Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
If you think back to what you were doing this past Thursday, I wonder if it was an average day? It was a special day in the life of the church. It was the Feast of Ascension. It always occurs 40 days after Easter – so every year it falls on a Thursday. And because it’s in the middle of the week I’m afraid it gets overlooked, sort of a foot note. So I thought I’d spend a little time on it today. Because it is a meaningful part of our faith. It is the time when Jesus gives the final charge to the disciples and disappears from their sight for the last time.
This is how it’s described in Luke’s gospel:
“Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. 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."
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.”
In the accounts of the Ascension—when we picture Jesus being lifted up into the clouds, it is easy to feel a sense of loss. We might imagine the disciples, standing there with their heads tilted toward the sky, and feel a twinge of sympathy for them. It seems like the end of an era. It feels like they were left behind. But Luke tells us they were joyful.
And if we look closely at the Scriptures, we understand that the Ascension was not an ending; it was an inauguration. It was not a departure that left us orphaned, but a departure that left us energized, a profound shift that solidified our intimate relationship with God and an eternal lifeline to God. That lifeline is in prayer.
The Ascension fundamentally changes who we are praying to and how our prayers are received. When Jesus ascended, he took his place at the right hand of God where, the writer of Hebrews tells us, he "always lives to make intercession for us."
Think about what that means for our prayer lives. Whether we pray in the quiet of our room, or if we cry out in the middle of a crisis, whether it’s during our Prayers of the People or as part of our Eucharistic prayers, we are not shouting into the void. Whatever form our prayers might take – our beautiful liturgy or our sometimes imperfect, faltering, and confused prayers – whatever form they take, they are embraced by the ascended Christ, who gathers them into his own perfect relationship with God the Father.
We might even say, with a nod to country western singer Garth Brooks, that because Jesus is seated in heavenly places, he is our friend in high places. He is the Great High Priest who knows our human weaknesses and pleads our case before God. Augustin of Hippo put it this way – Jesus ascended in order that we may ascend also. Because he ascended, we have confidence that our prayers are heard.
And because Jesus is fully God and fully human, his Ascension means that humanity has now entered the very presence of God. Before Christ, the way into the holy of holies was blocked. He belongs to our world but also to another world a place on the horizon that is somehow both within reach and just beyond our reach. Those appearances end at the ascension when Jesus makes the transition from that place of horizon to the realm to God’s that touches all space and all time. But through his life, death, resurrection, and Ascension, Jesus "has opened the way into the Heavenly Kingdom".
It’s different with us. We are here, right here, right now. We can’t be anywhere except in Whittier in this moment. We are limited to this dimension of time and space. But God can touch upon all space and time. But with the Ascension, the ascended Christ is now able to connect the whole life of the church across time and space. The Ascension is the guarantee that human flesh and human voices are welcome in the divine sanctuary.
In a very real way, when we pray, we are joining with the ascended Christ in the heavenly realms and participating in the life of God, right here and right now. Ascension leads us to our next season of the church. It is the prelude for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are left with great promises and blessings, and leave in joy to continually bless God in the Temple.
Next week with Jesus ascended to heaven, we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. So we might say it is Ascension that triggered the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. And how did the early Church receive the Spirit? They received the Spirit through prayer. In the reading from the Book of Acts that we heard today, right after the Ascension, the disciples returned to Jerusalem and went to an upper room. And what did they do there? They "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication". For ten days, they waited and they prayed. Their prayer bridged the gap between Christ's departure and the Spirit's arrival.
Today it is the Holy Spirit that translates our deepest longings and groans when we do not know what to pray for, aligning our hearts with the will of the ascended Christ.
If there comes a time with you feel more separated from God than connected, remember the Ascension. Remember that your Savior Jesus is not a distant, historical figure, but a reigning King who sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for you every single day.
The angels asked the disciples in the first chapter of Acts, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" The answer is that we look to heaven because that is where our King has gone, and where we are called to follow in hope.
Let us be a people of hope through prayer. Let us use the incredible, unhindered access we have to God's throne. And as we pray, let us draw near to the ascended Christ, confident that he is with us, he is for us, and he is preparing a place for us.
Let us pray.
Gracious and reigning Lord Jesus, you ascended into glory, not to leave us, but to lift us into eternal life with you. Thank you for opening the way to the presence of God and for interceding on our behalf. We look for the coming of the Holy Spirit, that we may pray with confidence, with joy, and with expectant hope, until the day that faith becomes sight. In the Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.