Scriptures for Ascension
Psalm 47 To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm
Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. 2 For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm. 8 God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.
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Ephesians 1:15-23
15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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Luke 24:44-53
4 Then he said to them, “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.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 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, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 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.” 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
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Scriptures for the Seventh Week of Easter
Acts 1:1-12
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.
Acts 1:15-17 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus– 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”
Acts 1:21-26 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us– one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
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Psalm 1:1-6
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
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1 John 5:9-13
9 If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
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John 17:6-19 “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. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 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. 9 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. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 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. 12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
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Happy Mothers Day – to all mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, future mothers, and all who celebrate their mothers! Today is also the final Sunday of the Easter season: next week begins Pentecost. And today we also observe Ascension Day.
Ascension was actually this past Thursday – 40 days after Easter – but we will be talking about it today. In fact the focus of most of our scriptures today is on the Ascension. The end of the Easter season has a lot of connections to this event… which makes sense: Jesus’ resurrection logically brings us to the Ascension.
There are additional scripture passages that have to do with this week in the church year – more than we have time to read this morning; but to give just one example: the disciples who witnessed Jesus’ ascension would have been immediately reminded of the Old Testament story in II Kings where the prophet Elijah ascended into heaven. Elijah is the one prophet in the Old Testament who never died. He’s also the one prophet who joined Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. When Elijah’s time came to leave the earth, the prophet Elisha – who was a prophet-in-training so to speak – was with him. The two men were traveling, and Elijah kept saying to Elisha “stay here, I need to go on ahead.” But Elisha kept saying to him, “as the Lord lives and as you live I will not leave you.” Finally Elijah said to Elisha, “what is it you want? What can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.”
What a bold thing to ask! Back in those days the Holy Spirit was not well known. Only a few men and women of God had ever received the Holy Spirit. Elijah was one of them. And Elijah said to Elisha, “you’ve asked a difficult thing; but if you see me when I’m taken from you, it will be yours.” Not long after that, a chariot of fire appeared and separated the two men, and Elijah was taken into heaven in a whirlwind. And Elisha cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elijah disappeared into heaven. Elisha saw it all; so his request was granted.
As witnesses of Jesus’ ascension, the disciples would certainly have remembered Elijah’s ascension, and they would certainly have remembered the work of the Holy Spirit in that event. So what happened between Elijah and Elisha very much ties in with both Ascension and Pentecost.
The version of Jesus’ ascension which we read in Luke’s gospel is a shortened version of what he wrote in the beginning of the book of Acts. In Luke’s gospel, the apostle mentions the disciples feeling doubtful and confused as to why Jesus had to go. The disciples knew the story about Elijah but they didn’t understand why Jesus couldn’t stay.
This happens a lot in the life of faith: we can know the scriptures without really understanding the whys sometimes. But praise God, Jesus doesn’t leave us with our questions. We need Jesus – just as the disciples did – to teach us and guide us into the future.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus leaves the disciples with these instructions. He says: You are my witnesses. You will be the ones to proclaim to all the nations repentance and forgiveness of sins in My name. But before you do this I will send you “power from on high”. Jesus tells them: “stay in Jerusalem until this power arrives.” And then Jesus blesses them and ascends into heaven.
Of course Jesus was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which makes sense – and we will be talking more about that next week. But there’s more to the Ascension than just this. First, there’s Luke’s longer version in the book of Acts; and second, there’s a conversation Jesus has with his Father God just before his Ascension. Both of these have a bearing on what the disciples are going to do after Jesus is gone.
In the book of Acts, Luke tells us Jesus “presented himself alive to [the disciples] by many convincing proofs, for forty days.” So the disciples – at least some of them – doubted the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. This is understandable: nobody ever survived a crucifixion. The apostle Matthew tells us in chapter 28 of his gospel that after the resurrection, “when [the disciples] saw [Jesus], they worshipped him; but some doubted.” It took some time for the disciples to get their minds around this reality of Jesus coming back to life.
Luke also tells us that before Jesus ascended, he took time to “teach them about the Kingdom of God”. Contemporary scholar N.T. Wright teaches that the Kingdom of God is the central point of the Bible and of our faith – not so much ‘going to heaven when we die’ but rather living in the kingdom of God both now and in eternity. Jesus taught the disciples all this; and then he said, “wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Father arrives” – the Holy Spirit.
The disciples then ask Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Even after everything they’ve heard and witnessed, the disciples are still thinking in terms of a human kingdom that will be brought in by power, to defeat the Romans and reestablish the line of King David. (You’ll notice people today still make this mistake! There are people today who seem to think their country is God’s gift to the world, and what benefits their country benefits God’s kingdom.) Jesus corrected this kind of thinking very quickly. He said: “it is not for you to know the times or the periods the Father has set.” This tells us that God’s kingdom has more to do with when than with where. It’s the time, not the location, that’s important.
