Reflections on Ascension – Acts 1:1-11

Read the text here: Acts 1:1-11

Footprints

Have you ever wanted to escape? Just get away from it all? Probably. There are times when we all
think about wanting to get away from the stress and struggle of our day-to-day lives. This is particularly
true for us when we are confronted with something really difficult – the death of a loved one, a
significant loss, health troubles, loss of a job and so forth. What do we do? Well I suppose most of us
continue on and try to move forward the best we can. But perhaps some of us may give in to the
temptation to dream about a heaven that is completely removed from our earthly lives.

Well, we are not alone in this. For centuries going back to the early church conflicts believers have
envisioned a heaven (and a hell) that was very, very different from earth and one that was, for all intents
and purposes, an escape. Some great literature has taken great pains to describe a heaven that was
very removed from earth and was filled with glory and joy. The best example of this is probably Dante’s
“Divine Comedy” which is in three parts: “The Inferno,” “Purgatory,” and “Heaven.” Even if we have
never read this work, we have all been influenced by it. Virtually every literary, poetic, musical and
artistic interpretation of the joys of heaven or the agonies of hell is based on Dante’s vision. I remember
once when I was in college and having some struggles going to a friend who was very religious and
sharing my struggles with the friend. His response to me was in essence, just wait, some day you will be
in heaven and you won’t have to worry about it anymore. And then he proceeded to describe to me
what he thought heaven was like, which I now realize looked a lot like Dante.

Now, “heaven” is a part of our tradition and a part of New Testament teaching. But you might be
surprised to learn that it is not as important or as central as we sometimes like to think. In fact, Jesus is
constantly working to refocus his disciples right here on earth. The Kingdom of God (or, in Matthew, the
Kingdom of Heaven) is not a far away place you go to after you die. It is here and now and we disciples
of all ages are called upon to be citizens of this Kingdom now, reaching out and touching others in
Christ’s name. The most important characteristics of this Kingdom are unconditional grace, love,
acceptance, forgiveness and inclusion of all. And it is now! It is not here among us in its fullness, but it is
now, here already. And we experience a foretaste of the banquet table of heaven whenever we feel the
wetness of water in Baptismal remembrance, when we take bread and wine in Holy Communion; when
we reach out and touch another human or are touched by God’s love and grace.

But yet we persist in still looking into the heavens longingly. In the Ascension text from Acts 1, Jesus
takes his disciples out to the Mount of Olives one last time to bid them farewell. Now Jesus has been
with these disciples for around 3 years and has repeatedly tried to teach them that the Kingdom of
Heaven/God is here and now and that they are called to be workers in this Kingdom. He reminds them
of this even in the resurrection appearances. But yet when Jesus ascends what do the disciples do?
They stand there gazing into the heavens, completely lost and confused. It is as though they haven’t a
clue what to do next. The Messengers (Angels) who first announced the resurrection have to again
remind the disciples to lower their gaze and get to work!

And still they don’t know what to do. They return to their locked room. They elect a replacement for
Judas and otherwise do nothing, until that day when the Spirit of Christ invades their locked seclusion
and drives them back into the world that God loves so incredibly. This Spirit is still with us calling us to
lower our gaze and get to work. There are people who need to be cared for, supported, loved and
visited. There is terrible injustice in our world and nation which needs to be addressed, people need to
be fed and clothed and provided with health care and housing. People are still being excluded and
rejected based on things like race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation and social status. What are we doing
to bring God’s love and grace and acceptance to these situations? The words of the Angels ring out
loudly: “People, why do you stand gazing into the heavens?” There is work to do. God calls us all to the
work of the Kingdom.

Below you will find a woodcut of the Ascension. Look at it carefully. Do you see the Jesus’ footprints?
Pastor Barbara Lundblad has this to say about this woodcut:

“Not long ago I saw a wonderful picture of Jesus' ascension. It was a black and white woodcut print
finely etched. In the picture Jesus is rising up as the disciples watch him disappear into the clouds. If you
look closely at the picture, not in the clouds, but on the ground, you can see footprints on the earth. The
artist has carefully etched Jesus' footprints down on the level where the disciples are standing with their
mouths open. Perhaps the artist was simply imagining a homey detail that isn't in the text. Or, perhaps,
the artist is pressing us with the old question, "Why do you stand looking up into heaven? Look at these
footprints here on the earth." Jesus' muddy footprints are all over the pages of the gospels.

· Can you see Jesus' footprints in the wilderness? Each time he was tempted to claim earthly power
and glory, he reached up and touched the words of Torah. One does not live by bread alone. Worship
the Lord your God and serve only God.

* Can you see Jesus walking on the wrong side of the street with the wrong people?

* Can you see Jesus walking up to a sycamore tree, then looking up at Zachaeus, the tax collector,
perched in the branches? "Come down, Zachaeus," Jesus said, "let's walk over to your house for dinner."

* Can you see Jesus walking, then riding, into Jerusalem?

* Can you see him stumbling toward Golgotha, loving us to the very end?

“…Centuries later Dietrich Bonhoeffer kept the message going. "The body of Christ takes up space on
the earth," he said. That is, the Body of Christ makes footprints.

