This is a sermon for what many traditions call ascension Sunday. Tradition holds that this day celebrates the day Jesus goes up to heaven to remain with the creator until the second coming. I was trying to think of title and well with some help we came up with a list. One person suggests “Beam me up daddy”, how about “up up and away” or to quote Cartman “Screw you guys I’m going Home!”, or that’s it “I’m outta here.” and finally from the apostles point of view. “Well, I never saw that coming”.
Pastor
Bob Brink captures the emotion behind this story; “When you were in school, did
you ever have one of those subjects that you just didn’t get? When I went to
seminary, it was the Ascension. Christmas makes sense. God bridges the gap
between heaven and earth. Easter makes sense. God breaks the power of death.
Pentecost makes sense. God sends the Spirit to teach and empower us, but the
ascension? How does Jesus going away make anything better? I can totally
empathize with the disciples, staring up at the sky.
Imagine
their emotional roller coaster. Palm Sunday and the crowds love you; Good
Friday and they want to kill you. Holy Saturday, you weep; Easter Sunday, you
rejoice. The risen Jesus spends 40 days with you, eating and talking and
explaining, but what’s 40 days? It’s the blink of an eye.” [1]
It
is interesting to note that biblically speaking only two others have had this
account of being taken into heaven, Enoch and Elijah. In genesis Adams descendants are listed one
by one till Noah and each one had a son and lived so long and died, except one,
Enoch. Of Enoch Genesis 5:24 states
“Enoch Walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.” It is fascinating, at least to me, that all
the other descendants listed lived and died but Enoch walked with God and was
taken.
Pastor
rink goes on to explain about Elijah; “Which brings us to Elijah. I won’t make
you turn there, because it’s a long story. Let’s sum up. Elijah is commonly
recognized as the greatest of all the prophets of Israel. The Bible records 14
miracles in his lifetime, a great Hebrew number. 7 days of creation mean that 7
is the number of completion or perfection. Double sevens, means Elijah was the
ultimate prophet. He walked with God, and just like Enoch, God took him.
But
before he left, his student, Elisha made a bold request. He asked for a double
portion of his master’s spirit. And the request is granted. When Elijah goes
up, his mantle falls to the ground. A mantle is an outer cloak, worn for
warmth, but a nice one can be a symbol of power, like a well-tailored suit
speaks of influence today. By putting on Elijah’s mantle, Elisha is sending a
message to everyone who sees it, that he is continuing the work of his master.
And he does. The Bible records 28 miracles for Elisha, exactly double the
number of his master.
Therefore,
when Jesus leaves us, it is not as orphans. He goes up so that his Spirit might
come down, so that we can take up his mantle and continue the work he began.
Perhaps this is what he meant when he told his disciples that they would do
even greater things than he.”[2]
The
scripture says Jesus then opens their minds to the understanding of
scripture. He gave the twelve a way of
seeing and understanding. An
understanding of the ancient being fulfilled in the present. This is an understanding of the work of God
continuing from before history, through Christ, unto the 12 and beyond. This is a time of broadening their vision;
you see they can no longer directly look to Christ for everything.
This
is the final commissioning of the Disciples as Christ states; “In the messiah’s
name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations
beginning at Jerusalem. You are
witnesses to this.” Actually the
followers of Christ, especially those who had received a miracle, had already
been witnessing to this. Many times you
heard how after a miracle they went to the temple and made their offering and
proclaimed thanksgiving for the healing.
Then the story of the women at the well where in John It states “Many
Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus on the strength of the women’s
testimony” (John 4:39) what Christ started was continually happening around the
disciples, or maybe, in spite of them.
Here
Jesus clears their minds so that they can finally put everything together. Their rooted faith comes alive and they can
be seen worshipping in the temple. That
is brave considering what was done to Jesus and knowing the fear and anxiety
they had been experiencing just 40 days before.
They are not mourning a loss for it is the living Christ that goes to
heaven with a promise of more to come and an empowerment that is their own.