Jesus doesn’t stop there. He says “But you(!) – but you – will receive power and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” The word ‘you’ is plural – all the disciples – the people who knew Jesus and were witness to his resurrection, and all of us who believe because of their testimony.
In both Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts, the apostle’s focus is on the promise of the Spirit to come. Wait for the Spirit. (Which BTW is good advice just about anytime – wait for the Spirit; wait for the Spirit’s leading.)
Having said all these things, Jesus then ascended into heaven and was seen no more on this earth. But Jesus is not exactly gone. We have Jesus’ word; we have Jesus’ teachings. We have his mandate to be witnesses to his resurrection and to the coming of his Kingdom. We have the Holy Spirit – because for us, Pentecost has already come. By the power of the Spirit we have the body of believers that has been made into the family of God.
We also have another great treasure: one we may not think about all that often. We have all the prayers of all the people who have prayed for us. We have Paul’s prayer for us in our reading from Ephesians. We have Jesus’ prayer for us in John 17. And we have the prayers of our mothers.
On Mothers’ Day it is so appropriate we remember this! I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t think about God when she gives birth to a child. The miracle of new life is overwhelming. I have never met a mother who doesn’t pray for her children, even if she’s not sure she believes in God! “Lord protect my child” – is always a mother’s prayer.
And then the prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians is also for us – for the church now as well as then. Paul prays to God the Father of Jesus Christ, and Paul asks for seven things for us:
- we would have a spirit of wisdom
- we would have a spirit of revelation
- we would grow in our knowledge of Jesus – not just knowledge in general but our knowledge of God. Are we learning more about God, day by day? and if not, why not? All Christians everywhere are taught to read scripture, pray, and keep fellowship with others in whom the Holy Spirit lives.
- Paul prays that we would have the eyes of our hearts enlightened. There are a lot of things about God that go beyond what our minds can grasp. To truly know God we need to know God by heart. This is one of the reasons we sing praise rather than just speaking it. So Paul prayed that our hearts would be enlightened.
- Paul prays that we would know the hope we have been called to. And what is hope? I think my favorite definition of the word “hope” comes from the movie The Shawshank Redemption. If you’ve seen it you’ll never forget the final words of the movie: “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” Hope is more than a feeling – hope is taking action and moving towards what we hope for.
- Paul prays that we would know the riches of Jesus’ glorious inheritance (this inheritance of course is mostly in the future – so Paul is praying for our eternal lives)
- Paul prays we would know the immeasurable greatness of Jesus’ power. Do we know this? Or are discouraged because in our world evil so often wins? Can we see beyond the immediate present to God’s “forever kingdom”?
These are all the things Paul prays for us. And then last but never least! Jesus himself prays for us!
Jesus’ prayer is found in John chapter 17, which is one of the readings for the final Sunday of Easter, so it’s appropriate for today. In this prayer Jesus is speaking directly to God the Father, who Jesus knows intimately and loves more than life itself. Jesus would never ask for anything that would displease his Father. Here’s what Jesus prays for us:
Father, these people who are following me – all of them are yours. I’ve told them about you, Father, and they have kept your word. They know that I came from you. Now I’m coming home to you, Father, but they’re still in the world. Make them one as you and I are one. I have protected them and guarded them like a shepherd. Now, Father, keep them and guard them (notice BTW the echo here of a mother’s prayer – the tenderness of our savior for us). Protect them by Your name, Jesus prays.
He says: Make my joy complete in them. Father I have given them your words. Keep them safe now – they don’t belong to the world any more, just like I don’t belong to the world. [BTW when Jesus prays about ‘the world’ he doesn’t mean ‘planet Earth’ so much as he means ‘worldly ways of doing things’ – as opposed to the ways of God’s kingdom.]
Jesus continues: Protect them from the evil one. Let truth make them holy; your word is truth. Now I’m sending them into the world the same way you sent me, Father. Make them holy in the truth.
Jesus prays all these things for us!! Do you think God the Father would say ‘no’ to a prayer like this? We are most definitely in the best of hands.
On this Ascension day, when it may seem like Jesus has left the earth and left us to our own devices – we are not alone. Our mothers have prayed for us. The apostles have prayed for us. Jesus himself prays for us. We are covered and protected and supported in more ways than we know.
Our job now is to bear witness to this truth that has been made known to us: that Jesus is alive, that God loves us, and God’s kingdom is very near. And if we ever feel alone, or unequal to the task, remember all the prayers and all the people who have prayed for us – and be encouraged. AMEN.
Easter 7 – May 11, 2024 – Ascension and Mothers Day
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