The day he was taken up to heaven

Written by Marv Thiessen

Pastor Marv Thiessen

Calgary First Mennonite Church

May 16, 2010

 

THE DAY HE WAS TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN

Acts 1:1-11

 

Today is the day that the Christian tradition designates as Ascension Sunday. Luke, whom we understand the author of the book of Acts in the Bible to be, tells us in the first verses of that book that Jesus was on the earth for a period of forty days after his resurrection until he was taken up to heaven. So the church has chosen the Sunday that occurs six weeks after Easter as Ascension Sunday. This morning, I want to take a few minutes to look at the significant lessons for the Christian church that come out of the story Luke told about the time between Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension. We find those lessons in what Jesus taught to his apostles in those days.

Luke writes to his friend, Theophilus, and gives details about the time that Jesus spent on earth after his resurrection that suggest that there were two purposes for this time period. One was to prove that had truly risen from the dead and was alive. The other was to teach about the kingdom of God.

Luke proceeds to give two examples of the teaching that Jesus did. Because Luke has already told us that Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God, we understand these two examples of Jesus’ teaching as giving us information about the kingdom of God. In the first example in Acts 1:4,5, Jesus tells the apostles to stay in Jerusalem until God’s gift will come to them. He says that they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. Because we typically use the word baptism in church circles to refer to a specific religious ritual, we might be inclined to see it that way here as well. Then we might think that Christians need to experience a specific baptism of the Holy Spirit, that there is something more to receiving the Holy Spirit than just becoming followers of Jesus. But the word "baptism" really means to dip, dye, plunge, immerse or bathe. When Luke uses the word in this context he is contrasting it with John using water in baptism. He is talking about the volume of the Holy Spirit. There will be a generous outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is not a separate event from becoming a Christian. Luke is just talking about how the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of Christians and in the development of the kingdom of God. The first thing we learn about what Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God, then, is that the kingdom of God is all about what the Holy Spirit is going to do on earth.

Luke then gives us another example of the teaching of Jesus. It seems that the followers of Jesus still had in mind that Jesus would establish a political kingdom in Israel over which he would rule. Their hopes for this had been dashed when Jesus was crucified, but now that he was alive again, what could stop him? Luke writes in Acts 1:6 that they asked if Jesus was now going to restore Israel as a dominant political kingdom.

Jesus responded in Acts 1:7,8, with an enigmatic reply about them not being able to know God’s timetable. They shouldn’t focus on the idea of Israel becoming a dominant political kingdom again. Instead, they should focus on what would happen when the Holy Spirit would come on them. Again, the kingdom of God is about what the Holy Spirit will do through the followers of Jesus. This time, Jesus elaborated further on what would happen when the Holy Spirit would come. His followers would receive power and this power would enable them to be witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and throughout the earth.

From Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God in this passage, we learn that the kingdom of God is not about eternal life lived in heaven in the clouds somewhere. The kingdom of God is the spread of the good news of Jesus brought about by the Holy Spirit working through human beings. The kingdom of God is about the power of God at work in the lives of his followers through the Holy Spirit, and their participation in God’s call to be witnesses to Jesus.

With that teaching and orientation, Jesus’ time on earth was complete. In effect, Luke tells these stories of the teaching of Jesus to set the context for the book of Acts. The book is about the spread of the good news of Jesus in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, to Samaria and then on to all the earth as it was known. That was set in motion by the teaching that Jesus gave to his followers before leaving the earth.

Following those examples of the teaching about the kingdom of God, Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up from heaven and his followers watched the event until he was hidden from sight by a cloud. Then it seems that two angels appeared to them, asking them why they were standing there and looking into the sky. I take it that the implication was that they now had something to do. There was no point in hanging around there wondering if Jesus would come falling back to earth. He would come back at some point, but they didn’t need to stand there waiting for it to happen. They had something to do. So on the day Jesus was taken up to heaven, the church had its purpose.

Jesus left the purpose of participating in the spread of the message of Jesus for his followers that became the founders of the Christian church. We who follow in the long line of people who have chosen to follow Jesus and who are the Christian church continue to have the same call and purpose. Our chief purpose is to participate in the sharing of the message of Jesus in our world. There isn’t only one way to do this. We do it by telling of our experiences of God’s work and presence. We do it by telling about God’s acts in history that were designed to draw humanity to him. We do it by living together as Christians in community with a winsome attitude of unity and love. We do it through acts of love for those we meet in our varied circles of human contact. In all those ways, we participate in being witnesses of Jesus. We remember that purpose especially as we recall Jesus on the day he was taken up to heaven.