“The Messengers”
Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11
May 10, 2015
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O
Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen
Theophilus: we have heard that name before. Luke 1:3, I too decided, after investigating
everything carefully from the first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
Scholars believe that Theophilus was likely Luke’s patron: a man of means who
underwrote his ministry and perhaps a recent convert to Christ because Luke’s stated
goal is to give Theophilus the truth about his instructions.
There is some consensus that Luke composed both the gospel that bears his name and
Acts of the Apostles in one volume about 50 to 65 years after Jesus ascended into heaven
(approximately 80 to 95). Historians hypothesize that the books were separated over time
to share the Good News with new house churches throughout the empire.
The Ascension is mentioned in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creed yet we rarely focus on
this day. For most of us this time between the resurrection and Pentecost is more about
waiting for Pentecost than about the ascension. This morning Luke reorients us and
invites us to stop waiting and start listening – listening to all that we can learn in the
silence that descended after the ascension of Jesus into heaven and before the sacred
winds of the Spirit swept into the hearts of the disciples.
For Luke the ascension figures prominently in the Gospel: it anchors the dramatic
conclusion of his epic account of Jesus. In Acts of the Apostles the ascension is the axis upon
which the story of the Holy Spirit, the Disciples and the church turns. First to the Gospel
account: Luke’s Gospel ends with a poignant exchange between Jesus and his beloved
disciples and the words: Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he
blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in
the temple blessing God (Luke 24:50-53).
Jesus blessed them and was carried up to heaven; they worshipped him and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy and ever after were in the temple.
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It seems a perfect ending: all is right with both worlds: heaven and earth. Indeed I
imagine this is exactly how it seemed to the disciples during those forty days leading up
to the day we remember today.
Notice how different a picture Luke paints in his second book. In this scripture we hear
the voice of one who, upon reflection, has more to say about that day and what really
happened. I ask that you wonder with me about three things that make this account of
the ascension so different than Luke’s earlier version.
First even in the midst of the realization that Jesus was the Messiah and had risen from
the grave the disciples had questions: they needed more from him. The disciples begin,
Is this the time…(Acts 1:6)? We can complete that sentence for them, is this the time you
will restore your kingdom of Israel: your people here in our communities, our nation and
our world? Suddenly the years separating us from the disciples melt away. We
understand their feeling: surely now is the time we say as generations before us have
said: now is the time your kingdom must come.
On Friday Europeans marked the 70th anniversary of what my parents called VE Day:
May 8, 1945 – Victory in Europe - the day Germany surrendered. VJ Day followed – Japan
surrendered on August 15, 1945. From the brutality of the Roman Empire in the first
century to the deadliest conflict in human history involving 100 million people and 30
countries from 1939 to 1945 to wave after wave of military conflicts, civil unrest and
terrorist attacks in the twenty-first century, every generation has had reason to pray for
God’s kingdom to come. And so we join the disciples in asking, is this the time?
The second thing to consider is how Jesus replied to them. The disciples must have been
very disappointed in Jesus’s reply.” It is not for you to know the times or periods that the
Father has set by his own authority,” (Acts 17). I know I am. This is hard: it feels like a rebuff.
It is hard to hear. Jesus continues, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you,” (Acts 1:8). What does that mean to men gathered on the Mount of Olives outside
Jerusalem as their Lord and Savior is lifted up to heaven? And what does it mean for us
this week? This is what we need to think over as we prepare for Pentecost.
Finally, it must have been hard for the disciples to concentrate on that power as they
watched Jesus disappear into heaven. Like them we need to think about the Holy Spirit
even when we are trying to live in the absence of those who have loved us and for whom
we shall have eternal love. We understand that the disciples are numb gazing towards
heaven: all seems lost.
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This is when angels appear: two men in white reminiscent of the two men at the tomb on
Easter morning who said to the women, “Why do you look for the living among dead? He is
not here he is risen,” (Luke 24:5b). Two men who ask in the same impatient tone: Why do
you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus…will return,” (Acts 1:11).
Our lesson today describes the disciples standing on either side of loss: sharing last words
with Jesus and then feeling his absence. The Good news today is that this scripture is a
prelude to Pentecost and an ode to joy.
Those same messengers prepared Zechariah to receive John the Baptist, Mary to receive
Jesus, the women at the tomb to proclaim the resurrection and now they prepare the
disciples to meet the Holy Spirit by whose grace they shall know their risen Lord reigns
eternal and is with them now and forever.
This is what Paul was describing when wrote to the church at Rome: No, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).
Some students of the Bible feel confused by the two accounts of the ascension and
demand to know which is true. I think both are and that Luke has given us a great gift:
he has described joy – perfect joy – the realization that the love of God is with us now and
forever if we hang on.
After listening to the messengers, the disciples went back to Jerusalem to wait upon the
Lord. In the midst of loss: of a loved one, or a friend or a sense of security or safety or
hope we must stop gazing around. We must start listening in the silence that envelops us
for the messengers who speak to us of hope: go back and wait upon the Lord.
This is what Luke wanted Theophilus, and us, to know: it is not enough to know the life
and ministry of Jesus: we must live into his reign and share the joy we know in Him in
all circumstances.
A Presbyterian minister composed a poem entitled Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee in 1907
while a guest preacher at Williams College in Massachusetts. Years later he said, “The
hymn may be sung by people who are not afraid that any revolution on earth will overthrow the
kingdom of heaven. Those verses are a hymn of trust and joy and hope.” He insisted it be set to
music that already existed. The melody we shall sing at the close of worship is from
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
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The promise is sure the Spirit shall be poured out upon us and joy comes in the morning
or in some cases the evening. In December of 1989 in celebration of the fall of the Berlin
Wall Leonard Bernstein conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Berlin. He reminded
the audience that when Friedich Schiller composed the poem in 1785 he changed the
original title “Ode to Freedom” to “Ode to Joy” for fear of the political ramifications of
the word freedom.
Luke wanted Theophilus, and us, to have the courage to live in freedom in Christ. Life
with Christ is perfect freedom in service to our Lord and his kingdom and that is where
joy rests and that is where love that trumps the conquerors is revealed in Christ.
The Reverend Elizabeth Kuehl
Hope United Presbyterian Church
May 10, 2015
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