Opening Your Mind (Luke 14; 44-53) 5/20/12

          I remember the look my mother gave me before her earthly body breathed its last. It is drilled into my memory in a way that is indelible, permanent. Do you have a moment like that with someone in your life? It could be a happy moment just as easily as a moment of loss. I have a few of both that stay with me.  Whatever it is, it changes us. Somehow, we are never exactly the same.

I think it must have been like that the day of the Ascension. Of course, the disciples didn’t know he was going to bodily ascend into heaven right in front of their eyes. According to the gospel of Luke, that is precisely what took place. Mark’s gospel is similar in its report. It was his last communication here on earth from the risen Son of God still in the flesh. It was instructive. Jesus was telling his disciples the “whys” that he had come and giving them their marching orders.

They had seen him a number of times since the resurrection. Over a period of about fifty days, the New Testament records eight different appearances, several of which were with the disciples. They were his favorites. He had hand-picked them over three years before and they had come to love him even though they did not fully understand what it was that they were to do. So Jesus instructed them for the last time. He told them he had fulfilled all the prophecies and all the law. Luke says he opened their minds. “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” He talked to them about the necessity for his suffering, the reason for his resurrection. He explained to them the need to proclaim the opportunity for sin to be forgiven, the sin of men and women and the sin of nations. He told them to start in Jerusalem and to be witnesses to these things. He said he was sending the promise of the Father upon them. Then they walked with him to Bethany, a couple miles outside Jerusalem. He blessed them. Luke says that while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. The word “while” is one of those compromises we make in English to try to convey what is happening in Greek. Greek has more tenses than English. Here the aorist tense is used to transmit a sense of some continuing action that happened in the past. It might be translated more literally that as Jesus was parting, he blessed and blessed and blessed them until he was out of sight. I like that because I think that’s what he is still doing. He never stopped. He’s still blessing you and me and people of faith today. The only condition Jesus gave to the disciples was to stay in town until they were clothed with power. But he opened their minds. He sent them a promise from the Father.

Can you imagine?  By now the disciples knew they were in the presence of the divine. He had died and was resurrected. They had seen him, touched him, eaten with him several times. Others had seen him as well. They were properly awestruck. He had defeated death, but that was only the beginning. Nothing could really have prepared them for what happened next. My family and I recently went to a movie; something we rarely do these days. We saw The Avengers, the tale about comic book super heroes saving the planet from evil aliens. It was great watching HULK, Ironman, the Black Widow, Captain America and Thor in action as a team. Great sci-fi action! But it struck me that even if all this were true, the exploits of the super heroes would pale in comparison to what the disciples witnessed that day in Bethany.  They watched their Lord and Savior as he bodily ascended into heaven, blessing them as they went. Death was no longer master. Jesus rose from the dead for himself and for us.

And the disciples went home and blessed him back! Luke tells us that they worshipped him with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Yes, the Ascension was a life changing event for the disciples. They were never the same. They waited until Pentecost, received the power to which Jesus had alluded, and they scattered over much of the known world bringing their witness of those things, and what those things meant to everyone who heard and believed that good news.

But, you say, we don’t have the Ascension to motivate us. Luke says that Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to the Scriptures. They understood! They got it! We can too. Today, we have not only the Scriptures that were available to the disciples, but also the four gospels and Acts and the letters of Paul, John, Peter and others to reinforce our faith and guide our actions.

But, you say, we don’t have the power of Pentecost to harness us and make us charismatic. Actually, that is exactly what we have. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. It is promised to every Christian. It is the only way we can hear and see the Gospel living and breathing. It is no different from that which was received by the disciples. The difference is that their hearts were wide open and they received the Holy Spirit in all its magnificent power.

That is our challenge today…to open our minds. It is only then that we can really understand. That is part of what we do when we come before the throne of grace and become baptized. We ask God to open our minds and let Him come in.

Only God can open our minds. What we can do is to be receptive. We can invite him. We can let him in. When we do, we too can understand the Scriptures. We too can receive the Father’s promise. We too can witness these things, these life-changing things. Remember your baptism. Remember why. Remember he was and is and always will be there…for you and for your joy and for your salvation.