JUNE 5, 2011

Sermon By Pastor MaAn

June 5, 2011 – Ascension Sunday

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When Jesus first showed up to begin his ministry, he had one message: the kingdom of God.

¹⁴ Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News.^[^f^] ¹⁵ “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” –Mark 1, New Living Translation

The kingdom of God – an alternate world order to the one then in existence ˗ was Jesus’ dream. It was his all-embracing vision. It was his consuming passion. For three years, he went about proclaiming this alternative world order. He made its blessings known through his teachings, preaching and healing. People experienced the presence in this new alternative world order through his actions of welcoming the different and the neglected, bringing wholeness to the sick and the impaired. And he did the same by challenging the comfortable.

On one hand, his passion for this alternative world order he came to establish earned him the admiration of those who benefited from his ministry of compassion and radical hospitality. Through him, they experienced the presence of God and divine blessings. It is no wonder they eagerly followed him. Many dedicated their lives to sharing his vision and living it out in their daily lives and encounter with others.

On the other hand, it earned him the ire of those who wanted things to remain as they had always known it. These were the people who lived by the saying: “We have always done it this way before, so don’t you dare rock our boat.” These were the people who benefited from the status quo. They did not want change. Nor did they want to change. They wanted to do the same things over and over and again while expecting different results. And so he challenged them to be different people and to live differently according to the values of the alternative order he came to establish. They would have none of it. So they ostracized him. They beat him up, crucified him, and then finally got rid of him. Or so, they thought.

But God proved them wrong. God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the Easter message.

“God raised Jesus from the dead.”

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples over 40 days. Forty days, a common expression in the Bible, simply means a long time.

In the Bible, forty days simply means a long time.

And during this time Jesus continued to equip and empower them to do the work he began three years prior his death and resurrection.

Today is Ascension Sunday. Ascension Sunday reminds me of the movie, Mary Poppins (1964). Many of you are familiar with it ... a very wholesome movie about a family and their super nanny, Mary Poppins. She had a chimney sweep friend named Bert. Together they turned the Banks’ family order upside down and made them, especially the busy parents, realize what truly matters in life. At first they resisted, but gratefully they saw the light.

At the end of the movie, Mary prepares to leave her charges, Jane and Michael Banks, having brought healing joy into their dysfunctional family. As the family prepares to "go fly a kite", Mary rises into the air as the wind buoys up her immense black umbrella. On the ground, the chimney sweep/angel Bert, watches her sail up and away. He winks at her and says, "Good-bye Mary Poppins! Don't stay gone too long . . ."

In the story of the Ascension, Jesus did not have an umbrella like Mary Poppins. But just as he was raised from the dead by the power of God, so he ascended into heaven by the same power.

Just before his ascension, Jesus had a last opportunity to give the disciples some final instructions before he left them for good. He had shared with them his vision of the kingdom. He had shown them what it meant to make the kingdom a reality in their present life and a reality in the lives of others around them. Now, he wanted to make sure they understood his vision of the kingdom.

As usual, however, the disciples misunderstood. They asked: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” he responded by reminding them that it was none of their business when that was going to happen. Nor was it their business to speculate when the world will end but God’s alone, not Reverend Harold Camping’s or any other doomsday sayers of any time.

And then to empower them to do the work he was entrusting to them, he promised to send them the Holy Spirit. And then away he went.

The disciples were still looking up when two men dressed in white appeared and asked them what they were doing. They were jolted back to reality when the men told them plainly that their business was not to look up into heaven. Their business, rather, was to look out at the needs of neighbors, that is, anyone in a situation of need for compassion, for acceptance, for justice and for love.

A neighbor is someone, anyone in a situation of need in the different forms this need manifests itself.

They were to respond to those needs accordingly as Jesus did while being “gentle as lambs and wise as serpents.”

The same charge is ours, followers of Jesus, today. And like the disciples of old, we are to be Jesus’ witnesses in our world today, as they were in theirs. As followers of Jesus today in our time and location, we are to get our hands dirty and step out of our comfort zones to reach out in love and compassion and to offer radical hospitality. Not always easy, but Jesus and the first disciples did not have it easy either. That is why Jesus promised them, and us, the Holy Spirit to empower us for the work of ministry. In addition, he gave us the gift of himself in Holy Communion to strengthen us in the journey along with other means of grace such as prayer, fasting, reflective reading of God’s Word among others. And, he also gave us each other so we can support one another in this challenging task, a task that defines not just our present but our future reality.

As Christians, our calling is to continue living out Jesus’ vision for the world. Let us ask him for the grace to do so, with a passion that equals his. Amen.

Questions for reflection:

What do you see as the role of the faith community, particularly this faith community in making Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God a reality here in Eastport and in Annapolis today?

What do you see as your own personal role as a Christian making Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God a reality where you live or work or play?