"Why do you stand looking up into heaven?" Sometimes it's still easier to look for a pure world up there
or out there, especially if we think of the church as the body of Christ. We see so many blemishes, so
many things wrong. Perhaps you've said, "Show me a church where ministers aren't self-serving, where
people aren't hypocritical, where love is genuine, and then I'll become a member." Well, we'll wait a
long time, for such a church takes up no space on this earth. Or perhaps such a church lives only in our
memories, a time when disciples believed, when faith could move mountains, when motives were
pure…. There is no one but us, not in this time and space. We can stand looking up into heaven or we
can believe the promise of Jesus: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and
you will be my witnesses!" You will make footprints in and through ordinary, imperfect communities of
faith that seldom get it right. Ascension Day is not a call to look up. It is to trust that Christ's promise is
down and in and around us. We are not alone-you and I who dance and climb, who run and get knocked
down, we who lie on the grass or sit watching the late-night news. We are not alone. The Holy Spirit,
promised by Jesus, surprises us at every turn, saying, "Guess who?"”
So, why do you stand looking up into the heavens? Time to get to work!

Dr. Barbara Lundblad – DayOne - http://day1.org/937-footprints_on_the_earth

Commentary on Acts 1:1-11

Brian Peterson | 3 Comments
6000

The Ascension seems like the poor cousin among church festivals: often overlooked, passed over
without being missed.

A few congregations will worship on the Thursday that comes 40 days after Easter. More congregations
will observe the Ascension on the following Sunday, thus bumping the seventh Sunday of Easter from
the calendar. Most, I suspect, will simply not observe it at all.

This seems like poor treatment for one of the great ecumenical feasts, and an event that the writer of
Luke-Acts thought important enough to narrate twice. Perhaps the scene of Jesus ascending on a cloud
is a bit too reminiscent of Peter Pan. Perhaps we just can’t tolerate too much worship spilling into the
week. More likely, I suspect, we really don’t like good-byes, and we don’t know quite how to celebrate
this one.

The author of Acts, as any master story-teller, narrates the ascension without stopping to explain its
theological significance, but there are at least three claims narrated here that are worth homiletical
attention. The first is that the ascension is the narrative portrayal of Luke’s pervasive claim that Jesus is
Lord. This point becomes more explicit later in Acts. In 2:33, Jesus’ ascension is the reason that he can
send the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:31 it is because of his ascension that Jesus can give repentance and
forgiveness.

The cloud in our text is not a heavenly elevator; it is, as often in the Bible, a sign of God’s presence
(consider the pillar of cloud in Exodus, or the cloud that comes at Jesus’ transfiguration in Luke 9). If we
ask “Where did Jesus go?” perhaps the only adequate answer is that Jesus went to the Father -- not to a
place “up there” somewhere -- but to be with the Father in love and in power. The ascension into the
cloud is Jesus’ welcome into the Father’s presence.

This is not, however, simply a return to the way things were before. The world has changed, because
now Jesus is its enthroned Lord. That means that Caesar is not, nor are any of the powers, pursuits, or
promises that vie for control of our lives. In the accounts of both the ascension and the empty tomb, we
hear about two men in dazzling white robes, asking “Why are you looking…?” Thus there is good
exegetical reason to turn to the claim of the ascension in our Easter season. The writer of Luke-Acts ties
the two events together, because the ascension clarifies what the resurrection means.
It doesn’t mean that there is life after death; it isn’t even a promise that we’ll go to heaven when we die.
To proclaim Jesus’ resurrection is to claim that God has exalted him -- the same Jesus who welcomed
the sinners, who suffered and died in shame and rejection by this world -- as Lord and Messiah (2:36).
Jesus is God’s promise and plan for the whole world, and neither death nor any of its minions are able to
stop that.

The second theme highlighted in the ascension story is that the stage is now set for the giving of the
Spirit. Jesus’ going to the Father means that the Spirit will be poured out on God’s people (see, again,
Acts 2:33). For now, the disciples must wait to receive “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon”
them (verse 8). The language here is reminiscent of Gabriel’s words to Mary in Luke 1. Both the Gospel
and the book of Acts thus begin with God’s Spirit moving in the world to bring something new: in Luke 1,
the birth of the Messiah, and in Acts 1, the birth of the church and its witness.

For such things, we must wait and trust in God’s promise. Perhaps, as is so often the case with us, the
disciples see no need to wait. They ask if “now” is the time to restore the kingdom to Israel. Luke’s
Gospel, particularly the joyous outbursts by Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon in the first two chapters,
makes clear that what happens in Jesus will truly be the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. But
perhaps “restore” indicates a hope that is too small. What God has in mind is not just bringing Israel
back to the “good ole’ days,” but bringing Israel to its yet-unrealized goal of being light to the whole
world. The disciples may have thought they were on the verge of inheriting an old-style kingdom, when
in fact they are at the edge of God’s mission to redeem all nations, a mission that will consume the rest
of their lives (and ours).

Finally, this text is about the absence of Jesus (see 3:19-21). So, how do we live as Jesus’ followers
without his visible, physical presence? The disciples have to be called away from staring up, in
expectation and wonder, at where they last saw Jesus. They aren’t looking for the wrong thing (or,
rather, the wrong person), but simply in the wrong place. “All that Jesus began to do and to teach”
(verse 1; not clearly translated by NRSV, but see NIV or NET) doesn’t end with the ascension. The church
continues to proclaim, to teach, to love, and to serve in Jesus’ name.

In the work of the Spirit (“the Spirit of Jesus”, 16:7) we encounter Jesus and what he continues to do.
We aren’t left staring at where Jesus used to be (whether in history, or in our own life experiences, or in
our supposedly settled opinions and interpretations). Not just although, but because he ascended, we
continue to encounter Jesus through the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments, through the
fellowship of the church, and through ministry with the poor and the oppressed. And because Jesus has
ascended as our risen Lord, none of the other departures we experience (departures of relationships, of
health, or of life itself) can harm us or rob us of God’s good promise. For that, we can and should
celebrate The Ascension with praise and thanks.