Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I know from talking with some of you that you are feeling the weight of this crisis – perhaps not as much as this son, or not as much as your neighbor, or a friend, or a classmate, or the couple down the street, but you are feeling it nonetheless. While the restrictions are slowly easing, there is still a great deal of fear in this world. There is fear in our community. There is fear in our congregation. There is fear in your home. The unknown is literally driving people to the breaking point. Doctors, educators, therapists, pastors are all reporting that they are seeing more and more people struggling with life these days and there is evidence that this will get worse before it gets better. In an National Review article posted Friday, (https://www.nationalreview.com/news/a-years-worth-of-suicide-attempts-in-the-last-four-weeks-california-doctor-calls-for-end-to-lockdown/?fbclid=IwAR03yP52DgvPLEssCTchITIRWRWWLbrJUpVu9WF_yZ1jtxmxO4XsSUbRTqI) a California trauma doctor was describing the unprecedented spike in suicides and suicide attempts. He said they have seen a year’s worth of suicides in the past four weeks. Another nurse noted that this is impacting nurses more than Corona-19. You could almost read the pain in her simple quote, “It’s unsettling.”
Unsettling – that’s a good word for this, after all, we are facing an unseen enemy that we know very little about and we’ve been asked to face it, more-or-less alone. Make no mistake, the devil is taking those fears and he is fueling them and fanning them into flame, using whatever is at hand, be it reputable news, believable rumor, or unbelievable conspiracy theory. That damned liar – I use that word deliberately - seeks to turn us against both our own baptized, sanctified conscience and against our Lord’s Baptismal promise to us. Our human fight-or-flight instinct kicks in: either we fight to fix it (whatever it may be) ourselves, or we flee out of hopelessness and helplessness. Either way, the empty cross of Jesus, much like Lubbock, is left in a cloud of dust in the rearview mirror.
On this seventh Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Christ’s ascension. The ascension reverses His Nativity. In Mary’s womb, God was enfleshed to dwell among us; at Christmas, heaven descended to earth. At Jesus’ ascension, Christ ascends physically and bodily. As He disappears into the clouds, earth is connected to heaven. No longer physically bound to one place at one time, Jesus transcends time and space, truly present among His people wherever they may be and in whatever situation they may be. Jesus’ ascent into the clouds is not about His separation from us. Rather His ascension assures us He is with us always.
Ah, but you say, the cloud isn’t the same thing as the physical presence of Jesus. His being with us through His Spirit is not the same as His being with Peter and John, James and Andrew, Mary and Martha, walking and talking with them. Fair and true. Yet, He is with us. Different doesn’t mean worse; it doesn’t mean less than. It does mean greater.
How am I so confident of this… Because of the cloud. The cloud stands as the fulfillment of the Old Testament sign of the presence of God. As the Children of Israel traveled through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, the shekinah – Hebrew for the glory of God – went before them in the form of the cloud. Where the cloud went, the people went, until the cloud entered the temple to remain. So, Christ, in His ascension, leaves us the cloud – not for hiding, but for guaranteeing the abiding presence of God with us. Jesus ascension into the cloud assures us that the glory of Christ abides with us, still.
DO you need more on this Ascension Sunday? Our Lord provides. If the cloud is not enough for you, then look at the hands. Those same hands that once pushed at Mary’s breasts as He nursed, are now held up to be seen. Those hands learned to grasp a pen and write the Torah of the Lord; those hands worked side by side with Joseph demonstrating the joy of work; those hands touched the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, the tongue of the mute; those hands reached out and brought life to a dead little girl and then carried her back to amazed parents. Hands that grasped Peter sinking beneath the waves, hands that broke and blessed bread, hands that were held out in invitation to a disciple who doubted. Those hands, marked from the nails, were raised in blessing to the disciples so that they would know, believe, trust and rely on His all-sufficient, one-for-all death payment for their sins, for the world’s sins.
Those hands, suspended first at the cross, and then held high in ascension blessing, those hands bore the world’s burdens, fears, anxieties, and concerns – everything that satan tries to pile up against us – those hands carried all of it to the cross and paid the price in blood so that your hands do not have to tote the note any longer.
So that you, dear friends who are listening to this, so that you know and remember all of these gifts are also for you; so you know that Jesus has not left you behind; so satan cannot lie to you telling you that you are on your own to fight or flee; so that you are not left wondering how you will manage to get through this life under the cross; if you are being surrounded by dark clouds, not of glory but of guilt, shame or fear, remember how Jesus hands were held up: they were held in blessing.
Blessings… Our Lord gives many different kinds of blessings, but I suspect we usually think of them as first article, daily bread blessings. You’ll hear people say, “I’m so blessed,” and I suspect this is what they are thinking. And, yes, they are right: a roof over the head, shoes under feet, and loved ones nearby are blessings. But, here, Jesus’ blessing is a spoken blessing. Words, words, words – we are surrounded by words, filling the space around us with emptiness. Given the hollowness of so many of the words around us, it is tempting to think of the Lord’s Words as more of the same...just words. Our Lord’s blessings are not empty. The words of blessing are powerful because they are from the Word Himself. The Lord’s words of blessing are empowering and enlivening, doing exactly what they says. We don’t know the blessing Jesus spoke. Perhaps Jesus spoke the Aaronic benediction to them; perhaps He used a phrase of a Psalm; perhaps it was a new blessing. Whatever it was, His Word of blessing provides the very gift it speaks. His blessing deliver His name, and His blessings equip His people to do His will and to do that which is pleasing in His sight.
I started this sermon with a pretty somber image, that of a young boy who chose to end his life. If you are feeling that much pain, that much fear, if satan is pushing you that hard to think that kind of choice is a good option, then please…call someone: a friend, a neighbor, a family member. Call me. Call 911. Call a doctor, make an appointment with a therapist, visit with your pastor. There is no shame in seeking help whether you’re fifteen or fifty, man, woman, teen, or child. Remember: satan is a liar; don’t listen to him. Let us help you, in Jesus’ name, through the valley of the shadow from the darkness to the Light of Life.
People are using the words “new normal” to describe this time. I’m starting to hate that phrase. There’s nothing normal about this. It most certainly is new, but trying to normalize it by calling it normal is a disservice (this is the opposite of a blessing of God, see?). Whatever you think of it, if all of this starts weighing on you, if the burden of this cross is grinding into your very soul, if you don’t know how much more you can take, then do this: open your hand, and with that opened hand trace the sign of the cross over your forehead or your heart. Make it big, make it small; make it obvious, make it subtle but do it. And as you make that sign of the cross, speak to yourself a blessing of God and use your name. You might say, “Fear not, Jon, for God has called you by name in the waters of baptism and you are his.” You could say, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with me always.” You could say, “The God of hope fill me with joy and peace, that I may overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Or you could simply say, “I am baptized, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And, in that moment, through your hand, the ascended-yet-present hand of Christ reaches out upon you delivering the very blessing you speak. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is faithful will do it.
Then, be at peace.
Amen.
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