The chancel of the medieval church of St Botolph’s in Cambridge was rebuilt by Bodley in 1872. This stained glass window of the Ascension of the Lord, dates to 1886 and is in the east window above the Altar. [photo and description by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.]
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This week’s lectionary readings focus on the Day of Ascension, which always falls on the Thursday forty days following Easter Sunday.
OBSERVE:
The Gospel of Luke and the Book of the Acts of the Apostles occupy a unique relationship in the New Testament canon. Both books are written by Luke, who is called the beloved physician by Paul (Colossians 4:14); and they are really intended to be read as companion pieces.
I recommend that the reader begin with the Gospel reading from Luke 24:44-53, also included in this week’s SOAR Lectionary Bible Study. [CLICK HERE for the SOAR study on Luke 24:44-53]
Luke’s Gospel is the account of the birth, baptism, temptation, ministry, teaching, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Luke makes it quite clear that he intends to apply the same scrupulous research in the book of Acts to the work of the apostles after Jesus is taken away from them:
The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
We note that Theophilus in Greek means friend of God, or beloved by God. Whether this is an actual individual, or is perhaps meant to describe the reader (in much the way 19th century writers might write to their “dear readers”), what is significant is that Luke is continuing his record of Jesus and his disciples. In fact, it might be argued that as The Gospel of Luke is the story of Jesus, Acts is the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.
In the Book of Acts, Luke asserts that Jesus:
showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.
Today’s Lectionary reading describes the final appearance of Jesus in the flesh at the end of forty days. Although there is overlap between Luke’s Gospel and his Book of Acts, it is clear that this account is more detailed.
Jesus led his disciples to the mountain called Olivet, also known as The Mount of Olives. We remember that this olive grove on a hillside is just a little more than half a mile from the Temple, and is also where Jesus prayed the night he was arrested. There seems to be a slight discrepancy with Luke’s Gospel, in which he says Jesus led his disciples to Bethany (Luke 24:50). Bethany was actually about a mile from the Temple. What this probably means is that they were on the Mount of Olives, on the way toward Bethany.
What really matters is the content of his message. He instructs them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, which is the same language that he uses in Luke’s Gospel. However, he then becomes more explicit, and connects events from the beginning of Luke’s Gospel with events soon to take place in Acts:
For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
We have come full circle from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and John’s promise of the coming Messiah. John the Baptist says:
I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16-17).
However, the disciples are fixated on their own notions of the Kingdom of God. They ask:
Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?
Can it be that even after at least three years with Jesus, and after his cruel death and his glorious resurrection, they are still so slow to understand? Jesus answers that they aren’t to be concerned about the end times. They have a job to do:
He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Jesus doesn’t deny the reality of the end of the age. He is simply telling them that it is not their business. It is the Father’s business, and it will happen when he is ready. This is essentially the same teaching we find in Jesus’ doctrine on the parousia (the coming of Jesus at the end of the age) in Matthew’s Gospel:
But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36).
Jesus instead is mapping out his directions for his disciples in the meantime. When they have been empowered by the Holy Spirit, they will carry the Gospel throughout the world. Implicit in his words is a description of the geographical spread of the Gospel — beginning where they are in Jerusalem, then to the Jewish world of Judea, then even to the non-Jewish world of Samaria, and to all the Gentiles throughout the world.
What happens next can only be described as a theophany — a manifestation of God. Jesus rises up from their sight and disappears into a cloud. We remember that we have seen something similar in the account of the Transfiguration, except that the cloud — a symbol in Scripture of the presence or shekinah of God — descends upon Jesus. Jesus had taken three of his disciples to the top of a mountain earlier in his earthly ministry, and he had been transfigured before them in dazzling light; Moses and Elijah had appeared to him and spoke to him of his impending departure in Jerusalem — meaning his death, resurrection and even his ascension. And then:
a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud. A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” (Luke 9:34-35).
In our current passage, the disciples stand transfixed, gazing up at the sky — and then they are spoken to rather curtly:
behold, two men stood by them in white clothing, who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.
Again, we see the completion of a circle. There are two men in white here — no doubt angels — just as there were two men in dazzling white at the empty tomb who asked the women why they were seeking the living among the dead, and assuring them that Jesus had been raised.
In this case, the angels assure the disciples of the promised age to come — that Jesus will return just as they saw him go.
Clearly, this is not an ending but a beginning. Jesus is no longer present physically with his disciples, but he has given them the promise of the Holy Spirit, who will be poured out on Pentecost, just ten days later; and they are assured of Jesus’ ultimate return at the end of the age. And they are given their job description:
You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
APPLY:
There are many layers of application in this passage that will always be relevant to the church:
- We are to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit so that we can be empowered by him. As Paul says:
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God (2 Corinthians 3:4-5). - Our business is not to waste our energy with speculations about the end-times. Jesus and his apostles bear ample testimony to the promise that he will come again — but when and how that will happen is God’s business, not ours.
- What we are to do is be witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning in our local context (represented by Jerusalem); and to those who share our culture and worldview (represented by Judea); to those who don’t share our culture and worldview (represented by Samaria); and we are to spread the Gospel to the entire world!
If we spend our days in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone we meet, we won’t have much time to waste on idle speculations about the end of time. But we will be ready when Jesus does return!
RESPOND:
I spent about four years living in Wilmore, Kentucky, the home of Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary. My family and I worshiped at the Wilmore United Methodist Church. In the chancel of the church, high above the platform, there was a stained glass window that I never failed to notice.
There were three words in the window:
Come. Tarry. Go.
This was a fitting message not only to those who came to worship, but also to those who were attending a Christian college and/or seminary:
- Come — and worship and learn.
- Tarry — wait, until you are empowered with the promise of the Holy Spirit.
- Go — and when you are filled, Go and be witnesses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This actually seems to be a pretty fitting mission statement for every Christian and every church!
Lord, we come to you that we might receive forgiveness and grace; we tarry so that we may be filled with the power of your Holy Spirit; and when we receive that power, send us out to go in your name, and share all that we have learned and experienced. Amen.
PHOTOS: "Christ ascending into heaven" by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 
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