Ascension 2009 Luke 24:44-53

Our reading today is about Jesus' return to heaven. In his life and ministry the boundary between heaven and earth started to break down. He taught about God's kingdom not as a place but as a way of life in which justice and love matter.

Jesus didn't stay on earth very long. Just 33 years was all he needed. And for the most part what we know about Jesus happened in just the last three years of his life here on earth.

Time moves all on its own. The older I get the more I've realized just how much faster time moves on even when were aren't ready. In all of our lives there are moments, life changing events, that happen in just a blink in time. Sometimes life changes happen so fast that we humans only later on, a ways down the road, get a chance to digest them. Reading Luke 24:44-53 I'm reminded of just how fast things happened to and for Jesus and his friends and just how much time it still takes the church to understand what Jesus was doing and saying.

In 3 years time Jesus went from being a carpenter to a teacher and preacher. His ministry touched thousands but it only lasted for just a few years in space and time. The events that changed us the most, just Cross and rising, happened in 3 days of His time on earth.

Part of us says that Jesus is gone. We look at the world and we see that evil is so powerful and that justice and righteousness seem like a dream and not like a strong and overflowing waterfall. But the part of us that lives by faith and hope knows full well that Jesus is still here.

The cross and the empty tomb transformed death and life. The old order of living and dying seemed to just be the way things would always be. God was on the move, something was going to change. Just as Jesus, risen from the dead, was about to return to heaven; back to his place with the Father, he told his followers to wait for another move by God.

Jesus directed them forward, but didn't send them into a new ministry yet,

repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49And
see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city
until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24 NIV)

The 11 who'd walked with Jesus alive again were surely still caught in awe as he told them to stay put in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit's arrival. They'd known grief and now they were living in joy. Jesus rose and all the old rules about death and life were put aside. God is still remaking the world the same way today

Give it away and you'll be fulfilled John 15:9-17

Looking through the lens of Jesus' Words in John 15 we see heaven's vision of a complete life. A full life is totally given away; offered completely and without reservation for the sake of others. We seek self-fulfillment and Jesus instead says that if we want to be fulfilled just give it all away for the good of others.

So how do we do it? How do we give our lives away?

1) All at once.
Jesus' words, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13) are reminders for us of what God wants for us and from us. Look around and you'll find Jesus words on memorials and tombstones. Think for a short while and you can no doubt remember soldiers, police offices, firefighters, and others who gave their lives for the sake of others. Jesus meant what he said: to give your life up for another is to love that person totally. He wasn't speaking idly. He was inviting people to give up everything. We honor those who have offered everything for us knowing that their sacrifice is not trivial, most especially in heaven's eyes.

2) Everyday
Jesus' words in John 15:9-12 have been heard at many weddings,

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Jesus invites us to love not for our own sake but for the sake of others. Self-giving love happens in marriages, family, parenthood, church life, and even more relationships. Jesus invites us to give everything away for the sake of others in order that we might experience the fulfillment of his love. We worry about comfort in this life and Jesus is inviting all of us to the fullness of joy in loving and serving him.

What prevents you from Abiding in Jesus Acts 8:26-40; John 1:1-8

Jesus says anyone who hopes for a fruitful life must must abide in him. He uses the image of a vine to explain the complete connection required in order for our lives to bear fruit. Jesus is talking about a total connection where the identity of the vine and the small part of the vine are indistinguishible.

Human natures leads us to resist God. We push for independence at every turn. Jesus says abide in him and thrive; try to live alone and you'll wither up. There's no easy way arround the law here. God's offering us life and we willfully choose to cut ourselves off from him.

Jesus knows that in order for us to survive we, just like a small part of a plant, must remain connected to the true vine. We can survive only as long as our lives are connected to life of the vine. Living connected with Jesus requires total dependence, a complete connection, to him and to his Word.

