Acts 1:3-9
After his suffering Jesus presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 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; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 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.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
The ascension of the resurrected Jesus into heaven was celebrated this past Thursday, May 18, according to the lectionary calendar. It is the final event rounding out our Easter season before we move on into Pentecost. However, If we are looking for literary consistency and clarity about any topic having to do with the life and death of Jesus, we are most certainly NOT going to find it anywhere around the subject of his ascension into heaven. You would think that something that big would require a lot of words. Not so.
Mark does not mention it in the original version of his gospel. About 10 or 15 verses were added to the ending at a later time which do contain a simple statement that “after Jesus had spoken to the disciples, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” We don’t know when these words were added or by whom.
Matthew says nothing on the subject, and since Matthew is largely taken from Mark, which had been written earlier, it at least hints that those extra verses didn’t exist at the time Matthew first heard about Mark’s gospel account.
John’s gospel does not depict the ascension but it does contain a few verses which seem to point to an ascension as a known fact among the followers, most particularly the first meeting between Mary Magdalene and the newly risen Jesus when he tells Mary to not cling to him since he has not yet ascended.
Luke has the most to say about the subject, but that is because he is the author of both Luke’s gospel and the Book of Acts. They were, in fact, likely written as a single document, but later divided into two. Of the four gospels, Luke’s may have the most to say about the ascension, but that’s still very little.
Luke’s Gospel ends with “He led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles then begins with the more complete reading with which we began this message.
Most of what we have to base this story on comes from Paul and other New Testament writers, but even there it is usually in the form of an accepted bit of history rather than any detailed description of what actually happened.
We have to understand that being lifted up bodily into heaven was not unique to Jesus. Being assumed into heaven was a not at all uncommon event in the belief systems of the day in Jesus’ times--in Israel/Judah and in the surrounding cultures.
There are scattered references all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures to various prophets, warriors, and holy men being taken up, in bodily form, into heaven. Greek mythology is rife with ascensions—great heroes and kings were routinely given divine status—often including a physical assumption into the heavenly realms. Since the Romans adopted much of their folklore directly from the Greeks, this practice was common in the stories from the Roman world, as well. There are, in the writings of the time, multiple mentions of favored emperors rising up into the heavens because of their goodness/holiness.
None of these examples mean that Jesus rising to heaven is not true. It does mean that we need to understand that if we believe this story only because it is found in scripture, then we might be on shaky ground.
There is an infinitely better reason to believe, and that is because we have a personal relationship with Jesus – we know this one because he is present and active in our lives. Jesus is not just a character we read about in a book, or hear about in the preacher’s sermons. We experience a living Jesus in our own hearts, our own souls, and in our own daily lives. We have come to know this living, risen Jesus through our reading, our studying, and yes, the preacher’s sermons, but even more importantly, through our experiences of him loving us, calling us to service, calling us to believe and to trust.
Our acceptance of this story says much more about us than it does about Jesus. We have come to trust his leadership and his wisdom. We recognize that if anyone is going to ascend straight into heaven, then certainly Jesus should do so. Jesus’ followers had made the switch in their minds from seeing him as a valued teacher to recognizing him as someone sent from God. If he came from God then it is entirely logical that he should return to God in this extraordinary fashion. Why not?
Is this story factual in a physical sense? Does it matter? Jesus has shown himself to be divine – to his disciples in that long ago first century and down through 2000 years of Christian belief. That is what matters. He comes from God and returns to God – while still being here with and in us and in all this incredible created world.
Thanks be to God.
Mark does not mention it in the original version of his gospel. About 10 or 15 verses were added to the ending at a later time which do contain a simple statement that “after Jesus had spoken to the disciples, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” We don’t know when these words were added or by whom.
Matthew says nothing on the subject, and since Matthew is largely taken from Mark, which had been written earlier, it at least hints that those extra verses didn’t exist at the time Matthew first heard about Mark’s gospel account.
John’s gospel does not depict the ascension but it does contain a few verses which seem to point to an ascension as a known fact among the followers, most particularly the first meeting between Mary Magdalene and the newly risen Jesus when he tells Mary to not cling to him since he has not yet ascended.
Luke has the most to say about the subject, but that is because he is the author of both Luke’s gospel and the Book of Acts. They were, in fact, likely written as a single document, but later divided into two. Of the four gospels, Luke’s may have the most to say about the ascension, but that’s still very little.
Luke’s Gospel ends with “He led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” The Acts of the Apostles then begins with the more complete reading with which we began this message.
Most of what we have to base this story on comes from Paul and other New Testament writers, but even there it is usually in the form of an accepted bit of history rather than any detailed description of what actually happened.
We have to understand that being lifted up bodily into heaven was not unique to Jesus. Being assumed into heaven was a not at all uncommon event in the belief systems of the day in Jesus’ times--in Israel/Judah and in the surrounding cultures.
There are scattered references all throughout the Hebrew Scriptures to various prophets, warriors, and holy men being taken up, in bodily form, into heaven. Greek mythology is rife with ascensions—great heroes and kings were routinely given divine status—often including a physical assumption into the heavenly realms. