Acts 1:1-11 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and 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 showed himself to these men 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." So when they met together, they 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."
There Is No Back Up Plan
There is an ancient apocryphal story about Jesus’ arrival at the Pearly Gates following the Ascension. The angel host was gathered to welcome God’s Son and celebrate his return home after his incredible sojourn on earth. Everyone had questions and wanted to hear his story - born of a virgin, raised in humble circumstances, years teaching, preaching, healing. Eventually, there was that gruesome torture and murder, but finally the conquest of humanity’s most feared enemies: sin, death and the devil. All to share the good news of a loving God who wants nothing but the best for creation. Now the Christ is home, and everyone is exultant.
Someone asks, "Lord, now that you are no longer physically on earth, who will continue to share the good news?" Christ responds, "There are 11 who were especially close to me, and I have given them the responsibility of getting the word out." "O Lord, these 11 must be incredible people - the best and the brightest that creation has to offer!"
"Well, actually no," the Lord responds. "These are average folks with ordinary abilities. Not the "best and the brightest" by any means." "But Lord, if these are only average people with ordinary ability, how can you be sure that they will get the job done?" "Well, to be honest," Jesus answers, "I can’t be sure." "You cannot be sure, Lord? Well, what if they fail to do the job? What is your backup plan?" Quietly Christ answers, "I have no backup plan."
I wonder if the 11 standing there starring up at the clouds had any idea that there was no "backup plan." I suspect that they were not thinking so much about the ramifications of the Ascension. After all, these past three years had been quite a ride. They had seen the teaching, preaching and healing. They themselves had been in danger of the torture and murder. They had been witnesses of their Lord’s conquest of death. These past 40 days of close communion may well have given them the idea that things would resume where they had left off prior to the crucifixion. But such was not to be.
During the Passover Seder prior to the Lord’s arrest and trial, Jesus had said he would be moving on, but in that new scheme of things, they would be sustained by God’s Holy Spirit. Now they have heard the same thing again from Jesus; instructions to wait in Jerusalem and, "in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
A hard instruction to hear, I think. Wait! Do you like to wait? I hate to wait. I do not like the new way they serve the hamburgers at McDonalds because I have to wait longer than I used to. And you don’t like to wait either. We often say the waiting is the hardest part. Waiting to see if you have a job after these latest rounds of lay-offs; waiting for the test results to see if you have cancer or not...even just waiting for these last couple, few weeks of school to be completed so summer vacation can start. We don’t like waiting, and considering the personalities of those disciples who surrounded Jesus, I doubt that they liked to wait any more than you or I do.
But then we read the Bible and find story after story involving waiting. Think about Abraham and Sarah waiting for many years before Isaac came along, or the 40 year "wait" for the Jews in the wilderness following the Exodus, or Job waiting for an answer. Or just Israel’s waiting millennia for the Messiah. Psalm 27:14 - "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" Now this instruction to the disciples. Waiting is sometimes a fruit of faith, especially during times when the hardest thing in the world is to do nothing, yet there are times when that is the only thing to do. There are some things we can work for; there are other things we can only wait for.
Did they understand? As usual, not really. Thus the question, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" In other words, "Lord, what now? OK, things are going to be different - HOW different? What now?"
Do you remember being scared that way? All of us have those moments when we are not only curious about the future, but we wonder if there will even be a future. What now? Now that we are all grown up, what now? I have graduated from high school or college; what now? I am married; what now? I am hired! what now?"
Back to the disciples’ "What now?" question, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Lord, we miss the good old days, will you bring them back? Politicians have won elections for years by promising to do just that, but the promise is always broken, for what was can never be again, life moves forward even when we look backward.
Did you notice Jesus’ response? He did not answer their "restore the kingdom" question; instead he answered the deeper "What now?" Jesus made this promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you..." He shifted the emphasis from the restoration of the past to the transformation of the present. The waiting will soon be over, the coming with power of the Holy Spirit is just around the corner. Why? There’s work to do. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Jerusalem is home - the comfortable and known and familiar. Judea and Samaria - those places in life where we are not quite so comfortable. "[T]he ends of the earth" - the edges of our lives, those places that would stretch us spiritually because we are not normally involved there. It is likely something we would find distasteful or to be avoided. But, places he has called us to go.
All right, Jesus. Tell us just a bit more. We have some questions. Jesus? Jesus? After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Hmm. No doubt the disciples could have questioned their Master for hours, just as they had done during their three remarkable years together. But not this time. It always seems to work that way, doesn’t it? At the very moment we want Jesus to be most vivid, most understandable, most clear, something obscures him, something gets in the way. A cloud? A question? A distraction? A doubt? It was that way for the Apostles, it is that way for us. The life of faith in real life, while we wait (there’s that word again) for him to return does not lend itself to easy answers, crystal clear choices, no-brainer decisions. Could this be why faith is involved? But Christ love for the sinner is clear. His gracious forgiveness is beyond question. His presence and peace, real. And thus our task of witnessing is unmistakable; the where, when, and how are not always so obvious. The point is will we go about our work with clouded vision, with things not always as clear as we might like...just as the disciples did after Christ’s ascension? Or will we freeze waiting for the clouds to clear? Paralyzed like deer mesmerized by oncoming headlights.
God wasn’t taking any chances with those eleven disciples, so he sent some angels. YO!!! "Men of Galilee, 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." He’ll be back! Meanwhile, you have his work to do. And he isn’t taking any chances with us either. Sending his Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacrament to not only convince us of God’s love, but also our mission in this life. As the poet has it,
He has no hands but our hands To do his work today; He has no feet but our feet To lead folks in his way; He has no voice but our voice To tell them how he died; He has no help but our help To lead them to his side.
Men and Women, boys and girls, of St John’s Lutheran Church, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? As if you are waiting for the clouds to clear ... for everything to be just right before you really take up the task he gives you? It’s never going to be just right. We will always have questions we’d like clarified, doubts removed, fears subsided, and guilt to be overcome. It’s always going to be a little cloudy on this side of heaven. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get to work. He is risen from the dead. He is ascended high and exalted! And he will come again! This we know for certain. So let’s get to work, the Lord is counting on us. We’re it. There is no back-up plan. Amen.
