1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord and the Rite of Confirmation for our Confirmands is taken from Acts 1:1-11, it’s entitled, “Jesus is All You Need,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today it is helpful for us to learn what Jesus’ Ascension means for our lives as our modern Church today suffers from Ascension Deficit Disorder.
2. The young couple had spent the last forty weeks in such excitement waiting for the birth of their first child. The nursery was decorated, and the baby shower had been held. Both parents enjoyed week after week hearing their friends in church commenting on how her stomach was growing as God was busy knitting together this precious child. Now, at their due date, all that needed to happen was for their new bundle of joy to be born. But then the unthinkable happens. The mom-to-be notices her child has stopped moving in her womb. A trip to the hospital brings them to their knees when the doctor tells them that no heartbeat can be found. Their joy and anticipation quickly has become unspeakable sorrow. They ask, “How can this happen? Why now? Isn’t it enough that we’ve waited so patiently? Where is God in all of this?”
3. On the other side of the country, a “seasoned” couple gets ready to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. The children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren would all be coming home to make their joy complete. The guest bedrooms have been prepared. The food ordered. The pastor invited to come give them a blessing at the celebration. Just a few more days and they would start making the trips to the airport to bring the family home. But then the unthinkable happens. Two days before the anniversary, the bride of 65 years awakens to find that her husband died in his sleep. Their joy and anticipation have become unspeakable sorrow. The bride and so many of the family ask, “How can this happen? Why now? Isn’t it enough that we’ve waited so patiently? Where is God in all of this?”
4. We as Christians, who are saved entirely by grace through faith, are so richly blessed by our God. But of course, we continue to live here in this sinful world—a world of trouble, disease, uneasiness, stress, crime, fear, mourning, depression, and even death. How easy it is for us as Christians, in good times, to allow the words of the author of Hebrews to echo in our hearts: “For he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’ ” (Heb 13:5–6). But in times of human sorrow and tragedy, how is it that those same words of God can seem like a cruel betrayal? Do we find ourselves like Jesus’ disciples at his ascension, staring into the sky, wondering what just happened and asking, “Isn’t it enough that we’ve suffered so? Where is God in all of this?”
5. The disciples had been through so much with Jesus. They’d witnessed the first of his many miracles, turning water into wine, and then his healing lepers with his word, calming storms and seas, walking on water, raising the dead. They were there watching from afar during Jesus’ Passion. The horror to learn that their beloved master was dead. Dead! And then the great fulfillment of Jesus’ promise on that glorious Easter day. Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) They were thinking, “Jesus really is who he said he is, and he did what he said he’d do! Now things are in order! Now that we really know Jesus, now that he’s resurrected and alive, things will finally be good for us!”
6. And so, they ask him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). In other words, “Jesus, will you now get rid of these Romans? Will you finally shut the mouths of these Pharisees who hound us day and night? We’ve surely been through enough! Now life will finally get better, right?”
7. Friends, are we any different from Jesus’ disciples? Now that we are Christians, our lives should be better. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, so this world can no longer inflict its cruelty on us, right? The expectant parents and the bride of 65 years who just lost her husband may answer differently. The woman who has been suffering for years with the pain of diabetes ravaging her body and causing her to endure another amputation may answer differently. Jesus’ disciples, after 40 glorious post-resurrection days, but then, “as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), might answer differently: “Jesus, you’re leaving us again? Wasn’t once enough?” “God, where are you in all of this? I know you died on the cross for my sins and rose again to bring me eternal life. But earthly life right now—it’s hard for me!” And Jesus doesn’t answer directly: “It is not for you to know times or seasons” (Acts 1:7).
8. I don’t have to tell you that this life on earth is difficult, because each of us has suffered in one way or another. We each have faced tragedies in our lives. But, our challenge as Christians is to remember what the disciples heard as Jesus was lifted into the cloud: “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Is that not just for another time?
9. No. In his final moments with the disciples, Jesus is telling them to let go of the past and to stop worrying about the future. Already now, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and even his ascension is the fulfillment of God’s promises. From the fall of man, when our first parents plunged humanity into the sin and death of breaking God’s Law, God promised Good News of sending to us a Savior to fix our brokenness. Jesus is that Savior. And his saving work has now been accomplished. So, Jesus Is All You Need . . . for This Time and Season and the Next.
10. The Father reminds us, “Isn’t it enough for you that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among you?” The same Word that spoke our world and you and me into existence became flesh and lived with us on earth, died for us, and rose again on our behalf! And that same Word speaks these same words to us in our times and seasons of suffering and sorrow: “You will receive”—have now received!—“power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).
11. Jesus, reminds us, “I am all you need, the Word become flesh who is with you daily and in every moment right now through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is the all-availing sacrifice of his body and blood on the cross that has forgiven your sins and secured your future, promising the day when you will never again know pain, suffering, sorrowing, mourning, or death? Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection allow us to shift our focus from our earthly existence with all of its troubles to a promised heavenly one! And he gives us the Means of Grace to do so! By Jesus, for Jesus, through Jesus, God has triumphed over the troubles of this world and points us to a glorious future with Christ. Jesus is all you need!
12. And knowing that we are waiting for Jesus’ return here in this earthly setting, far from leaving us alone, he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Not only so, but Jesus comes to us through his Word, through our Baptism, and in the most real and true way through the bread and the wine, sustaining us with his body and blood. God in the flesh close with us here today! Already now! Jesus is all you need!
13. This is the message I want our confirmands to know as well, that Jesus is all you need. This weekend Matthew and Carsen publicly confess the faith given to them in their baptisms. This reminds us of the saving faith we received in our baptisms. Our confirmands confess, “This is what I believe, teach, and confess. This is faith that Jesus died and rose again to save me. This is the faith that came with the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. This is the faith that is mine by the Word of God. For I have learned that ‘Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ’ (Rom 10:17). This is the faith that allows me to receive the very body and blood Jesus gave on the cross in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar.
14. Confirmation reminds us that we daily fight the good fight of faith as we look forward to the prize for which our heavenly Father has called us heavenward. That’s why confirmation isn’t graduation! This weekend begins another part of the journey that our Lord has set before us, and our confirmands. For that journey, we need strength. When you go on a hike, you might walk 10 miles the first day, but without rest and food, the second day will bring only 8 or 9 miles. So, it is with faith. It needs to be fed with God’s Word and Sacraments. If it’s not, it will weaken to the point of death.
15. As you grow and mature in the Christian faith, that journey will present different challenges. God never promised to take those challenges away. What he did promise to give you is strength for the journey, strength to see through those challenges to the cross. St. Paul told the Christians at Rome: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18). And Jesus said in St. John’s Gospel, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).
16. My friends in Christ, just as Jesus ascended into heaven as God Incarnate, the Word made flesh, he will come again in the same manner—the Word made flesh. He will fulfill his promise to take us to the place he has prepared for us for eternity. We have this promise in the best of days and the worst of days, and we have his holy presence as the fulfilment of this promise. “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way” (Acts 1:11). Jesus is all you need, for today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment