First Reading: Ephesians 1: 15-19
From the time I first heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of the holy ones, I have never stopped thanking God for you and remembering you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe. You can tell this from the strength of God’s power at work in Jesus.
Second Reading—The Gospel: Luke 44-53
Then Jesus said to them, “Remember the words I spoke with 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 o f 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 witness 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.” They Jesus took them to the outskirts of Bethany, and with upraised hands blessed the disciples. While blessing them, the savior left then and was carried up to heaven. The disciples worshiped the risen Christ and returned to Jerusalem full of joy. They were found in the Temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.
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God, show us this day your will for us in all situations. Let us remember all that we know about You and your son, Jesus. And show us how to live and walk in the way of love and compassion and mercy. Amen
I am happy to announce that by the end of our story today, at long last, the disciples ‘get it’. And it’s a good thing because these disciples, who have not been the sharpest knives in the drawer throughout the last three years, are the very people to whom Jesus is entrusting the continuation of His earthly ministry. Indeed, Jesus speaks his last words to these disciples, words that would need to carry them through the planting of churches, spreading the word, and, ultimately great persecution.
So, let’s look first at the words. Most of us believe that last words are important words. We carefully craft goodbye speeches. Some of your favorite last words may have taken the form of that artfully crafted resignation letter from a job that you hated that may have sounded like this: I quit. And while I have your attention, here are a few things you should learn about running a business—dot, dot, dot…etc, etc, etc. In our personal lives, the last words that people say to us before they leave us either by distance or by death take on great significance. We all know of someone or perhaps ourselves who have lived with regret for last words spoken in anger. Terri and I try to end every single email or phone call with the words “I love you”, not just because we do love each other, but because we have a kind of unspoken agreement that should those be the last words one of us speaks to the other one, we want those words to be the right words.
When you are preparing for a leave-taking, you may spend several days crafting exactly what we want to say. I have to imagine that Jesus did the same—that last sermon had to have impact for the ages—enough spiritual meat to last for all time.
Last words are important words. Sometimes we do not know that those words are the last we will ever hear. It is unlikely that the disciples knew what was coming. But we must imagine that after Jesus ascended from their sight, they must have longed for a way to remember every syllable, every inflection of the words of this man who had taught them about life, and death, and living again.
Interestingly, if you ask people what were the last words of Jesus, they will often respond with “Father, forgive them” or “into thy hands I commend my spirit.” We know that Jesus spoke many words between Easter and this day of Ascension. But today, we look only at his last words. For this we re-visit our Gospel passage. In the version of the story we read today, Jesus says these words: “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. 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 witness 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.”
They walked out into the countryside and our writer tells us that in the midst of pronouncing a blessing upon them, Jesus is gone.
Let’s look at the words themselves: First Jesus calls them and us to remember all that He shared with them while He was still with them. He reminded them to remember how the words of Moses and the prophets were lived out through the events of His life—that is was prophesied that he would suffer and die and rise again. He reminded them that while it didn’t make sense to them at the time, it did make sense when they remembered His teaching.
He goes on to tell them that forgiveness of sins will be preached to everyone in His name. And he says: “you are witness of all this”. In some versions, the verb is active: “you are TO witness to all this”. And then he gives them his final directions: “Take note, or don’t fail to notice, that I am sending you what God has already promised. Stay here until you receive this gift of power from on high.” It is important for us to hear this story today, because it is the first half of the story that ends at Pentecost. Jesus leaves them on this day, ascending into the clouds; but they must still wait for the descending of the power from on high—the Holy Spirit—to come a week later. Is this one final test—to see if they will stay where he tells them to stay waiting for the gift? If it was, they passed.
What does all this have to do with us? I believe that God calls us all to be witnesses of these things and to witness of these things by our words, actions, and very lives. If we believe the same about Jesus, that we believe about ourselves and the people in our lives, last words are important. I am glad and somewhat relieved to discover that, at long last, the disciples truly understand. And that with power from on high waiting in the wings stayed put and followed the commands of their teacher and friend. The disciples, prior to the resurrection and just after, would have reached up and tried to grab Jesus’ robe as he ascended into the clouds. “Wait, wait, wait—we don’t get it—what are you trying to say? Don’t leave us—we need you, here with us.” I can almost see them throwing a little disciple temper tantrum—trying to control Jesus again.
But something happened to those disciples in the midst of Jesus’ final words. Jesus opened their eyes. And they allowed their eyes to be opened. In one of the great mysteries of the faith, these not-so-insightful disciples were finally ready for their eyes to be opened. I would suggest to you, that what happened to get them to the place where their eyes could be opened, was the pain, confusion, and despair that followed the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The pain was real, it hurt to be confused and it felt awful to not know what happened. Even in the 40 days after the resurrection, their confusion surfaces time and time again. But they stick with it; they “sit with their feelings” as my AA friends say. They didn’t run away, they stayed through the hard part, and they out-lived the pain. And in the outliving of the pain comes the ability to see the glory. We see the story from the other side of the pain and it makes sense. And thus this mystery is not such a mystery after all—and their story is our story—the story of our lives—and we give witness to this to all who come after.
And as a church and as a people, we will face pain. We will see people we love go on to be with God. We will see relationships that we treasured fall apart. We will stand beside our own as they battle diseases large and small. We will hurt each other. But, we will come through it all to great victory, because that is the treasure that God in store for us. In the power of the Holy Spirit we will love each other through whatever we face as a people and as individuals and families. Today as we gather to sing our final prayer, take a look at that circle of friends whom God has placed in your life. The same disciples who slept through Jesus’ hour of agony in the garden were allowed to see the glory of His ascension into the clouds when His earthly story had come to an end. The same disciples—because they did what they had to do, through their confusion and despair and they become us—and we become them.
Before you think that I am ending this sermon today in the midst of despair and confusion, let me assure you that I am not. I am calling us to understand that our vision of who we are and will be are intimately tied up with and informed by all that we bring with us to the table. And we are all victorious, when we walk through the hard stuff to the other side—that the hard work is worth it—that growth and development of a church takes work—work that we are all prepared for through the working of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for you today is Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, to bring you to a rich knowledge of the Creator. I pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see the hope this call holds for you—the promised glories that God’s holy ones will inherit, and the infinitely great power that is exercised for us who believe.” Exceeding abundance, indeed! Amen and amen!
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