Jesus Ascends Yet Remains (Transferred) - Luke 24: 44-53

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

This past Thursday, the Church celebrated the ascension of Jesus. If you missed it or forgot, don’t feel bad. Had my daily devotion book not mentioned it, I probably would have as well. It’s easy to miss. After all, it lands on a Thursday. We didn’t gather here for worship. Ascension doesn’t have the romance of Christmas or the punch of Easter. Yet and still, as an historical event, it happened. Biblically, Luke recorded it twice, in Luke 24 and Acts 1. The early church agreed, making sure that it was confessed in not only the Apostle’s Creed, but the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds as well. So, hear again the Ascension Gospel from Luke 24:

“Then Jesus said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for[a] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.” (Luke 24: 44-53)

You’ve probably seen the various artwork of Jesus’ ascension, whether it is one of the classic works by Dali, Rembrandt, or Tissot, or a simpler picture on the front of your Sunday school lesson. Universally, the painting shows Him with His hands raised in blessing. That’s all we need on this commemoration of the ascension is to look at the hands of Jesus, raised in blessing, and we can read in them the meaning and blessing of Jesus.

These are the hands, born in infant frailty, that held close to His mother, Mary, while He nursed. These hands learned to hold a pencil and write the words of Scripture that He knew by heart when He challenged the teachers of the Law as a 12 year old. These hands held a hammer or saw or chisel while he worked with Joseph. These are hands that touched the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the tongue of the mute. These warm hands took hold of the pale, cold, dead hands of a little girl and restored life to the girl and then restored the girl to her parents waiting outside. Read through the Gospels and pay attention to what Jesus hands did – stretching out, touching, grasping – always with personal love, personal contact, and personal attention to the person standing, sitting, lying in front of him. Those hands weren’t afraid to get dirty, to be contaminated, or to touch the unclean. The Savior of the World came to be with sinners, to rescue sinners, and to destroy sin. One by one, Jesus reached into the world of death and destruction, chaos and darkness; one by one, Jesus touched sinners; one by one, Jesus healed – never en masse, in bulk, or by volume.

These are hands that gathered the little children unto himself, holding, hugging and kissing them. These are hands that reached out, just in time, to snag a doubting and sinking Simon Peter. With these hands, he broke bread and raised the cup and said, “take and eat; take and drink.” These hands were held out for Thomas to see, to touch, and to believe.

Greatest of all, these hands were pinned to the cross by nails. The hands that had done so much for others did nothing to save Himself. Instead, those nails assured Jesus did everything to save others. Those scars, presented to Thomas the week after Easter, those hands, raised in blessing, those hands tell us what we need to know of the blessing of Jesus on Ascension day.

What does that mean for us this day? Those scars tell us that Jesus took your sins, your punishment upon Himself and went to the cross for you. That Jesus was forsaken – alone and abandoned by His disciples, His friends, and His Father in heaven – so you would not be forsaken by God but be forgiven. That because Jesus died for you and rose for you, and because you are baptized into His death and resurrection, you will be made alive as children of God. Because Jesus hands were once stretched out on the cross, they are today stretched out in blessing upon His disciples. The one who ascends and blesses carries the marks of the cross on his hands. No cross, no blessing. Cross, blessing. That is why when I speak the blessing to you, it is done so with the sign of the cross, whether it’s on your forehead or in the air. That is what Jesus means to you at the Ascension this day: life and blessing won and given.

Now… do not ever think that Jesus ascension means He has gone away. Do not think of the cloud that hid Jesus’ departure as an escalator that took Jesus “into heaven,” as if it is a location far, far away. Before Jesus ascended, He promised that He is with us wherever we might be. Could you imagine the chaos had He not ascended; had He remained physically located only in one place at one time? You can hear it, can’t you: “I’ve got Jesus, yes I do. I’ve got Jesus. Why not you?” No…because Jesus has ascended, He is able to be all places at all times. He is with us, here, right now…and with the saints of God in Walburg, Texas…and in Brownstown, Indiana…and Boston, Mass…and Taiwan…and Pakistan…and St. Petersburg - both Russia and Florida - and anywhere else on earth (or outer space, for that matter) His children gather. He promised it. How He does it, we cannot fully fathom. And we don’t need to. He promised it, and that is enough.

