Ascension Day 2016

ASCENSION DAY REFLECTION 2016

Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith

(Short reflections were offered in English, Arabic, and German at this service) 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

My oldest child is now almost eighteen years old, which means I’m thinking a lot these days about the day when he will leave home – and wondering if he’s ready. Can he make a meal by himself? Can he do his own laundry? Have I taught him good manners? What if he gets sick when I’m not there? Will he remember everything I’ve told him, when he’s in college in the United States and I’m far away in Jerusalem?

These are the things parents think about when children are about to leave the nest. It can make you a little bit crazy, to tell you the truth! But at the end of the day, you must trust that you’ve taught them enough, that you’ve shared enough, that you’ve been a good enough example, that you’ve loved them enough to let them go it alone.

The day comes when you must empower your children to go to the ends of the earth without you.

For Jesus and his disciples, that day is today, Ascension Day. On this day, after he rose from the dead, after he had appeared to them, after he had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, after he had taught them everything, Jesus took them out as far as Bethany, blessed them, and withdrew from their sight. The time had come for the disciples to go it alone. The time had come for them to carry the Gospel of love from Jerusalem to all the ends of the earth.

Dear sisters and brothers, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, has ascended into heaven, and now we who are his disciples must carry the Gospel message to those who have not yet heard it.

One might think the day of Jesus’ departure should be a sad occasion – and yet here we are at the Church of the Ascension, preparing to celebrate with bratwurst, potato salad, and beer! And why is that? Why is this a day of great joy, rather than a day of great sorrow?

It is because before Jesus withdrew from the disciples, he said to them,

“And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

And again, in the first chapter of Acts, it is written:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Day of Ascension is not only the day to remember how Jesus withdrew from us in bodily form – it is also the day to remember his promise that we would be empowered to continue his ministry without him. Thanks be to God, through the Holy Spirit, we have received this power. Through the Holy Spirit, today we are powerful! We are powerful witnesses to the Gospel of love here in Jerusalem, and wherever the Lord sees fit to send us.

Sometimes Christians can be uncomfortable talking about power. We think we are not called to be powerful, because Christians are supposed to be humble.

But as a good friend pointed out the other day, the opposite of humility isn’t power, it’s pride and arrogance. Of course we know pride and arrogance are not biblical values.

Yes, a Christian can be both powerful and humble, because the opposite of power is not humility, it is powerlessness—and powerlessness is also not a biblical value.

It’s the empire which tells us we should be powerless.

Sin, injustice, racism, violence, oppression, and occupation want us to feel powerless.

The cross certainly tried to make us feel powerless!

But we have seen the empty tomb! We have seen the Risen Lord! And therefore we know not even death has any power over those who belong to Christ.

Therefore, the Day of the Ascension of Jesus is a day of great joy. We rejoice in his Risen presence with us. We rejoice in all that he has taught us. And we rejoice that through the Holy Spirit, we have received great power: The power to love, the power to forgive, the power to serve, the power to make peace, and the power to stand for justice – here in Jerusalem, and to the ends of the earth. Thanks be to God!