Ayot St Peter 4th May 2008: Colin Hull
Text: Acts 1:6-14

Theme: The Return of the Son

Introduction

Captain Kirk opens his communicator. His mission on the planet Vulcan is over. He says those memorable words “Beam me up Scotty”. On the Starship Enterprise Commander Scot presses some buttons on the transporter console, engages a sliding control and the transporter makes some beeps before starting. On the planet’s surface the body of Captain Kirk is covered in a swirl of light as his body is broke down to its atomic structure and into energy. His body disappears from view and is beamed back to the Enterprise where the complex computer reassembles his body on the transporter pad.

Well, I am not sure of the physics of the transporter beam or if it will ever be possible to disassemble a body to its atomic structure without pain and reassemble somewhere else. But maybe the picture of the disappearance of Jesus’ body in the story from Acts is more like the disappearance of Captain Kirk rather than the literal picture of Jesus lifted up into clouds. In classical pictures Jesus’ body levitates upwards above the clouds out of view, his feet being the last to disappear. Perhaps it was not entirely like that, but more like a swirl of light and disappearance like Captain Kirk. No one knows the physics of the Ascension or what actually happened. Some even doubt that it happened in any physical way as a historical event.

The picture of Jesus being lifted up above their heads, to where? It speaks of an old view of the world with heaven “up there” among the stars, before man went out in spacecraft and found endless space. It is probably better to think of the description of the Ascension as more symbolic than actual, more of a statement of faith than description. It is after all not the physics of the event that matters, but the meanings of it given to it.

There are many aspects to the Ascension story but I just want to outline three.


Firstly – Enthronement of Jesus at God’s side

The cloud that hides Jesus from the disciples is the Shikinah cloud (the cloud of God’s glory) hiding God and Jesus. Jesus is taken into God’s presence. Jesus had been appearing and disappearing for about 40 days after his resurrection and this was the definite ending of those appearances. In several passages of the NT Jesus is spoken of as being seated at God’s right hand, the place of honour. This is also reflected also in the creed we say each week.
“He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father”
In oriental kingships it was common for the heir of the king to sit in a place of honour at his father’s side, on a wide throne or separate one close by. It signified the authority of the heir. It was a daring claim to make for the disciples of Jesus and the church to make.
This theme of Jesus exalted at God’s right hand is expressed in another way; In later Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox theology, the Ascension is interpreted as the culmination of the Mystery of the Incarnation. It marks the completion of Jesus' physical presence among his apostles, and it consummates the union of God and man with Jesus at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus’ birth was the Incarnation of God into the world, the coming of God in a physical way in Person. His Ascension is His return to His Eternal place in the Trinity.
This makes Jesus superior to any to any religious leader and every other religious tradition.

Don’t get me wrong. I have great respect for those who follow a different faith. I work with Muslims whose devotion and following of their religion is exemplary and sometimes puts Christians to shame. Few Christians keep Lenten observance with the rigor that Muslims keep the holy fast of Ramadan. In our secular society we like to be kind and respectful to those of other faiths. But there is no way of getting away from the superiority of Jesus over all other religious teachers. Jesus and his teachings are superior to Mohammed and it is not wrong to say so.

So in this first instance the final disappearance from the disciple’s sight is actually the start of new things, not just the end of the resurrection period. It is the recognition of Jesus new status as the exalted Christ. It shows Him as The Returned Son Enthroned at God’s right hand and Jesus’ continued Rule as God and Man. It is about His Authority over all creation and His supremacy to every other person, faith and political creed.


Second - Redeemed Humanity

The Incarnation was not just a past event that started with Jesus birth and ended with the Ascension. Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and the Son, and forever the Incarnate One, representing our humanity before the Father. It is part of the revelation of the two natures of Christ. In returning to the Father in human likeness He represents the new unity of God and our humanity. The lifting up of Jesus in human likeness back to the Father is part of the completion of our salvation.

In Eastern Orthodox tradition the doctrine of salvation points to the Ascension to indicate that the state of redeemed man is higher than the state of man in Eden before the Fall. The biblical stories in Genesis portray human beings as at first being innocent and then through temptation losing that innocence and being more prone to sin and disobedience ever since. Every human ever after is affected by desires that are out of control and continually marring relationships and the world.

In the light of modern science and the theory of evolution I find it better to think of the Temptation and Fall as being symbols of our failure to completely grow up from our animal past. Failure to live beyond many basic and selfish instincts. What may have been needful on the Savannah plains of Africa for primitive humans is no longer necessary. We don’t need to be selfish and tribal, hostile to others, self seeking, acquisitive and greedy. People don’t need to be dominated by sexual desires that constantly require satisfaction. Instead we struggle with ourselves and others because of wrong ways of thinking. We struggle to be something better, in many ways at war with our past and constant tendencies that belong to the past.

