Intro
Where do you go to find God? The Christian knows: You go to Jesus. But the Christian also knows that Jesus is God. And so we ask, “Where do you go to find Jesus?”
And so a puzzle, a mystery, stares us straight in the eyes. If Jesus ascended into heaven--and He did as our Scriptures readings make so clear--then He is gone from us. He went up into the sky until a cloud hid Him from sight. He talked about going away--and then He went away, promising to return. He said that if He didn’t go away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would not come.
Is that why Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, to take His place until He returns on the Last Day in all His glory? Is the Holy Spirit a substitute for Jesus until the end of the age?
Main Body
For many, the answer to where you find Jesus is that you can’t. Why? Because Jesus is ascended into Heaven, and He can’t be two places at once! And so you have to wait until you go to Heaven to see Him, unless He returns first.
That’s why when you enter most churches today, you will find no altar or no crucifix--nothing that would even hint that Jesus is there. Of course, we Lutherans are different--at least we’re supposed to be. That’s why the altar is so prominent in our architecture. That’s why Lutheran churches, for so long, have had crucifixes front and center for all to see. For we believe that Jesus actually shows up in our worship services. That’s why we have the nerve to call a worship service a “Divine Service,” Gottesdienst in the old German.
When Jesus told the Eleven, His Apostles, at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” He wasn’t just leaving them with some sentimental-sounding words. Nor was Jesus saying that He would only be with them in Spirit.
What did Jesus tell the Eleven do to, when He had gathered them on the mountaintop, before His ascension? I’m sure you know. He told them to disciple by baptizing and teaching. In Lutheran shorthand, others are brought and kept in Christ’s Church through Word and Sacrament. In this case, Baptism is the Sacrament and teaching is the delivery of the spoken Word.
But how could Jesus be with the Eleven, as He said, until the end of the age? The Eleven, the Apostles, would soon all die. And then what would happen to the Word and Sacrament ministry that Jesus had given them to do. That had to go on until the end of the age, right, until Jesus returns on the Last Day? Yes, it did--and it does.
And so Jesus still must be with us today as He promised in Word and Sacrament, until the end of the age. And so even today, Jesus really is here with us--and we can see Him, if we have the eyes of faith! For we are to take Jesus at His Word. And so we believe that He is still among us, just He has promised--even though He has ascended into heaven. If Jesus is God--and He is--then He can do that!
The risen and ascended Lord of the Church is with us. That’s why worship, the Divine Service, is not really about us serving the divine God. More importantly, it’s that the divine incarnate Son of God is here and has gathered us around Him--not to be served--but to serve us. You don’t come here to do something for God; you come here for God to do something for you.
Yes, the divine Lord of the Church is with us! This is holy ground! And so we are to be filled with awe and reverence, realizing that what Jesus promised to His Apostles is still true. He will be with us and we can still see Him, even to the end of the age.
But Jesus does appear among us a little differently than He did with His first disciples. Here, He has chosen to appear to us under the forms of ordinary human language, in common water, and in common bread and wine.
These are the “masks” of Jesus. Think about the heroes we like on TV, like the Lone Ranger, or in the movies like Spiderman. The mask reveals the man, or in this case, the hero.
In a similar way, our Lord both hides and reveals Himself as He comes to us in the Divine Service. Jesus hides Himself in ordinary spoken language, in this case, the sermon and the readings of Holy Scripture. Jesus also hides Himself in water during baptism and in bread and wine during the Lord’s Supper. The Word and Sacraments serve as masks, something like a Jesus suit.
This truth is important, that Jesus still comes to us through such masks. It’s not just some trivial matter that Christian denominations squabble over. Jesus, our God and our brother, is here with us right now. He is here in this room.
But how often do we talk and act as if this just isn’t so? We talk about Jesus in the past tense, as if He isn’t here anymore, as if Jesus’ ascension into heaven was His way of avoiding us for a couple-thousand years.
Think of how we talk about the Lord’s Supper. How often do you refer to it as wine or bread, as if you are embarrassed to call it what it is: Jesus’ body and blood! Wine and bread alone don’t save you; Jesus’ body and blood do! Do our own actions betray the unbelief in our hearts, and belittle or deny Jesus’ own words? So from now on, when you talk about the Lord’s Supper, call it Jesus’ body and blood first.
Yes, the ascended Jesus still rules over His church on earth through His holy gospel. You hear a pastor talk. But it’s Jesus who gives the gospel to you and assures you that He loves you, has suffered for you, and lives to intercede for you. You listen to a man’s words. But it’s Jesus who baptizes the baby.
And Jesus hasn’t finished serving us. Right now, He is getting ready to reveal His bodily presence among us, just as He did to His disciples in the upper room. He will be both our host and our meal as He prepares to give us His precious body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins.
In the liturgy, we have spoken these words to one another: “The Lord be with you . . .” And Jesus has responded by doing just that. And we show that before receiving His precious body and blood by bowing and kneeling before receiving Him in His Supper. And then we see Him with our eyes and ears, we taste and smell Him under the masks of bread and wine. The risen and ascended Lord is not simply here in Spirit: He comes to us, offering for our wholeness and healing His own body and blood.
After Jesus ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to His Church. Why? It was not only to create and enliven faith in our hearts. It was also to fashion the eyes and ears of faith that can behold the presence of Jesus who is still with us and who communes with and feeds His people.
By the power of the Spirit, we are, and continue to become, believers. That means the masks that Jesus wears, they don’t simply hide--they reveal--who He is and His real presence among us!
Let’s go back to the Lone Ranger. The mask of the Lone Ranger, or Spiderman, didn’t reveal that hero to everyone. Some just saw the mask and simply saw an evil outlaw. You had to become a believer first; you had to receive the proper eyes to see Him as he truly was. You had to see the mask for what it was, for it was through the mask that you could see the Lone Ranger. And if the Lone Ranger wanted to travel anonymously, in cognito, that’s when he took off his mask.
We know that since Jesus is God, we know He is everywhere--and He is. And even though the glorified Christ is everywhere, we can’t see Him, not without the masks He has chosen for Himself. Otherwise, Jesus is just an abstract presence. But for those whom He has called to Himself by the power of the Spirit, He has never left! For Jesus’ own recognize His presence among us by the masks He wears.
Conclusion
Jesus’ ascension has simply changed how He reveals Himself to us. Jesus is still here with us, revealing Himself in His words and in His deeds, not simply the words and deeds of back then, but in the words and deeds that He brings to us, today. Yes, even today, Jesus still speaks His words of forgiveness and peace to us. Today, Jesus still washes us clean of sin in the regenerating waters of baptism and in His feast of His precious body and blood.
Through such masks, Jesus continues to do His saving work. Jesus has not abandoned you like a common orphan. No, He has adopted you into the family of God and continues to serve you in His Divine Service.
And so Jesus is here, right now! He is here to serve you, to feed you, to clothe you in His righteousness, and to take you safely to your heavenly home. So come now to receive Him in the meal He has prepared for you. Amen.
