We Will Never Be Without Him: Reflections on Jesus' Ascension

Lectionary Reflections Ascension Sunday Luke 24:44-53 June 5, 2011 Have you ever seen a triptych (pronounced trip-tik )? It's a work of art divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded up and made portable for easy transport. The middle panel is typically the largest, and it is flanked by two smaller panels with related themes. Taken together the three panels tell one story. The name triptych originates from the Greek tri (three) plus ptche (fold). Triptychs come in a variety of sizes from small paintings to large altarpieces. Some stained glass windows imitate the trifold form. Our gospel text for Ascension Sunday is a triptych. I like the metaphor because it conveys that the three parts of our text are related and that the text can be folded up and made portable for easy transport wherever we go. Like a medieval triptych, this work of art needs all three panels to be complete. The first we'll call "Recognition," because in it the disciples recognize the Risen Jesus. The second we'll call "Commissioning," because in it the Risen Lord commissions the disciples. The third we'll label "Departure," because Jesus departs to be with God. Recognition How are your recognition skills? New Testament people could have used some voice and facial recognition software. It would have been good if they had used Amazon prime 2-day free shipping so they would have received it before Easter Day, because three times that day, various people mistake Jesus for someone else. Mary, in John's gospel, as Jesus stands behind her, mistakes him for a gardener (Jn. 20:15). The two disciples on the road to Emmaus later that day, as Jesus joins them on the road, mistake him for a vagabond who hasn't heard about the local tragedy (Lk. 24:18). And now, the disciples, when Jesus stands among them, are "startled and terrified" and mistake him for a ghost (Lk. 24:37). Gardener, vagabond, ghost—none of these even comes close. Mary recognizes Jesus in the "gardener" when he calls her by name (Jn. 20:16). The disciples on the road to Emmaus recognize Jesus in the "vagabond" when he breaks bread and blesses it (Lk. 24:30). The disciples in the scene in Luke 24:36-49 recognize Jesus in the "ghost" when he shows his scars and eats a piece of fish. Real scars that signal, "Yes, I really died." Real food that signals, "Yes, I am really alive again." The disciples experience an interesting mix of emotions. They were, "in their joy disbelieving... still wondering" (24:41). Jesus opens their minds to understand the scriptures that connect Messiah and suffering and death. The result is that when they recognize him they are recognizing that he is, not a gardener, vagabond, or ghost, but The Son of Man, the suffering servant, and the Messiah. As Son of Man he is able to identify with our human struggles and be a sort of representative human. At the same time, he wins a victory over forces that stand in the way of our obedience to God as individuals and communities. Instead of using the term "Messiah," Jesus preferred to refer to himself as the "Son of Man." By Jesus' time the title "Son of Man" had collected several connotations. They included representative human figure (Ezekiel), holy designated ruler (Daniel), and future, supernatural judging, saving figure (The Similitudes of Enoch, 37-61 and 2 Esdras 13). As Suffering Servant his humiliation and sufferings contribute to our being made right with God. Jesus connects the Son of Man figure with the suffering servant figure of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 53:10-12; Mk. 10:45) whose suffering would be redemptive for Israel. Jesus repeatedly asserts that the Son of Man must suffer, die, and be resurrected (Lk. 18:31, 19:10). (See also Mt. 20:18, 28, 26:45; Mk. 8:31, 10:33, 14:21; Lk. 18:31, 19:10.) In identifying the Son of Man with the Suffering Servant, Jesus combines the motifs of humiliation, suffering, and death with that of the future exaltation of the Son of Man. As Messiah , Jesus brings in a reign of God. It is a reign that, contrary to popular expectations, is not reducible to political power and nationalistic ambitions. It is a reign that results in a community of righteousness and peace. The title "Messiah" is a Hebrew word meaning "anointed" (Greek=Christos; English=Christ). The term was used in the Old Testament to refer to those anointed with oil for a special function such as that of the high priest (Lev. 4:3,5,16) or the king (2 Sam. 1:14,16). During the late Old Testament period (400-300 B.C.E.) the title "Messiah" came to denote the ideal king anointed by God, empowered by God's spirit to deliver his people and establish his kingdom in righteousness (Dan. 9:26-27). Jesus seems to have been reluctant to apply the title to himself due to its political, nationalistic overtones. During his earthly ministry, when others directly confronted him with his identity as Messiah, he did not deny it. (McKenzie, Parables for Today , 14-15) When I was a child the stained glass window on the back wall of the church we attended was in the form of a triptych. The left hand panel was Jesus in Gethsemane, his face earnest as he prayed with a blood red tear glittering on his face. The right hand panel was Jesus on the cross, his face anguished. And the middle panel was Jesus ascending, his face serene, and his feet on a cloud that was at least a foot off the ground. I sat there as a child wondering all sorts of things. "Why isn't he wearing sneakers?" "How can he hover over the ground like that?" But the most pressing question was "Why can't that peaceful man help those other two men?" My mother's answer, to get me to turn around and sit down, was "Honey, they're all the same man." Well, that really cleared things up for a 4-year-old girl!" But she was right. And here on the brink of his departure it dawns on the disciples who it is who stands before them. Jesus who was servant is Savior. Jesus who was jeered at is the judge of the living and the dead. Jesus who was mocked and mutilated is Risen Christ, Messiah. Such a recognition sets the heart on fire to share the message that love is stronger than death. John Wesley once described the effects of a woman testifying in a prayer meeting on behalf of her faith. He said that as she spoke, "a fire kindled and ran, as flame among the stubble, through hearts of almost all that heard." (Paul Wesley Chilcote, She Offered Them Christ , Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, 53) Commissioning Jesus now appoints the disciples as his witnesses. They have seen his death and can now testify to his resurrection (Marshall, 906). They are to spread the good news of repentance and forgiveness of sins, to all the nations, beginning with Jerusalem (Lk. 24:47). He clothes them with power. They are not being asked to be "flame among the stubble" on their own power, but with the aid of the Holy Spirit. They are to wait in Jerusalem until they are "clothed with power from on high" (24:49). (Relevant O.T. texts are Joel 2:28f; Is. 32:15, 44:3; and Ezek. 39:29; see also Lk. 12:12; Mt. 10:20; and Jn. 14:16f.) Departure The present account of Jesus' ascension (Lk. 24:50-51) is not of a different event from the ascension recorded in Acts 1:2, 4-11. It is simply a shorter version of it. Luke makes the departure of Jesus both the climax of the Gospel and the commencement of the Acts of the Apostles. The stress is on Jesus' priestly action in blessing the disciples and on their praise to God in the temple. (Marshall, 907) The early Christian conviction that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father presupposes the event of Ascension. Matthew's gospel doesn't explicitly mention Jesus' ascension. John gives hints, but doesn't narrate the actual event. In John 20:17 Jesus tells Mary not to hold onto him, because he has "not yet ascended to the Father." He then tells her to go tell the male disciples that he is ascending to his Father and theirs. Luke intends for us to see in this departure parallels to the great prophets Moses and Elijah whom Jesus both follows and surpasses. (See Luke's account of the Transfiguration, especially 9:31.) Jesus completes the "departure" or "exodus" of his suffering, death and resurrection by being carried up into heaven (2 Kgs. 2:1-18). Like Elijah he blessed those who stay behind and arranges for them to receive a measure of his Spirit (2 Kgs. 2:9). (Byrne, 192-3) We might expect the disciples to be mournful at his departure. But instead, Luke portrays them as returning to Jerusalem "with great joy, remaining continually in the Temple blessing God" (24:52-53). I'm always impressed by people who can face endings and departures with equanimity. I'm not always good at that. A show I've watched for a couple of years is cancelled and I feel slightly depressed. The moving truck takes my neighbor's things away. She drives out after it and I stand blubbering at the curb. My son goes off to college, just twenty-five miles from where we live, and I come home and stand in his doorway and cry. My dad lay dying of liver cancer in his study at my parents' home that afternoon in November of 2002, and I sat in the kitchen staring into a cup of cold coffee. My niece though, was a different story. Ava was then 5 years old. She had hovered near grandpa's bed earlier that day, patting his hand as the hospice worker came to check on him. That afternoon the doorbell began to ring as visitors came to pay their respects to my dignified, dying dad. My mother wasn't sure how to handle this. Not sure that friends would want to visit a deathbed. Maybe they'd prefer to stay in the living room and just verbally express their care and concern. She was showing one couple into the living room, when Ava came up and took the man by the hand. "Want to come say goodbye to my Grandpa? He's leaving soon." She led them back to his bedside. There they simply said, "We love you, Bob." And he was able to say, "You two have been the best friends a man could have. I love you too." Who would want to miss a moment like that? From then on, Ava became the doorkeeper and hostess. She was the best qualified for the job that day. Because she got that this moment was important and that it wasn't all sad. Luke reminds me of Ava in the way he portrays Jesus' departure. He has shown us the joy that came when the disciples recognized Jesus (24:41). He has shown us Jesus' assurance to his friends that, though he is leaving, they will never be without him. Why would they not want to savor this moment, while tasting the salt of their tears? What is there to keep joy from overcoming their sorrow? What is to keep them from returning to Jerusalem with great joy and praising God in the temple? Sources Consulted Paul Wesley Chilcote, She Offered Them Christ , Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993 Alyce M. McKenzie, The Parables for Today , Westminster John Knox Press, 2007 I. Howard Marshall, New International Greek Testament Commentary on Luke (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978)