Christ
says wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. This recalls Elijah being taken up to heaven
and his “Mantle” Falls to the
ground and By putting on Elijah’s mantle, Elisha is
sending a message to everyone who sees it, that he is continuing the work of
his master. Christ is sending his
mantle, the Holy Spirit, which will birth the Church and move it beyond the walls
of Jerusalem.
Now
what does this all mean for us today?
What does Christ opening the mind of the disciples and commissioning
them have to do with us today? A Lot, as
a matter of fact, everything, everything it meant then. Christ is calling us, through the Holy Spirit
to understand his ministry then, which was accompanied by the ancient text,
which predicted his coming and had shaped his society, and in reality made him
relevant. This is a call to broaden our vision and see the relevance of Christ for
today.
Today
we are gifted with opportunities to seek out the Old Testament, listen to
scholars and teachers, and learn for ourselves what they meant to Christ in
Christ’s time and what they mean for us today.
In the exact same way that the mind of Christ followers were opened so
they could understand and address their contemporary audience. We are challenged, often times directly, to
do the same. I say arm yourself with
scripture, understand what was written for whom and what it meant then and
what, if anything, it may mean today.
For
centuries the bible has been misused as a weapon to continue the oppression of
people. Reverend Patrick Rogers at UCC
down in Pensacola on may 25th was a part of a counter protest against some
radical fundamentalists...he wrote in face book “The part of last night's
fundamentalist protest and assault on our LGBT community (and allies of which
there were many) that saddens me the most was their approach to reading
scripture (the Word of God). Prior to reading the sacred text, they would chant
together "READY, AIM, FIRE!!!" thus declaring their intention of
using the Bible as a weapon against others.”[3]
The
Bible has been used to Justify some of the most horrendous historical
atrocities of humankind, from slavery, to suppression of women. “There was a time when most Christians
believed slavery was the will of God. There was a time when most Christians
believed women should not be allowed to vote. There was a time when most
Christians believed that interracial marriage was wrong. Each position
was elaborately supported with biblical arguments -- and each position, we can
now clearly see, was dead wrong.”[4]
And "[Slavery] was established by decree of
Almighty God... it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis
to Revelation... it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of
the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the
arts."[5]
--Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.
The inquisition, which is hardly mentioned any more,
justified, estimated as lows as 32,000 to as high as 135,000. For crimes such
as teaching anything other than Catholicism (heresy), witchcraft, blasphemy,
Bigamy, Sodomy (most cases of older gentleman and adolescent as opposed to
consenting adults), and freemasonry.
The Bible and women, I am sorry ladies but in the
instance that a father sells his daughter to another man who
is not pleased with her, she must be redeemed. Regardless of the amount of
satisfaction that the girl provides for the man, God’s rules still allow him to
acquire another wife. If he so chooses, the first wife is not allowed to leave
unless her master refuses her food, clothing, or other marriage duties (Exodus
21:7-11).
If a man decides he no longer wants to be married to
his wife, he can attempt to have her killed by claiming that she lost her
virginity prior to their marriage. Following this accusation, the woman must
then provide sufficient physical evidence, such as a bloodstain, to demonstrate
that his accusations are fraudulent. In the event that she fails to prove her
innocence of this “crime,” she is to be stoned to death because of this utmost
act of disgrace. Guilty until proven innocent is the law within God’s court.
Any woman who accidentally tears her hymen due to an injury or other non-sexual
act is simply out of luck because she could never prove her virginity. Thus,
she would be at the mercy of her husband throughout her entire life. If
evidence is produced to exonerate the woman in question, the accuser is fined a
couple pounds of silver and forced to stay married until death (Deuteronomy
22:13-21)
According to the rules of Moses, the deceased
father’s inheritance goes entirely to his sons. If he has no son, it goes to the
daughters. After that, the inheritance should go to the closest male relatives
(Numbers 27:8-11). Not only do the boys of the household have priority over the
girls, the wife is also noticeably absent from the will. Instead, God’s law
forces her to marry her husband’s brother, provided she doesn’t already have a
son with her former husband. However, the brother-in-law has the right to
refuse the marriage; the woman does not (Deuteronomy 25:5-9).