Jesus is inviting us to grow in a relationship that doesn't depended on a human schedule but on the will of the Holy Spirit. To be part of the vine is more than just our choice. Instead we grow as the Spirit leads us. The question that the Eunich ask Philip in Acts 8 has real traction:

Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. Acts8:35-38

The church today needs to learn again this ancient lesson. The Holy Spirit can move faster than we can connecting people into the true vine. When we interfere with someones connection to the Jesus Christ we miss the gift that Jesus is offering us in the body of Christ.

Who is Jesus, Who are the theaves and wolves? Psalm 23 John 10:11-18

Jesus revealed God's radical love in the cross. Before he died he spoke of his death. in John 10 he said that a ture shepherd was entirely ready to face death in defense of those he was called to protect. That's how valuable you are to God. Jesus said he was ready then to face death on behalf of his sheep. Looking back towards Good Friday and Easter we see that Jesus meant it. He wasn't pontificating when he said that he was a good shepherd. He was and is ready to take on the wolves and theaves who threatened his sheep.

The gospels have given us us rich images of God at work in the person of Jesus Christ. In John's gospel Jesus' own "I am" statements helps us see who him

• I am the Messiah John 4:26


• I am the bread of life John 6:48


• I am the light of the world John 8:12


• I am the door for the sheep John 10:7


• I am the good shepherd John 10:11


• I am the Son of God John 10:36


• I am the resurrection and the life John 11:25


• I am the way, the truth, and the life John 14:6


• I am in the father and the Father is in me John 14:10


• I am the true vine John 15:1


• I am not of the world John 17:14

Jesus' simple sentences give us glimpses of God at work in his person. This weeks reading in John 10:11-18 invites us to explore Jesus work as shepherd and to explore what great lengths he's willing to go to in our defense.

In my first couple years as a pastor I remember preaching about this text. I asked out loud why sheep have reputation for being so dumb. One man in the congregation spoke up, "They can't be that dumb: they can always find their way out of a fense if there's a whole or on top of hay stack or building if they have half a chance to get there." Cordette was absolutely right. Jesus wasn't comparing us to dumb animals by calling us sheep. He was revealing both God's view of our nature and the distance that he would go to save us.

Jesus' mission, to be shepherd of our lives, runs head long into our rugged independence and our willful, and sinful, resistance to God. Sheep aren't that dumb. We humans have been given so much by God. We were made to please God. Yet we can choose to use all our gifts destructively. The shepherd who knows his sheep knows our abilities and our temptations

Jesus loves us enough to runs headlong into the worst that humans can do to other humans. Jesus has pledged to be our shepherd. He is the one with the rod and staff of the 23rd psalm. He's the one and He knows very well that he came to save a people who believe they don't need saving. Jesus knows very well that their are theaves and wolves ready to reach in and do us harm.

Jesus promised to the shepherd and he kept that promise on the cross and he will keep that promise unto the fullness of time.

Witnesses beginning in Jerusalem....

Jesus stepped out of the tomb and that same day he begain appearing to his followers. His risen presence surprised them. Yes, He'd promised to come back from dead, and He did; but his friends who heard his promise to rise still didn't expect to see him. God has been on the move, in ways we don't always expect, ever since.

Jesus' rising set his friends free. On Good Friday most of Jesus' followers just shrunk back into the crowd. They feared for their own lives. A few women and men stayed back waiting until he died to pick up his body so they could beary it. Meeting Jesus after death was just the beginning of their transformation. John reports that at their gathering the evening after Jesus' rose they barred the doors because of fear. As His friends gathered together in Jerusalem to tell their stories about meeting Him after death He surprised them by meeting with them again.

Meeting Jesus again emboldened his followers. They were released from the fear of the crowd and from the fear of death. Jesus was moving fast setting them; and all of us free. Meeting Jesus emboldens his friends today. We believers are free. He told his friend that they were called us to be witnesses starting right there in Jerusalem. Jesus said that the news shouldn't remain hidden; the time was coming when they would have power to spread the news.

Seeing the Risen Lord Jesus at work in our world today is still wonderful. Jesus was transformed in his rising, His friends were changed too and we are transformed as we meet him alive and well after death.

