The Forgotten Festival Acts 1, Luke 24
We pause to observe what many refer to as the FORGOTTEN FESTIVAL of the Christian Calendar. There are FIVE MAIN FESTIVAL DAYS observed by Christians around the world. By “Festival Days” I mean chief holidays on the liturgical calendar. What are the Five? CHRISTMAS, the celebration of Jesus’ birth, we’re pretty good at observing that; EPIPHANY , which comes on the heels of Christmas--we all know about the visit of the WISE MEN to the Christ Child, that’s what Epiphany’s about; EASTER, our most recent celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead. What’s left? PENTECOST, that’s fifty days after Easter--we know about Pentecost because a lot of people dress in red that day. That’s number four. So what’s the fifth one, the oft forgotten one?
The answer is ASCENSION, which actually falls on a Thursday each year . Ascension is the one that usually gets left out!
So what's Ascension Day about? Two places you go to find out, ACTS chapter 1, and the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 24. These two describe the Ascension of Jesus into heaven.
Ascension comes on the heels of our Easter celebration. We all know that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter. He appeared to the disciples numerous times over the next forty days, showing them his hands and feet, and eating and drinking with them. He wanted them to know that it was really him, RISEN from the dead! No fake, no imposter, no ghost, no illusion. Well what happened to Jesus then? Why isn’t he walking around on the earth today, making guest appears on Good Morning America and The View and other talk shows? Why isn’t he walking the streets of Chicago and New York city and Buffalo, New York? The answer is that after 40 days HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN! 40 days after the resurrection, he took the disciples upon on the Mount of Olives, in the vicinity of Bethany. He lifted up his hands; he blessed them; and having done that, he was taken up into heaven!
THE BOOK OF ACTS goes a little more in depth. It says after giving the Great Commission, the command of Jesus to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel, he was, quote, “taken up before their very eyes, and a CLOUD hid him from their sight.” In other words, his visible presence was WITHDRAWN! Instead of a localized presence, Jesus would now be everywhere, everywhere his WORD is proclaimed and his sacraments administered, THE HOLY SPIRIT attending these things-so that hearts everywhere might believe that Jesus died for them and rose again WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF SEEING. NOW Christianity would not be a localized event, but a world -wide phenomenon!
The bottom line is, ASCENSION IS about Jesus, who, having done all things necessary for our salvation, is TAKEN FROM THE EARTH from the top of the Mount of OLIVES in front of his astonished disciples.
THIS “FORGOTTEN FESTIVAL” was not so forgotten in the medieval church, from accounts of the way it was observed. It was a common practice beginning in the 14th century, and on to the 17th century in some places, to have a HOLE cut in the roof of the church, with a door on it. And each year on the FEAST OF THE ASCENSION, a STATUE of the RISEN CHRIST would be HOISTED UP by ropes up, up, up, through the hole in the ceiling of the church! Can you imagine! The people would stand up and cheer, with arms upraised! And then the workers on the roof, once Jesus had “ascended,” would throw down flowers on the crowd below, as a sign of blessing-- preferably red roses, in anticipation of the DAY of PENTECOST!
….AND THEN the little door in the roof would be closed up, until next Ascension Day… but everyone remembered that, 40 days after he rose from the dead, Jesus ASCENDED into heaven!
Maybe we should re-institute that practice, but I’m not sure what he trustees would think about cutting a hole in the roof of our church, and I’m not sure who would want to go up there to hoist Jesus up!
At any rate, what is the meaning of the Ascension for us, as Christians?
-First of all, the Ascension is God the Father’s way of saying : MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! That’s a phrase commonly used. We’re given an assignment; we complete it; and so, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
LUKE’S GOSPEL, right before the account of Jesus’ Ascension, records the following: “Jesus then opened up their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. He told them: “It was necessary that the Christ suffer and rise again on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins preached in his name to all nations.”
What a great summary of the GOSPEL, the GOOD NEWS! GOD the Father, seeing a world lost in sin, came up with a plan. He would send his SON, Jesus, down to earth, to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. Jesus would live the perfect life that we could never live on account of our sin, in our stead; and then on GOOD FRIDAY AFTERNOON he would offer that sinless life up as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world! ALL THE wrath of GOD against sin would be vented on Jesus, our substitute. He would experience the alienation from God that you and I deserved on account of our sin, so that we need not experience it ourselves; and having done that, to show that his sacrifice had been accepted, and that sin death and the devil had indeed been vanquished, God the Father RAISE HIM FROM THE DEAD! Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. All who believe that he died for them and rose again have the gift of eternal life!
SO THE FIRST THING you need to know about Ascension is that it is a sign of “mission accomplished”—that JESUS had accomplished all that the Father had set out for him to do in order that Mankind be redeemed.
Next, the Ascension is meant to be a HOPE and a COMFORT to his followers who remain in the world.
You may remember how in John’s Gospel, John chapter 14, Jesus said these words:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled; trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
THE ASCENSION is the literal fulfillment of these words, these amazing and comforting words of Jesus! These words fill us with hope. We know that our lives are not just some meaningless drift! All of us who belong to Jesus are going somewhere! Our destiny is to be with him! We have an eternal home prepared for us by Jesus himself!
And so we know that when our eyes close in death, we will be ushered into those heavenly mansions. How do we know that? Because Jesus lived and died and rose again for us, and has now gone into heaven to prepare a place for us.
What a comfort as we bid farewell to loved ones or contemplate our own eventual demise. “I go to prepare a place for you,” says Jesus.
And finally, the Ascension of Jesus gives us a job to do. His mission fulfilled, our mission begins. In BOTH accounts of the Ascension, Jesus says, essentially, “Now get going.” “You shall be my witnesses.” “Go into all the world (BEGINNING WITH YOUR OWN COMMUNITY) and tell people what I have done. Tell them that I lived for them ; that I died for them on a cross; that rose again for their salvation!
And don’t be afraid! MY HOLY SPIRIT will attend this proclamation, so that even though people don’t see with their own two eyes for now, they can still believe.
And the rest is history isn’t it? But not just history; a living reality. This is the task we assume as well, in this SKEPTICAL day and age in which we live, to proclaim Christ crucified and risen.
THE ASCENSION is a terrific reminder to us of what the church is about. It’s not just about us. It’s about OTHERS! OUR GOAL--not just to get to heaven, but to TAKE AS MANY PEOPLE WITH US AS POSSIBLE WITH US!
THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD—a mission accomplished; a comfort and a hope; a task to pursue.
But above all, an INVINCIBLE hope that no challenge, no trial, no tragedy, no dilemma, not even death itself can take away. Thanks be to God! Amen! Amen!
