Ascension Sunday - Mother's Day 2013

This past Thursday was Ascension Day. Forty days after Resurrection Sunday Jesus ascended, in His resurrected physical body into heaven. Actually ascended; not symbolically, not as a metaphor, not imagined.

And, today is Mother’s day so we have a conflict. The church calendar vs the secular calendar!

What a decision, so, we’ll try to work them in together without short changing either!

Now in all reality, we know that the church calendar is pretty much as man made as the secular calendar is.

We don’t really know what day of the year Jesus was born so the church picked a date associated with a pagan holiday and said this is it.

We know that Jesus was crucified and rose physically from the dead on a certain date which it seems we could get a pretty close estimate on that one but instead the church decided to base it on a certain full moon and always have it on a Sunday.

The ascension of Christ into heaven is an important date on the church calendar.

Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit is an important date on the church calendar.

Trinity Sunday is designated as the Sunday after Pentecost Sunday on the church calendar.

But when the apostles were alive the church calendar looked pretty much like this: On the first day of the week gather together for worship and declare the wonders of Jesus, the Son of God, crucified, risen, ascended into heaven and one day returning.

Then during the week they would gather together for prayer and teaching.

Other than that the church calendar consisted of the Jewish Holy feast days.

But, today we are looking at the ascension of Christ into heaven and see how that can apply to Mother’s day …

Let’s read about the ascension in Acts 1:1-12

“In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.

“After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

“On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.

“‘For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

“Then they gathered around Him and asked Him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’

“He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

“After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

“Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.”

This story fascinates us: Jesus was verified dead by the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while He was on the cross and by the centurion who was summoned by Pilate to verify Jesus’ death.

But, now He’s alive in a resurrected body and physically rising from the earth without any visible means of transport.

I mean, His last words were not, “Scotty, beam Me up!”

Actually, the entire insertion of Jesus into our world was surrounded with the supernatural. Actually, it was natural for God, just seemed supernatural for us …

Jesus was supernaturally born of a virgin

Jesus performed supernatural miracles

Jesus was supernaturally raised in bodily form from the dead

Jesus supernaturally ascended into heaven

This is very difficult for people to believe …

Actually, it’s impossible to believe without the help of the Holy Spirit. And … it’s nearly impossible without the assistance of a godly mother or father or some genuine adult believer in Christ who will be the conduit of God’s prevenient grace for the child.

Jane and Heather and Pastor Karenlee are conduits of God’s prevenient grace to the children of Crossroads Church of The Nazarene.