In contrast, Jesus represents our humanity made perfect in God’s presence. In facing evil He has conquered sinful temptations and had remained true to His calling. He remained true to His vocation of suffering and His humanity made in the image of God, as no other person in history ever has. Jesus therefore showed He could conquer and transform our basic instincts and rise above them. He revealed the full extent of self-sacrificing Love and the heart of God. He showed the new life and ways of living that is possible to complete our new growth as people shaped in the true image of God’s character of love.

Jesus therefore represents the highest and the best of human capability before God, showing forth God’s dream for all people. He shows our right selves when we will be in our right minds. So we in have Jesus our highest ideal of human living forever shown before the Father and all heaven. He is the greatest role model for all generations of humanity now and to come. As we struggle with our failures to be like him, yes we have his sympathetic forgiveness, but we also have Him calling on us to struggle still to be better than we are now.

If people ask “what should I strive to be like?” then the answer is “you are called to be like Jesus in all His Love and Grace”.

Third - Between times

We are in the “between times”. Both the Apostles and Nicene creeds say
“and he shall come again to judge the quick and the dead and his kingdom shall have no end”.
The biblical texts regarding the Ascension also prophesy the Second Coming of Christ.
“Men of Galilee...why do you stand there looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back n the same way that you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1: 11)
The New Testaament has several other references to Jesus coming back as Judge to finish His work and take His beloved to His side. Quite what that Second Coming now means is very varied according to what tradition you belong to. For some there are more or less literal interpretations of the biblical passages. For others it is more vague and unknown. But either way we do hope and expect a final fulfillment of all God’s promises and remaking of the world. Between the Ascension and those final events we are “between times”.

The Lutheran theologian Karl Barth wrote
“the ascension informs a dynamic of presence and absence – Jesus Christ’s coincident presence and absence during this time between. The church is the community that exists in this “time between”, between Christ’s presence and absence. Through his lordly agency, Jesus reaches into the lives of His people in such a way that they are now made to share His time”

Therefore the cloud that separates the disciples from the sight of Christ is still the sign of our eager longing-"until he come." This hope is not a projection of unfulfilled desire. It is not just a pious hope of better things tomorrow in the face of adversity. It is not wishful thinking to make up for our disappointments in life, and the sadness and suffering of so many. Our Hope is based on having Him now, because even in His apparent Absence He is still with us.
As the first followers saw Christ in Easter glory, so all shall see Him in the future. But to live between the times is to live by faith and not by sight. Even those first disciples, though they saw their Lord directly, could do so only provisionally and occasionally. They were granted to see him only a little so that that they still had to live by faith with no outward tangible evidence they could use to convince others of what they had experienced.
Although they saw him in those days of fulfilment, they were not yet like him. And they only had his promise that
"all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
They could give no full-proof evidence of Him or His promise. They simply had their faith in their previous experience and promises. And all we have is our shared belief that the bible carries their word of testimony and that their testimony is true. If you are in a court of law, listening to witnesses about a crime, you have to decide if what they say is true. It is the same with our scriptures. You have to ask yourself “do I believe this testimony is true?”The disciples could not prove their words to others. Nor could they prove their faith that they could still be changed into something better.
We therefore live with the hope and faith that what has been written of Jesus is trustworthy and true. We live with the hope of all things redeemed and made new, and our whole selves accepted and renewed in the crowing humanity of Jesus.

Conclusion

So let me summarise these three themes of the Ascension

The story of the Ascension may be criticized as being an out-of place picture of a levitating person to who knows where. But if it is taken as a symbolic representation of other eternal truths then there is much to learn from it and ponder.

The vision of the Ascension represents the Return of the Son of God to His Father’s side. Taking up again the rightful authority and place He has always had. It is not the elevation of the prophet to a new status but the revelation of Jesus’ Eternal nature. He is forever the One who came, revealed God in His humanity and returned to His Father’s side. He is superior over all societies, faiths and creeds.

The Ascension also means the showing of our humanity made perfect. Jesus is the completion of what it means to be human and the escape from being trapped as people still dominated by our primitive past. It shows we can grow and be different. He is the role model for all humanity for our next steps in personal growth and fulfilment.

And finally the Ascension points to the reality that we live “between times”, between what Jesus did and what He will do in the future in the recreation of the world and the cosmos. We live by faith in that testimony even as we try to make sense of everyday life and all the trials and struggles we have to face. We live in the hope and faith that the Jesus who Was is also the Jesus who Will Be. So what happened once in Jesus will be completed beyond our greatest dreams.

Lord confirm us in this faith

Amen