Doing what We’re Told

Acts 1:1-11

Today is Ascension Sunday, which is the last Sunday of the Easter Season. Next week is Pentecost, which begins the long church season of “ordinary Time”, or “Kingdomtide”. The paraments hung in front of the pulpit and lectern will be green, except for the Sundays of Communion, when they will be white. And that will continue all the way to the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Ascension celebrates the occurrence in the bible that we heard read just now, the bodily ascension of Jesus out of the sight of the disciples. It’s only reported by Luke. In the Gospel of Mark, the most reliable ending of the book, at chapter 16:8, leaves the women running away in terror, and it is only a later, tacked on ending (according to the scholars) that talks about Jesus’ being raised to heaven.

Much energy has been spent about why this particular occurrence is important. I remember one energetic young man when I was in college insisting to the point of fanaticism that if you don’t believe that Jesus ascended into heaven bodily, meaning that his actual body rose into heaven until it was no longer in sight, and that he is sitting in a physical chair on God’s right side right now, you are not a Christian. I wasn’t knowledgeable enough back then, nor brave enough either, probably, to ask him if that meant that John and Matthew weren’t really Christian.

It’s always been comforting to me to find out, in the midst of differences, to figure out what the four Gospels have in common. And in this story, in the time between Jesus’ resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost (which also only appears in Acts), what all four gospels have in common is a propulsion toward service.

In today’s passage, which is generally understood to be the continuation of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the Disciples that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and you will be my witnesses . . . to the ends of the earth.” Then he rises into the air, and they stand there, gawking, mouths open, like I think anyone who had just seen such a thing would do. Two men in white robes, who weren’t there before say to them “Hey, why are you still standing here? He’ll be back, just the same way you saw him leave”.

Matthew ends with the Disciples joining Jesus on a high mountain, and his telling them “go and Make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Mark, in the tacked on longer ending, which is verses 9-20 in many Bibles, he also sends them out to heal, and exorcise demons, and do other stuff.
John ends with a series of appearances of Jesus to the Disciples, and the last thing he says to Peter is to not worry about others’ paths, but for him to follow me.

If Good Friday can be a day to think about the seven last words of Jesus before his death, Ascension Sunday is a day to think about the Last words of Jesus after the resurrection, the last words Jesus says in each Gospel, even a less than reliable, tacked on statement.

Go and Make Disciples.

Follow Me.

You will be my Witnesses.

In a very clear sense, we are in the same boat as those early disciples and followers. We live in the same in-between time that they did, we have received the Holy Spirit, but we are waiting for his return. And, like them, sometimes we need to be reminded what it is we should be doing while we’re waiting.

The people of God are a people who are waiting to see the return of Jesus, and are not afraid. It’s interesting to me to note that most of the hue and cry about the predicted Rapture a couple of weeks ago was generated by people without understanding of the Christian faith, and people who believe in the Rapture. The majority of Christians, including most of us here today, watched with gentle amusement, or were, frankly, completely oblivious to it. Our actions and faith are not motivated by the fear of Jesus’ return, and we don’t necessarily care how he returns. We believe in him, and we have our commands.

Go and Make Disciples.

Follow Me.

You will be my Witnesses.

Let the world do what it will, let them spin themselves up and get all kinds of excited over the latest thing, the latest false prophet with an advertising budget.

We will continue to serve Christ in the way that we were told, by our mothers and fathers, our teachers and our preachers. We will do what we were told, and when Jesus comes back, in peace, in love, and in glory, and for the whole world at the same time, we will be found doing what the last words we have recorded from him say.

Go and Make Disciples.

Follow Me.

You will be my Witnesses.

May it be so for us all, in all the ways we can think of.