Jesus Easter Greeting: Peace

Jesus' resurrection rightly surprised his friends. When they met him again for the first time, after he'd risen from the dead, they didn't immediately recognize him. Jesus friends didn't expect to meet their old friend Jesus. They loved and remembered Jesus; but he was dead. They had no earthly reason to recognize him or expect to meet him.

Meeting Jesus alive after he was dead defied human reason 2000 years ago. Meeting him in flesh and blood today still defies human reason and experience. Some believed then, just as some believe today, that God has the power to raise the dead. But the day of resurrection seems very distant to us.

Martha, in John 11:24, told Jesus that she hoped to meet her dead brother Lazarus again on the day of resurrection. But that day, in her imagination, was way off in the future. Jesus responded by raising her brother from the dead that very same day. Resurrection came so quickly it caught everyone off guard. We in the church confess in our ancient creeds that we believe in the resurrection of the body. We hope for the day when we are reunited with all believers who are caught up in the great cloud of witnesses. Jesus' friends learned that the resurrection may be closer than they ever imagined it could be; and the very same lesson may be true for us.

We later believers have something to learn from the disciples' reactions: God's resurrecting power is unexpected.

We might want to make fun of Thomas' doubts in John 20 when we ought to be admitting that we our own doubts about Jesus' rising. Thomas wasn't alone in not seeing the full power of God to make the dead rise. In John 20:16 Mary met Jesus risen by the tomb and thought he was a gardener. In Luke 24:13-35 two disciples met Jesus while walking to Emmaus in the afternoon on Sunday but didn't recognize him. They spent a good bit of time together with him walking and talking about the cross and the predictions of the Messiah's dying and rising in scripture; but they didn't recognize Jesus until he broke bread with them.

Looking back this week at Thomas' story and some of the other stories of the resurrection its clear that Jesus' friends weren't expecting to meet him. Maybe the same goes for us. We don't expect to see God and often we don't seem God at work.

This week I am trying to remember that Jesus' friends were witnesses to His death before they were witnesses to the resurrection. They watched his crucifiction at a distance and heard from reliable people that his body had been taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. Even when trustworthy people told Thomas the Good News it was still to much to believe. This week I am looking for God at work and for signs of new life and I am remembering what Jesus said to his friends. "Peace be with you." He didn't ask them why they failed to believe or doubted. Instead he offered them friendship greeting them with peace.

Fear and Joy

The Good News has always been something announced to humanity.

In Mark, a mysterious young man in a white robe was the first to make the announcement to the 3 women who came to pay their last respects to Jesus. They came to properly annoint and spice his dead body. On their way to the tomb they were worried about moving the stone away. When they got there the stone was rolled away. A mysterious man in the white robe told them,

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who
was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him."
Mark 16:6 NIV

This was news then and it is news today. It is our Christian story, and the core mystery of our Christian faith put as simply as it gets. Jesus was crucified. He has risen.

The young man in white was the first to proclaim the Good News. It caught the women who heard it completely unprepared. They were ready for a dead body; not an empty tomb. They were ready to weep and the news the young man shared caught them off guard and left them in fear.

Fear is a basic involuntary emotional response. We can't prevent it or avoid it; fear happens when the unexpected and inexplicable happens to us and arround us. The experience of fear happens as the unexpected grabs us. The 3 women who came to the tomb were caught in a moment of great surprise. Some commentators will try to explain away the basic involuntary experience of fear. Some even say these 3 women were caught in a moment of awe and reverence and not fear; but awe and reverence wouldn't have moved them to hide the Good News. Fear on the otherhand might and does silence our proclamation.

Some how the joy of Jesus rising overcame their fear. Joy didn't come immediately for the women. The fear held them in silence; but we know today that they didn't sit on the story. We know that the Joy of the Good News overcame their fear. That's God's work in our world. Breaking through fear and doubt through the power of the Word.

May the joy of hearing the Good News announced for us break the chains of fear that hold us bound. May the joy of Ressurrection enliven us as witnesses to Jesus Christ.