to the world they have been asked to serve.
The disciples’ worlds had been completely changed by a man who preached a different truth and proclaimed a new way of living into God’s word. In three short years, Jesus’ ministry had changed so many lives and then he was crucified, but then the tomb was empty and resurrection had prevailed and now he has ascended and what happens next?
Well, they/we keep on keeping on! We are witnesses! Jesus said, “You are witnesses of these things” and I believe, with all my heart, that those words were as much meant for us as they were for the disciples he was speaking to that day. Because we are! We are witness of the works Jesus did in his life. We are witnesses of his miracles, of his teachings and of his love. We are witnesses of the ways our own church is making an impact, not only in our community, but throughout the world, as well.
We are the ones who are left to carry out the work of Jesus. He’s made us his body, his hands, feet and voice in the world. To us, to you, to me, Jesus has entrusted the carrying out of all of his hopes for the world. Rev. David Lose writes, “Jesus leaves, but we stay. As it turns out, this is the ultimate "left behind" story, but according to Jesus, being left behind is neither a sign of imperfect [our] faith nor a chance to prove [ourselves] worthy. Rather, being left behind is an honor, an invitation to participate in the glory of [God], a commissioning, in fact, into the work of [God.]” (Working Preacher)
People of Fairport UMC, if our heads are in the clouds…it’s time to redirect our gaze. We, the body of Christ, is right here, in this very room --ready to love and serve and be God’s witnesses, even to the ends of the earth.