With His hands held high, Jesus ascends into the cloud. This was a special cloud, I think – one which had appeared before in Scripture. We saw the cloud at the Transfiguration. We saw it in the Old Testament when the cloud was above the two angels on the ark of the covenant and when the people of God journeyed by day through the wilderness to the promised land. The cloud was the guarantee of the presence of God. So, at the Ascension, the cloud marks Jesus physically leaving behind the world of man and returning to the realm of God. Jesus is no longer with us in our ordinary way of thinking. Jesus is now present and does things in God’s way, also no longer constrained to earthly ways of doing things. He is still a man, but a resurrected, glorified and ascended man who is also fully God.  

Earlier, I said that most paintings of the ascension show Jesus rising above the disciples, rising into the air. There is a Lutheran artist in Michigan by the name of Edward Riojas who has a different take on the Ascension. In his painting, at the top of the painting, all you see of Jesus is His nail-marked feet. Behind the feet is a bright orb, as if it is the sun. Along the bottom are dozens of small people, the saints who worship the risen and ascended Jesus. Behind the orb is the green, leafy top of a tree whose trunk is made out of the cross of Christ, clearly marked with Pilate’s inscription, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The base of the tree is firmly planted into a lush, beautiful hillside with trees in the background and a church off on the horizon. What is interesting for me, though, is sitting with his back to the tree trunk is a pastor, writing away at his sermon as pages and pages of the manuscript lay around him. It’s a powerful reminder to me that Jesus, ascended into heaven, is yet present both in the words the pastor preaches but also in the ministry the pastor provides. Through the pastor, in Word and Sacrament, Christ is present.

Jesus has not gone away. He is with us now, more powerfully than ever before. He is with us more powerfully than when the disciples saw him. He is among us. And we live, then, in the presence of our ascended and ever-present Lord. He is with us. We cannot be destroyed. Easter lives in us. Christ is risen! We are risen! He paves the way to victory for us. He leads us, giving us strength and courage for each day – whatever it might bring us – and leaving us the promise of His bodily return, soon, as well.

We are here today as the disciples were – with great joy. We’re not wringing our hands in fear – Christ is with us. We’re not tapping our fingers in worry or hurry – Christ is here. We are here with hands that make the sign of the cross, reminding us that we are baptized into Christ. We are here with that are open, ready to receive the gifts of God in His Supper. Our hands are so full of the blessings of God, if we stopped to ponder them all – if we used our hands to write them all down – we would be stunned at the good and gracious gifts God gives to us. Our hands pick up the food God gives to nourish us. Our hands open the door to our homes that give us shelter. Our hands button shirts, zip up pants, and tie shoes to clothe us. Our hands put on glasses so we can see, insert hearing aids so we can hear, open medication bottles to keep our bodies healthy and strong. Our hands are sore from working outside yesterday in the yard, our hands still sting from applauding a grandson who hit his first little-league home run. Our hands…gifts from God.

And, our Ascended Lord uses your hands, filled with His blessings, to leave this Holy House and share those blessings with others. You serve others as the hands of Christ. That means that when you reach out to shake a hurting hand, you show them Christs hands of compassion. When you change a stinky diaper, you do it with the servant-hands of Christ. When you call your parents or your kids, you dial with the hands of Christ who spoke to his mother with love.  When you buy a bottle of water from the little league team, you pay for it with the hands of Christ that summoned children to come to him. When you buy a sandwich for a man on the street-corner, your hands echo Jesus’ hands as He once fed 5000. When you fold your hands and pray with your neighbor who struggles from depression, your hands imitate Jesus’ hands who prayed for the women of Jerusalem. When you reach out and touch the sick or the dying, you share the touch of Jesus who once raised the dead. When you hold the hand of a child who has been bullied, you share the gentle touch of the Shepherd. When you touch your spouse’s cheek, you touch with the hands of the One who is Love.  In those moments, the love of Christ is present in you and through you. He has ascended, but He is still very much here.

 

Mothers: God's First Blessing to Us

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today, May 10, is the annual second-Sunday-of-May celebration of Mother’s Day. Begun in the late 1800s, it was codified by Woodrow Wilson in 1914 as the annual, national celebration of mothers. Carnations are a common sight on Mother’s Day, as are cards, chocolates, and breakfast in bed.

When you think of motherhood, who is the first person who comes to mind? Who are your “Mothers-as-heroes?” For most of us, women and men, I suspect that is our own mother, the woman who gave birth to us, nurtured us and reared us. Men may think of our wives, the mothers of our own children. Perhaps, some of you also think of your daughter who has a child of her own. Out of curiosity, for all of you mothers out there, did any of you thought first of yourself?

In the history of motherhood, there is truly one woman who must among the pantheon of mothers and the Mount Rushmore of Moms: Eve. This woman was, in every conceivable way, a pioneer in her field. She started it all – the mother of all mothers. Even her name means “Mother of Every Living Thing!” She was in uncharted territory. Before her, there is no history of childbirth. She had no mother to ask, “Is this normal? Did you feel this happen?” She couldn’t get information from friends. It was BC – Before Computers – and she had no way to access What to Expect When You Are Expecting.  In fact, she was such the overachiever that she started out with twins!

If you look up the word “Blessed” in your Bible concordance, one thing will jump out at you (I hope): that every time the word blessed is used to talk about humans being blessed by God, it means that the person has been given a gift of God. If you look up “blessed” in a dictionary, it will say something like, “Having good fortune bestowed or conferred upon.” To be blessed by God is to have His Fatherly, good fortune poured out on us. Usually, but not always, this also includes His name being added in a special way as well.

Mother’s Day may be a secular celebration, but the Church has been celebrating the vocation of motherhood since Eve. I’m using this word, “vocation.” It gets used in the secular world, so let me explain it. It’s more than just a job. A Christian vocation is the calling in which God works through us to those around us. In our vocation, we demonstrate faith, through love and service, to our neighbors. There are lots of vocations – student, teacher, employee, employer, pastor, citizen, child and parent, just to name a half-dozen. The list is almost endless because the ways God works in and through us to help others is almost endless.

In the vocation of motherhood, God works through mothers to rear children. When a mother nurses, changes a diaper, helps a baby crawl and walk, goes to the doctor, God works through the mother. When a mother encourages a child, God works through the mother. When she made a sack lunch, or packed it in a favorite lunch kit, or added a note that said, “Have a good day, sweetie,” she was being Christ to her child. When she taught her son to tie a shoe, or a daughter how to ride a bike, she did so with the joy of Jesus. When she disciplined, it was with the love of God who disciplines His own dear children. Through mothers, God blesses the world.

There is no such thing as a perfect mother – not your mom, not your wife, not your own self. That is a huge thing to know. Not even Mary, Jesus’ mother, was perfect – despite our Catholic friends’ claim to the contrary. If satan tries to tell you that you are a failure as a mother because you got frustrated at your kiddo, or you burned dinner, or you didn’t react fast enough to keep your toddler from tumbling and breaking an arm, that is his lying to you about you. Mothers – all of you – stand at the foot of the cross today. Jesus has died for you and forgives you your maternal mistakes.

Mothers truly do follow in Eve’s footsteps. There were those times that mothers’ sinful nature reared its ugly head, times she sinned against her husband, her children, against God, and even against herself. God has a remedy for mothers. In fact, wonder of wonders, God in His mercy, used the vocation of motherhood to rescue fallen humanity when Mary gives birth to His Son, Jesus, Who dies to forgive mothers. Forgiveness, from the fountain of the cross through the font of Baptism, washes over mothers fully and completely in Christ Jesus, and from mothers to their own children.

I realize that not every mother is Carol Brady and Claire Huxtable. Many are more like Peg Bundy. If you were adopted, you thank God for your biological mother who gave birth to you and then entrusted you to the woman who reared you as her own. If you were habitually mistreated, seek solace in the arms of your Heavenly Father. And if you have a good mother, thank God for the blessings He has given and continues to give you through her. It’s OK to see your mom through rose colored glasses and to choose to remember the good things she has done for you while forgetting the times she made you eat liver and onions or go to bed before Dancing with the Stars was finished. Because in those things, even the ones you didn’t like, those things were made holy in the blood of Jesus and done in faith in Christ. In that plate of microwaved, low-salt fish, God was at work for you through her loving hands.

To all of you mothers who still are mothering your own children – especially children in your own home – you have a true blessing. Remember, a blessing is a gift of God. That doesn’t mean motherhood is easy – far from it! But, with God’s help and by His grace, you do that Godly work of being a mom. And, to all of you mothers who mother from a distance, whose children are grown and on their own, perhaps with their own children, be a “senior stateswoman.”  Share the beauty of your blessed vocation. Encourage, exhort, pray, and mentor younger mothers. Don’t sigh about “back in my day,” and lament how things used to be. You are not the mother of today’s child. Instead of critique, encourage and share your own blessing in Jesus’ name.

