Why Do You Stand Looking?

                                          Acts 11: 1-11

 

Today is Ascension Sunday. This is the day we commemorate the literal and physical rising of our Savior from earth into the clouds. Some say it is symbolic. Others claim the scientific impossibility of such a thing, as if science could ever explain such an event. 

What is our authority for such claims? In the gospel of Mark, the evangelist says that “the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to [the eleven disciples], was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” [Mk. 16:19]. In John’s gospel, Jesus speaks to his disciples, telling them: “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” [Jn. 16: 28]. The disciples ask whether he is speaking plainly or figuratively. They would soon know the answer. Luke’s gospel has the disciples and the risen Jesus in Bethany, where Jesus lifts up his hands, blesses the disciples one last time and then, says Luke, “he parted from them and was carried up into heaven” [Lk. 24:50]. Finally, in today’s passage, Luke says that “As they [the disciples] were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” [Acts 1: 9].

These biblical references all seem to describe Jesus as physically rising up into the clouds and out of sight. In today’s passage, Luke gives an introduction, and then he describes the Ascension.  The disciples ask if it is time for the kingdom of Israel to be restored. Jesus says it’s not for you to know God’s timing. But then he makes the disciples some promises. He promises them that the Holy Spirit will come upon them. He promises them that power will come with it. Jesus doesn’t say what kind of power, but he does promise power. And…Jesus says to these disciples that they will be his witnesses, not just at home, but “in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That’s like saying here in Jefferson, and in the Sandhills and in the South and all over the world. That’s a big promise.

And then he left. Jesus said his peace and then he left. He went to heaven. That was his last earthly communication. He promised them two tools, the Holy Spirit and power of some kind. And he gave them a commission: Go witness to the world. 

The thing I like so much about Luke is that while he is always the reporter, he seems to be there. I think of Luke as the reporter embedded in the action, following the goings on in the foxholes and not just in the reporters’ tent.  Although Luke wasn’t an eyewitness, he interviewed eyewitnesses. He wasn’t there with Jesus, but he was there through much of Paul’s ministry. And with Luke, we get the story through the eyes of a gentile. Luke was like you and me. He started on the outside, but found himself one of God’s adopted children. I suspect that since Luke was a physician and not just a reporter, he probably spent some time patching up Paul and friends from their run-ins with the law. Along the way, he took notes, conducted interviews, and gave us a history of the beginnings of the church.

Imagine for a moment that you are attending a play. The first act is loaded with action and intrigue. There are wars. There are takeovers. There is slavery and liberation and people re-location. There are migrant groups and whole civilizations paraded before the audience and the world is revealed in all its glory and ugliness. But before Act I is finished, a hero appears. His words are true, his deeds heroic. Finally, people take heart. Maybe things will change. Maybe he is the leader they have waited for. But our hero has his own agenda. He tells his small personal cabinet about his plans. He tells them he will have to leave, but that he will come back. Not to worry. Then our hero is killed. The cabinet is left with nothing to carry forward. But wait. Our hero reappears. Even death cannot stop him. Here he is in the flesh. The cabinet awaits what will surely be the rise of a great administration. Our hero keeps making appearances, but he doesn’t make any great announcements.

Finally, he calls a meeting of the cabinet at a place where they know they will see it all. He issues a few last minute instructions, tells them to go home, collect their thoughts and wait. He tells them that they will receive power, that they will be infused, that they will witness to the whole world on his behalf. And then, he leaves. He really leaves. End of Act 1.

Act II begins with our cabinet standing on the side of a hill looking up to heaven. Our hero has just floated away into the clouds. No new government. No honors for the cabinet members. He is gone. They are there. What has changed? Everything! It’s time for the second act.

Let’s leave our imaginary play now and return to the scene in Acts. As Luke was not only a reporter, but also a participant, you would expect him to have a point of view. After all, he too was out there on the front lines of evangelism. One of Luke’s characteristics is that not only does he see things happening and describe them; he also sees things that should happen and encourages them to begin. One striking example occurs twice with almost the same language.

In Luke’s gospel, he describes the scene at the tomb. Mary Magdalene and the other women approach to dress the body of Jesus. But the stone is rolled away and there is no body. The perplexed women are met by two men who stand by them. They are dazzlingly dressed. The men utter this signature line: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

In the book of Acts, Luke describes the Ascension in strikingly similar terms. As the disciples are gazing into heaven while Jesus is ascending, two men are standing by in white robes. They say to them, “Men of Galilee. Why do you stand looking into heaven?” 

For Luke the physician/reporter/evangelist, it doesn’t matter whether Jesus is resurrected or ascending. The real story is the same. Jesus is risen. The curtain has fallen on the first part of history. We call it BC (before Christ). Act I was the revelation and the building of the bridge to salvation. It took us all the way to the Ascension. But then, Christ’s work on earth was done. Now we are in Act II. We call that AD (after the death of Christ). We call it that for a reason. Act II is on us. We have a story to tell. His story. And for Luke, that means it’s time to get busy. If we believe in the resurrection and the Ascension, then we have work to do.

The Ascension is a critical part of what we believe as Christians. Only Luke wrote about it, but it has become essential in understanding the story of our God and the story of Jesus’ gospel. Now, in addition to the biblical record, there are references in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds and in many of our Reformed Confessions. Jesus ascended into heaven.  Why is that important?  Suppose that Jesus stopped at the resurrection. The story would be incomplete, wouldn’t it? But Jesus didn’t stop at the resurrection. The Ascension signifies the completion of Jesus’ earthly mission. The Ascension signifies Jesus’ reign as a heavenly king, actively engaged in our world. That should have implications on what we do with our lives. 

Think about it this way. Luke gives us two books of the New Testament. The gospel of Luke records an evangelistic witness to the life of Jesus. It ends with his Ascension into heaven. In book two, Acts, a history of the early church, Luke begins where he ended, with the Ascension. His first work tells us who and why. His second book is a call to action. Each of us who believes, who surrenders our faith to the leading of the Holy Spirit, is called to use those tools with which we are already equipped, to do the bidding of our Savior. Some will be called to places and people they never heard of. Some will be called to stay at home and witness. But all who believe will be called.

“Why do you stand looking?”  said the men in white. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” He is risen! We are in Act Ii of the history of mankind, and the curtain will not fall until he comes again. He’s coming again! I don’t really think we can say it enough. He’s coming again! Why are we

standing here! We have a job to do.