Joy Ascending!

Where Is The Church Headed?

#3“The World’s Greatest Airshow!”
Ascension Sunday
May 20, 2007
Luke 24:44-53
Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Keating
©2007

Bruce Tacy, pictured at right, was a friend of mine who was a year ahead of me in seminary. Bruce had an infectious laugh and a friendly presence. Unfortunately for the church, Bruce died of a massive coronary last August in his early 50s. At the time of his death, he was the pastor of a church in suburban Washington, DC. While we were in seminary, we treasured Bruce’s compassion but also his off-beat sense of humor that helped unwind some of the more tightly woven-experiences of graduate theological study. Bruce had a different way of looking at things. For example, when it came time to take ordination exams, Bruce, like all of us, was nervous. He breezed through most of the exams without any problems, until he came to the theological competency examination, a four hour essay test offered on the second day of examinations. That year, the test asked a single question: “What is the importance of the doctrine of the ascension for the contemporary church’s ministry?”

Bruce was stumped. Like many of us, he recalled having discussed the doctrine in theology classes, but then there’s only so much one can recall on short notice. He thought a minute, chewed on his pencil and began to write his answer. Opening the exam booklet, Bruce began his answer with “Beam me up, Jesus!”

The good news for Bruce was the next time he took that test, there were no more questions about the ascension.

On Sundays when we say the Apostles’ Creed, I finish preaching and invite you to stand with me to say what we believe. Stretching your legs after their homiletical rest period, you straighten up, and begin to recite the words, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth…” Most of the words trip off your tongue without much thought, perhaps. But then you come to this part: “he ascended into heaven.” I wonder, how many of us have ever stopped at the point and thought, “What do we mean by ‘he ascended?’”


To some, it may seem like a grand air show. Scores of bystanders crowding around Jesus, shielding their eyes from the glare of the sun, staring at him as his feet leave the firm ground. Gape-mouthed, they watch as he is assumed into the clouds. Watching him disappear, they wave silently until they can see him no more, and then, politely applaud…as if this were nothing more than a feat of magic.

What is the significance of this doctrine for our ministry? Luke gives us not one, but two slightly descriptions of Jesus being lifted up out of the disciple’s sight. In both cases, these are hard stories to understand. It is hard to imagine a body rising from our sight, and our minds get bogged down by the laws of gravity and physics. But, as Fred Craddocks says, we shouldn’t linger with the laws of levitation.[1] Instead of trying to defy science, Luke offers us the invitation to deeper belief and faith by upholding a theological challenge to the church, and that is the ascension reminds us of the ongoing presence of Christ, and leads us to deep and unending joy.

Once, while watching a production of a “Passion Play” about the life of Jesus, Methodist pastor Rosemary Brown wondered how the actors would literally depict the Ascension. So she was on “pins and needles” with anticipation as the actor playing Christ leads the disciples out to Bethany and blessed them. Then, standing in the beam of a bright stage light, the action began to rise move backwards, slowly up the side of the hill where he disappears. With that, the light cuts out and the play is over.[2]

Yet, observes Brown, that is not how the story really ends. According to Luke, Jesus’ ascension doesn’t end the drama of the Gospel. Luke reminds us that the disciples returned to Jerusalem, where they worshipped God and were filled with joy.

The ascension of Christ shows just how quickly the disciples have moved from confusion about Jesus’ resurrection to confession and, now to holy, joyful communion with God and each other. This action is consistent with what has been happening throughout Luke’s Gospel. From the very beginning of the Gospel, writes one commentator, has been to see God acting to save, send, and bless God’s people. The joy of the angels, the joy of Mary, the Joy of the Father of the prodigal, all that joy comes into focus here at the end of the Gospel as the disciples are filled with the power and peace of Christ…he blesses them, commissions them, and sends them in God’s name. God’s people are saved. God’s people are sent. God’s people are blessed.

The experience of being blessed by God – being told that you are precious, loved, and affirmed in the deepest part of your being is what raises us this morning. The ascension, wrote John Calvin, “transfuses us” with the power of God, pulling us into the heart of God, reminding us that we are deeply loved by God. [3] The vision of God raising Jesus above the earth lifts us, as the song says, “but when you come and I am filled with wonder, sometimes I think I glimpse eternity.” So Luke tells us the disciples were clothed with power, filled with great joy, continually blessing God. If want to know where the church is headed, then I believe we ought to begin by letting our lives be filled with that sort of deep, wondrous joy.

I don’t mean silly, giddiness. I don’t mean rose-colored glasses that looks away from pain, injustice, and agony. The joy of faith reminds us that because Christ has ascended, we, too, are filled with the power of God…we have been lavished with the riches of God’s love. Such deep joy, I believe, comes from the reminder that the ascension is yet another sign of God’s grace.

Not long ago, a psychology professor in Atlanta assigned a class to identify a person you feared the most and to go and interview that person. The purpose was to see how stereotypes of people fall away when we befriend people we do not know, persons we have labeled as different as ourselves or persons with whom we have serious disagreements. To the shock of one devout Christian in the class, nearly 40% of the students in the class said the people they feared most are Christians.[4]

How widespread that fear actually is in our world, I do not know. But I know this: if Christians are feared, it is perhaps because our lives do not fully reflect the joy given to us in Christ. If this is true, then we need to remember that perfect love casts aside all fear. Such love comes to us from the God who raises us with Christ. Such love throws a party for a prodigal son who wasted the family fortune, and such love heals a woman suffering from a crippling illness, and such love brings peace to sinners like you and me. Such love, dear friends, is offered to us in grace of the ascension…and it should fill our lives with deepest joy. Amen.


[1] Fred Craddock, Luke, p. 294.
[2] “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing,” The Rev. Rosemary Brown, http://www.day1.net/, May 12, 2002.
[3] Cf. “The Ascensions—a Promise of Great Things To come” by John S. McClure, www.pcusa.org/today/believe
[4]Daniel B. Clendenin, “The last Sentence of the Bible: Grace to All” http://www.journeyswithjesus.net/, May 20, 2007.