Scripture: A reading from Luke Chapter 24:
Then Jesus said to them, "Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you; everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled." Then Jesus opened their minds to the understanding of the scriptures, saying, "That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah's name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of all this. Take note: I am sending forth what Abba God has promised to you. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high." Then Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the Savior left them and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshipped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.
I took my title for this sermon from an age-old sermon technique perfected by many of my African-American brothers and sisters, who lovingly insert this question after a particularly significant pronouncement in a sermon. Such as “Following Jesus can change your life! Can I get a witness?” Now, many times it is a rhetorical question, one which requires no answer, but sometimes the answer cries out through the crowd with a “yes, amen, yes!” Jesus does not ask the disciples if they are a witness, He tells them it is so. Where does this leave us? Now, most of us don’t much like witnessing, some of us come from the very traditions that give witnessing a bad name , and many of us think that it is simply not for us—but Jesus tells us otherwise and today, we look at all that this means.
The departure of Jesus from the earth is a watershed event in the story of the disciples and, consequently in the movement that became the early church. The disciples, in one brief moment, with a blessing from their Teacher, are changed into apostles—that is from those who follow to those that are sent. And, in reality, the option to be merely disciples, to study at the feet of Jesus, abruptly ends at the close of these forty days of random, yet faithfully recorded times of walking with the risen Jesus. Jesus, in the raising of His arms and the bestowing his final earthly blessing points the disciples away from the inward gazing that accompanies the soaking up of Jesus’ resurrected words and re-focuses them outward toward others—other people, other places, other tasks.
And so here we are, at Ascension. It’s an awesome and awe-filled event. Painters have tried to capture it for centuries—what we usually have is Jesus, arms up and outstretched, magically levitating up, up, up until he disappears into the clouds. I don’t remember what I thought about this as a child, but at some point, those pictures must have come into conflict with what I was learning about the universe. So, right from the jump, we are asked to suspend our critical minds, and focus on what Jesus was telling the disciples and, therefore, us. It simply becomes, for most of us, unnecessary for us to argue about where Jesus actually went. For where Jesus went is not the crux of the story—what He left behind is…
Throughout the centuries, we, as humans, have understood and portrayed the events of the life of Jesus according to our current level of understanding. So, while we know that the three-story universe, that is, hell, earth and then heaven, is out of sync with the pictures we see from shuttles and space stations, it does not change the significance or meaning of the event. Jesus was gone, really gone this time. In Acts, the story we read in our Lukan passage is told again. Nothing much is different except for the appearance of two beings dressed in white. These visitors ask the question of the day, “Why are you standing here staring up into the sky? Jesus is leaving you, ascending to heaven and won’t be seen again until He returns”. This was enough for the disciples, they returned to Jerusalem just as Jesus told them to.
Let’s take a closer look at our Gospel passage today. Jesus did four things in his final speech as recorded by Luke: He taught them AGAIN. To these disciples who always seem to need to hear everything at least twice, He says, “Remember the words I spoke when I was still with you; everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the psalms had to be fulfilled." Knowing how challenged both the disciples and we are concerning these things, he continues and “opened their minds to the understanding of the scriptures, saying, ‘That is why the scriptures say that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In the Messiah's name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” AND He reminds them that they have already witnessed all of this.
And then he gives them the promise of the Holy Spirit—that which “Abba God has promised to you.” Thirdly, he gives them specific directions: “Remain here in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high." Finally, Jesus blessed them. Taking them to “the outskirts of Bethany” He raises His hands and blesses the disciples. In the midst of the blessing, He is “carried up to heaven”. Just like that, He is gone. Something is different this time though. These disciples, notoriously slow in understanding, get it. Luke records: “The disciples worshipped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.”
Some of us may merely breathe a sigh of relief—at long last, these disciples who we have watched struggle to understand who Jesus is and what He is about, finally understand and forthwith return to Jerusalem, full of Joy, praising God, and waiting in the Temple for the fulfillment of the promise. These disciples, and consequently, we, understand that Jesus cannot stay on this earth. We are ready for Jesus to return to God, and to move into the next stage of the Gospel. No more limited by an earthly, even if resurrected, body constraining Him to be in specific locations, Jesus returns to God who will send the Holy Spirit who can and will be everywhere. And here, is where Jesus asks us: Can I get a witness? Jesus calls us to be witnesses to everything we have seen, and everything we know. And most of all to everything that is yet to come, no time for basking in the ‘good old days’ when Jesus was with us, time to move on and take it to the world, from Jerusalem to beyond.
And so we find ourselves in that very place here today. Jesus raises his arms, blesses us and is gone, leaving it to us to carry on, to carry out, to carry beyond these walls this good news. Can I get a witness?
We know of people still lost to the good news that God loves us just as we are; can I get a witness?
We know of people estranged from their families, searching for somewhere to call home, to find a place of safety and acceptance; can I get a witness?
We know of young people, rejected from their families, bullied by their friends, longing for someone, anyone to love them; can I get a witness?
We know of people just like us, living in lands where being ‘just like us’ is a crime punishable by death; can I get a witness?
We know of people hungry for food, and for a safe place to live; can I get a witness?
We know of drug addicts and alcoholics, suffering from unmanageable lives, looking for someone to show them the way; can I get a witness?
We know of elderly people, alone and lonely in their homes with no one to stop by or care; can I get a witness?
These, my friends are not rhetorical questions. When Jesus asks the question, an answer is required and this very church is poised to answer all these questions and more. What will our answer be? Will we fulfill the call to be the living, breathing, moving witnesses in this place and beyond? I believe that we can. Will we work together to take the gospel of justice and peace and acceptance beyond these walls? I believe that we will.
This week the disciples wait for power from on high—we do not need to wait, we have already been given the gift of God’s spirit to empower, embolden, and turn our focus from looking to the sky. Next week we will celebrate and remember the giving of that great gift—what better way to say “thank you” is there than to bring the gospel to someone who needs it this week—however they need it, in a touch, a call, a welcome, and invitation to come to this place…Jesus calls: Can I get a witness? And we answer: Yes!
Amen, yes, and amen.
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