May 16, 2010 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Acts 1: 1-11 + Psalm 47 + Ephesians 1: 17-23 + Luke 24: 46-53
The last two Sundays in John’s Gospel have found us at the table. There we feasted with the words of Jesus about love and unity, about receiving and the peace that comes from giving what we have received. It is a feast that stirs the human heart with hope and a quiet joy that strengthens and builds courage. John puts those words in writing for a people at the beginning of an age of persecution standing at the threshold of violence.
The prayer of Jesus at the table sustains them and anyone else who faces trial and trouble with a faith made bold by the presence of one who promised never to leave them and one who had been victorious
after being abandoned, betrayed, mocked, tortured, and killed by the very people he cured, comforted, and forgave. In the language of friendship, belonging and love, Jesus describes relationship with God; and then suddenly he is gone.
Suddenly in absence there is presence: absence for those who would cling to the earthly Jesus as Mary Magdalene sought to do that Easter morning prompting his warning: “Do not cling to me.” and presence for those who continue to gather at the table to feast on what has been written, break and share what has been given, and experience the Joy of life in the Spirit.
It is this absence that provides this presence. Think of that scene at Emmaus. The discouraged disciples invite that stranger to stay with them. They sit at a table discussing what has been written. They break and share what they have been given and then suddenly there is absence, he is gone. But gone too is their sadness, their fear and discouragement. Because of a presence, they rush back to Jerusalem to share what their friends in Jerusalem have already discovered: HE IS STILL WITH US WHEN WE ARE TOGETHER AND DO WHAT HE SAID.
This 2000 year old gospel tells the story of Jesus’ return to God with images out of a 2000-year-old imagination
about where God is assumed to be in that first century mind. To go to God in their imagination was to go up in the sky.
That is why they went to mountain tops to pray getting closer to God. However we might imagine or visualize the ascension of Jesus, this moment begins his real absence. It is an absence that could cause fear and disappointment. It is an absence that could cause discouragement and a loss of faith. Yet it is also a moment that begins his real presence. It is a presence found in relationships of love and service It is a presence found in breaking and sharing, forgiving, and healing.
This Feast today leaves us to wonder where he goes and where God is. Hungering still for communion, searching still for God, this feast brings us full circle, back to the table, back to what has been written, and back to each other. Clues into the mystery of where God is start in friendship, in love, and in the human heart. The interpretation of those clues, the understanding of what they mean and where they lead begins in this assembly.
Here we gather week after week, as did those apostles, to remember, share, and review again what has been written. Here upon those present comes the Spirit, the Advocate, the Power, the Wisdom, the Courage, the Prudence, and the PRESENCE that leads us to victory and peace.
In the ascension Jesus passes over into communion with God and the wide gulf between the human and the divine is bridged now in both directions. What began at Christmas with God coming into human flesh is now finished with the human becoming divine.
I have always been fascinated by the detail in Luke’s Gospel which says: “He led them out as far as Bethany.”
We must not miss the implications of this behavior. He took them out of Jerusalem, out of the seat of power, out of their home, away from what was familiar and trusted and predictable.
He took them out of all that to little old Bethany where so many awesome signs and wonders had taken place. Bethany, remember is where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived. He still takes us out; he still leads us away from places of comfort, from places of power and predictability for one last word inviting us into his presence after which we can return with Joy to world that knows too little of it.