Even in the New Testament Timothy says that females
shouldn’t wear decoration or try to usurp authority over their husbands.
Instead, women should remain silent and fully submissive to them. As he also
declares that Adam was not the one who was deceived in the Garden of Eden, Eve
is clearly the party implicated as being responsible for the downfall of man (1
Timothy 2:9-15).
On our own website my Rev. Dr. Husband, Bob points
out “There are seven texts used or
rather misused as texts of terror, as weapons against translesbigay people:
Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Genesis 19 and Judges 19, 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1
Timothy 1:10; and Romans 1:26-27. These texts, misused by some, reflect a model
of ancient sexuality and gender codes different from those in our postmodern
world. The issue behind these biblical texts traditionally applied to
homosexuality does not concern same-sex behaviors but deals with phallic
violence and gender transgressions.”[6]
If you have not read Practicing Safe Text on our webpage, for your own education,
I encourage you to do so. Bob goes on to
point out “Many contemporary Christians object to Paul's views on women and his
support of slavery in the Greco-Roman world. They have rejected his opinions on
women and slavery as the word of God, realizing that these are his opinions,
holding little weight in our contemporary Christian practices. Why many still
cling to Paul's cultural opinions expressed in Romans 1:26-27 and ignore sound
biblical interpretations of scholars has less to do with theological or biblical
reasons and more to do with prejudicial motivations best left to the
psychologist or therapist to explain.”[7]
Now allow me to repeat what I said earlier… Today we are gifted with opportunities to seek out
the Old Testament, listen to scholars and teachers, and learn for ourselves
what they meant to Christ in Christ’s time and what they mean for us
today. In the exact same way that the
mind of Christ followers were opened so they could understand and address their
contemporary audience. We are challenged,
often times directly, to do the same. I
say arm yourself with scripture, understand what was written for whom and what
it meant then and what, if anything, it may mean today.
There
are opportunities for study and research. Christ has gifted us with the capability
for understanding the scriptures what they meant then and how, through the Holy
Spirit they are still relevant today and that in no way can be taken literally
for through the Holy spirit the scripture is revealed as new, as very current
and as sacred.
With
prayer and contemplation accompanied by research and reflection one can
discover what the bible might say to them directly. This is the gift of the ascension. You see the ascension with its final blessing
and gift allows the focus to move from the man of Jesus Christ and waiting for
his next revelation to the practice of seeking to understand his revelation and
the living Christ as it is manifested in the word, in the spirit and in the
world today.
Finally
the last thing Jesus does it take the disciples out to Bethany and, while
blessing them, he is carried up to heaven.
While he has just told them to see, learn, understand and preach his
final act is one of example in giving a blessing he asking the disciples to be
that blessing. To live and act as Christ
has asked is to be a blessing in the world.
So one more time, I ask you to pray, study and preach…each of you be
Christ’s blessing in this world. Amen.
[1] Bob Brink, God
must laugh,
http://(http://revsmilez.com/2010/05/17/sermon-for-ascension-sunday/) (accessed
May 26, 2014).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Patrick
Rodgers, our counter protest,
http://https://www.facebook.com/revpatrickrogers?fref=ts (accessed May 20,
2014).
[4] Life Journey
Church, Would Jesus Discriminate,
http://(http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence/history_lessons.html)
(accessed May 26, 2014).
[5] the confederate
partisan, every qoute you'll ever need,
http://www.csapartisan.com/jefferson_davis_qoutes.html (accessed May 26, 2014).
[6] Rev, Practicing
Safe Text, http://(http://www.mccinthevalley.com/safetexts_en.html) (accessed
May 26, 2014).
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