Year A Easter 7
Acts 1: 1-14.In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,’ he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Ascension of Jesus
(Mk 16.19—20; Lk 24.50—53)
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
(Cp Ps 109.8)
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.Acts 1: 1-14
© The New Revised Standard Version,
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989In the name of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?
Many years ago Peta-Gai and I were travelling overseas, we were in a strange and foreign place, in a huge city, where English was not the first language. For some reason we needed to go to the Australian Embassy; we had the address, we had found it on the map, and with all our possessions on our back we started walking; through the city and the traffic, across the river on one of the main bridges, into the streets on the other side, until we were hopelessly lost. Eventually because of the heat we hailed a taxi, told the driver where we wanted to go, the name of the street, and he took us there, drove us up and down, and up and down, looking for the Australian Embassy. We got out, let the driver go, and walked up and down some more by ourselves. We were looking at the map, sure we were in the right street, expecting the see a big building with ‘Australian Embassy’ written on the front, but all we found was an ordinary street, dusty and dirty, with rows of houses.
It was one of those desperately awful travelling moments!
After some time of looking, suddenly we realised why we were lost. From memory it had something to do with both the wrong street name and the right street name being similar in a different language from ours, and not seeing the locations on the map accurately. It was probably me, I would now say, but I had looked at the map, seen one thing, put it into my head, and followed that route. In ways I was looking, but not seeing, and I had not seen what was in front of me as it needed to be seen.
When we realised this, it was like a moment of truth, an awakening, when we clearly saw where we needed to be, and again we headed off, but this time exactly in the direction we needed to be going, finally arriving at the big building with ‘Australian Embassy’ written on the front.
The book of acts tells us about the life of the early church. It begins with a short summary telling of Jesus appearing to his followers after his death and resurrection, then these followers are all gathered and Jesus is lifted up, a cloud taking him out of their sight, as the text says, and then the writer of Acts has a very short, but personal account of the first gathering of the faithful beyond the life of Christ.
“12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”
The illuminated illustration behind me is a little over 800 years old, in some ways beautiful, while being very cartoon like, as we would say all these centuries later. It shows part of our passage for today from Acts chapter 1.; the part the church calls the ascension, where the followers of Jesus are gathered together and Jesus is taken from their sight. You can see the disciples, but if you count them, there are more than the 11 remaining ones, so it’s the followers of Jesus, and you can see the almost transparent layers of cloud that partly cover him as he is taken away. You can see his feet sticking out the bottom of the cloud, with Peter and John reaching up, almost it seems trying to cling onto their risen Lord, and you can see Peter’s feet almost leaving the ground too.
I like the part in this passage, where just as in the painted illustration, while Jesus is being taken away, and some try to cling on, they hear the words…. “why do you stand looking up toward heaven”?
“While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
It reminds me of when the women went to the tomb following the crucifixion and it is empty and they hear… “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
It reminds me of Elijah in the cave in the Old Testament book of 1 Kings 19, when he hears the voice… “Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
All similar to my travel disaster, looking in the wrong place, being in the wrong place; looking, but not seeing; being someplace, but out of place.
All similar to this image, people staring up to heaven, looking in the wrong place, being in the wrong place; looking, but not seeing; being someplace, but out of place.
So we could ask ourselves, if the followers of Jesus were looking in the wrong place, “why do you stand looking up to heaven”, we could ask ourselves, where were they supposed to be looking? And there is a bit of a clue in the verses just before Jesus is taken up; Jesus says: “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Basically saying, “you will be a people of the Spirit” and you will be ‘witnesses… to the ends of the earth”. These are the things to be doing, the things to be looking at, being a people of spirit and witness (action) rather than just looking up to the clouds and the sky. And so it was for the early church, those early followers of Christ, how found a new life in the presence of God’s Spirit, and indeed went throughout the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.
But it is easy to be a people of the faith, to be the church, and to think you are looking carefully and think you know where to go, to think you see clearly, are in the right place, only to find you are looking up to the clouds, the skies, the heavens. The Christian Church down throughout the ages, of all persuasions, of all peoples, has in ways and times, had its head in the clouds, rather than being a people of Spirit and action; rather than being a people of spirit life, and good news action.
I’m sure we can all think of times in our lives and in the church, where we have had our heads in the clouds, looking up in heavenly ways, rather than being a people of Spirit life and good news action.
Times of self-obsession, religious irrelevance, clouded vision and narrow outlook. Times of looking upward and never outward, of being still, rather than in witness and action.
Two weeks ago when we had our Sunday afternoon conversation, one person said to the group that now we find ourselves here, it is as if we have a responsibility to be in mission and action. And indeed that is our challenge now, to grow as a people of Spirit life and good news action. And of course, just as it was for the early church, and as it is for us, it will not be easy. If you continued to read on in the book of Acts you would find that life for the early church, to be a people of mission, was not an easy thing.
And so for us the challenge is to be a people of Spirit life and good news action. For we too are a people who do not live in the time of Jesus Christ, but in the days of the Spirit. Jesus has risen and has left us his Spirit. We are a people of the Spirit and called to bear witness… to the ends of the earth. Let us open our minds and our eyes, that we will look and see with clarity how we are being led and called as people of the Spirit.
Amen.