A long time ago, a wonderful saint whom I’ll call Annette, called me a day or two before Mother’s Day. She asked me one question: “Are you preaching about mothers on Sunday?” Why, I asked. “Because,” she said, “I chose to not have children or get married and I always feel left out while every other woman in the room gets praised. You know who I feel like? Like the Samaritan woman at the well, all alone, while everyone else gathers and laughs.” That resonated with me, and still, 20 years later, I remember her pain in those words. Some women chose to be neither wife nor mother. Others, for whatever reason, God has not allowed the blessing of motherhood. And, I know there are some who lost a child all-too-soon. None of those things make you “less than.” And, to Annette, and any other woman who has felt like the woman at the well, left out from the group, I am sad that has happened to you. Dear sister and child of God, then in your unique vocation, be that Christian model of a faithful woman who is able to watch, care for, and love others with that special gift that God has given you, pray for those who are mothers, and weep with those who weep. But know this: you do none of those things alone.

So, this Mother’s Day, flip the script for just a second. Instead of thinking of yourself, your vocation as mother - or not a mother – think of yourself in the vocation of child. Regardless your age, you are the child of a woman whom God chose to give you life. Whatever your vocation might be, and in this way, it applies to us men as well, join in giving thanks to God for your mom, the woman who reared you, cared for you, and loved you – even if it wasn’t your blood-mother. Remember, and stand at the foot of the cross with your mother, remembering Jesus forgives her just as He forgives you for your childish and childlike sins. And all of us, thank God for His gift of mothers.

Troubled Hearts - Calmed Heart: John 14: 1-14

“Let not your hearts be troubled.”

To you, hear this word of the Lord: Let not your heart be troubled. Thanks a lot, Pastor. I know what Jesus says. I don’t know that he quite understands what we’re going through here, or what life is like today. "Let not your hearts be troubled." Easy to say; hard to do. 

Because if we are honest, we would have to say that hearts *are* troubled, and they are troubled mightily. 

You go to the grocery store, the gas station, the pharmacy and the dollar just isn’t stretching like it used to. It’s the last week of school and late nights are taking the place of good rest, short tempers are flaring, and kids, teachers, and parents are stressed. Grief continues to persist in ways that you never anticipated as you continue to miss loved ones whom the Lord has taken. Husbands and wives hardly talk to each other, except for “pass the salt” and “it’s your turn; I did it last time.” I had a person tell me, “My boss wants more and more from me but I am already going full-blast; what more can I give? I go home each night and cry, trying to work up the strength to go back tomorrow. I get to work early so I can sit for ten minutes in the parking lot to work up the strength to go back in. I have to…no choice. Bills to pay, food to buy, roof to fix. And, the job is on the line as rumors of pink slips trickle down and around the company.” Hearts beat with frustration, fear, hurt, anger, shame, guilt, and other things.

If that’s you, pause for a moment. Take a breath and listen again to the word of the Lord: Let not your heart be troubled. Especially, I draw your attention to that word “heart.”

Jesus knows your heart. He knows you better than you know yourself. He says let not your heart be troubled.

The troubles you have are external. They come outside of you. Sometimes, satan seeds them carefully so that they do take root in your heart. All the thinking in the world does not take away that grief, that anxiety, that frustration, that guilt, all that trouble that we have in our hearts. This is where we carry the cross – in our hearts. We talk about it here, with our mouth, we think about it here, with our brain, but we carry it here, in the heart. And this is, I suspect, particularly true this time of the year for mothers and fathers who carry not only their own troubles but that of their their kids – of all ages – as well as they try to finish the school year strong and get ready for the next steps of life, be it high school, trade/technical school, college, the service, or the workforce. Are the kids ready? Have I prepared them? The world is just such a tough place right now. Will they make it?

Jesus speaks to you: I have come for you – heart and mind, body and soul – all of you as a person, I came and care for you as a whole. So also, He wants us to know God in all His Divine majesty.

It’s been a while, so let me remind you of the Nativity: Jesus’ incarnate birth through the Virgin Mary. Our God is incarnational – in (enters in); carne (flesh). Jesus enters into our human flesh to make His dwelling among us. And as God incarnate, with an incarnational heart, Jesus knows your heart and your troubles. That is good news because even if you cannot explain it, even if you do not have the words to incarnate, en-flesh, your troubles, He knows.

