Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 24th chapter:
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And today this is perhaps the cry that the disciples continued to encourage themselves with. Their great friend, their greater Lord, is now gone from their visible presence. Can you imagine this? They have been witnesses to His life, His teachings, and His death. When they had lost all hope, their Lord appeared to them again, having been resurrected from the dead, breathing, eating, talking, laughing. He stayed with them 40 days, teaching them all that the Church continues to teach, and now He is gone from their sight.
But, look at the text. The disciples were not forlorn. They were not downcast. Jesus ascends up into the clouds and they fall down and worship, they go back to the Temple, and they bless God with great joy! The Ascension of Jesus is not a sad day, it is a day for much rejoicing, for indeed, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Why would this be? Why would the disciples be glad that their Jesus is gone from their sight? Because of everything He taught them. You hear the cry today in the Church, we need a reformation of deeds not creeds! Or you hear, doctrine doesn’t matter, doctrine divides! We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus! No creed but the Bible!
But, that’s the thing, isn’t it? Doctrine is what Jesus gave His Church for 40 days after His resurrection. Doctrine divides, this is actually true, but it divides those who love their Lord from those who care not what He taught. Doctrine is more than just information; doctrine is life. And creeds are what keeps the Church one and cohesive. Without doctrine, without creeds, the Church is nothing more than a place where we all get together to share a meal, see some people we like. But, you can get that down as the local bar. I prefer the 209.
But, if we are the Church, and we are, then we would do well to pay attention to this day, for at the Ascension of Jesus, as with the disciples, we come together and we go forth with great joy, believing and teaching all that Jesus has given to us.
For instance, today, the festival of the Ascension, is a wonderful day, for Jesus has promised that when He goes to the Father, and He must go to the Father to reign at His right hand, He will send the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And this Holy Spirit will guide us, Jesus says, into all truth. So, Jesus’ Ascension is good for the disciples, and for us, because they, this 40th day after Easter, they began looking in earnest for the Holy Spirit to come.
And come He will, on Pentecost, which the Church celebrates next week, anointing the Apostles to speak the doctrines of Christ, preaching Him to the nations. This is a foreshadowing of what we have received in our Baptisms, where the Holy Spirit has come to us in our own language, given us the desire and ability to understand the things of God and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected for sinners.
And the Ascension of Jesus helps us understand the doctrines of the Lord’s Supper. In fact, many in history have argued that because Jesus bodily ascended into heaven, He can’t be present in His Supper, because His body is stuck up there until He returns. But, this is hogwash, for we instead know and understand, according to what our Lord has taught and revealed to us, that because Jesus is both God and Man, He can still do whatever He wants, for He sits and reigns with the Father in heaven as God. God is omnipotent, meaning He can do anything, and if Jesus wants to be bodily present in His Supper, as He promises us in His words of institution, then He will be.
Jesus’ Ascension means that He has accomplished all things for sinners, for me, for you, for the world. He is totally vindicated by the Father, being crowned with riches, and honor, and blessing. He sits at God’s right hand on high, and from there He rules and judges all things. There, He shows us and tells us that all has been accomplished by His life, death, and resurrection. There is nothing that needs to be done by us sinners to pay for our salvation; Jesus paid it all.
And Jesus’ Ascension means that He is at the Father’s right hand, hearing the prayers of you, His saints, and bringing them to the Father. He is your intercessor. He is the man who has the ear of The Man Upstairs. He is the one to whom we pray and He is the one who promises to listen, to share our concerns, to bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, and bring them to His Father, who will certainly redeem all the evils of this world when He renews the earth, the universe, and raises you from the dead into everlasting life.
And Jesus’ Ascension also means that nothing in the universe has hold of Him. Though He submitted Himself for a time to the ravages of sin, death, and the devil, none of these things can affect Him, none can conquer Him, and, in fact, He rules over sin, forgiving it from those who call upon His name, rules over death, giving new life to those who are Baptized in the Triune Name of God, and has put the devil under His foot, crushing His head and taking away the power of the devil, which leads God’s people to hell.
You see, all of this, what we’ve covered, is doctrine, but it is life! Here, in the doctrine that surrounds the Ascension of Jesus, we have the promises of the Holy Spirit in our Baptisms, we have the real presence of Jesus in His Supper, we have the assurance of salvation accomplished by Christ, we have the promise that He will hear our prayers, and we have the glorious reign of Jesus for us. Doctrine is life, for there is little more important than these things. Doctrine is life.
And this is what our Lord was teaching His disciples before He left their visible presence. This is all part of what they were given to pass down to the Church through the ages. No wonder they were rejoicing and blessing God. They had great hope through their Lord that all is not lost. Quite the opposite, all is gained by Christ ascending to heaven. All is gained. Life, peace, grace, forgiveness. All is gained by you.
And we would do well to know this, too. What greater comfort is there than to know that our Lord has been given all power and authority by His Father for your sake, that He hears all your prayers, that He guides you with the Holy Spirit, that He strengthens you in His Supper, that He saves you in your Baptism? There is nothing in this world that is better than doctrine, and there is nothing that we can do better than hold fast to our Lord’s words.
His words are life, His words are truth, and they have been given to you as a sign and seal of His promises to you. He has indeed come for you. He lived for you. He died for you. He was resurrected for you. And now He has ascended for you, so that He will be with you always. And He will, for in His resurrection, even now in His ascension, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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