This is one of the oddities of our lectionary system. Here we are, five weeks after Easter, but John 14 takes place on Maundy Thursday. Jesus is in the upper room with the disciples preparing to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Drop back about six weeks and put yourself in that upper room for a minute. Jesus has been speaking clearly and plainly that He must go to Jerusalem, be arrested, suffer and die at the hands of the Jewish leaders. And, now, Jesus and the disciples are in that very city. There was Palm Sunday; then Jesus chased the money changers out of the temple; before that, He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Hearts were beating in anger and frustration and jealousy, wanting Him dead. But the disciples hearts were greatly troubled. After all, this was their Rabbi, their teacher, their Master, their friend, and He was in grave danger. The disciples have faith, don’t misunderstand, but it is misguided faith, weak faith, a troubled faith because they can’t see Jesus and the cross as the means of rescue. They don’t understand. They only see it as an instrument of death. So their hearts beat a steady tattoo of ache, worry, fear, and angst: what’s going to happen next. Jesus, in these words of John 14, points them, and by extension, us, to the cross.

Thomas – here’s a great example for us this morning. Thomas wanted to know the “where” – where are you going? Jesus directs him to Himself: I am the way, the truth the life. And then there’s Philip – he wants to know the “who” – I want to see the Father. Jesus directs him to Himself: Know me, you know the Father. To you, the troubled-in-heart one, Jesus calls you to Himself, He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who has promised to prepare a place into eternity for you, dear friends, where one day you will enjoy eternal rest and reward for your faithful labor and labors on earth.

Have you ever had the experience, while shopping, or walking down the sidewalk, even in the narthex when you would and another person would meet and that awkward dance would begin trying to go past each other, each one of you moving this way at the same time, then that way at the same time. The dance goes on until one or the other laughs and says, “You go ahead.” Now, take that same picture, but this time, it’s Jesus. He wants to encounter you, he wants to come at you – heart, mind, body and soul – and He smiles at you. He doesn’t laugh at you, but instead speaks softly and gently, firmly and lovingly. He doesn’t push you aside but instead He holds you with His nail-pierced hands and says, “Let not your heart be troubled. I have come to right the world and restore the relationship to the Father. I have come to restore peace and harmony. I have come to rescue you from the lostness and darkness and hurt and heartache and frustration and fear and whatever else troubles you. I have come for you. I know, I understand the burdens of your heart. But, friend, these are not yours to carry any longer. I carry the burden for you. Look at the cross, friend. Don’t let Satan tell you different. I am yours. You are mine. So, let not your heart be troubled, my brother, my sister.” Remember: Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves.

Grab your bulletin and open it up to the Gospel reading.  I want you to look at something. Look closely at verse 1. “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Hearts, plural. Now, that’s interesting. There are lots of plurals all through these verses – plural nouns and pronouns and verbs. But in the original Greek text, your is plural but heart is singular: Let not your (or, as we say in Texas, “all y’all’s”); let not your heart (singular, not hearts) be troubled. English teachers would critique that sentence for failure of subject and verb agreement – plural subject, singular verb. Let not all y’alls heart be troubled. Jesus does it on purpose. Here is why that is such an important note. Remember: He’s not a grammarian; He’s a Savior.

Jesus wants you to know that, in Him, we share a common heart. Each of us have our own heart, yes, and those hearts get twitterpated (great word, right?) and flummoxed over the things that happen to us – that is natural; it’s part of being a human being, under the cross, this side of heaven.  But God’s people have a common heart among us. It is a common heart that we share together, a common heart, filled with the Holy Spirit, that reflects the incarnate One that comes to us and unites us as the body of Christ under His headship. That common heart that encourages, cares for, uplifts, and supports one another even as our hearts race from problems and troubles.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, my dear sons and daughters in Jesus, know this: we share the common heart of Jesus. We are all part of the body of Christ. Therefore, the common heart of Jesus beats in you. United by Christ, we walk alongside each other, together, caring for each other, loving each other, supporting each other so that you know that in Christ you are never alone. Our common heart sets the Lord Jesus Christ before us, 24/7, day in and day out. With that common heart we give thanks together, grieve together, struggle together, rejoice together, love together, laugh together, weep together.

If you find yourself praying, Oh, Lord – let not my heart be troubled,” know that He both understands and answers. He has heard your cry, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” and He does exactly that. His heart beats alongside yours. Psalm 73 says “Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is none that I desire in earth but you. My heart and my flesh might fail, but God is my heart and my portion forever.” So today or tomorrow morning or Tuesday evening and any other time when your heart is threatened to be overwhelmed, His heart beats all the stronger. When your heart is troubled, His heart beats in peace. When your heart beats with guilt and shame, His heart beats a baptismal blessing reminding you that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Let not all ya’ll’s heart be troubled. It is the heart of Christ. Amen.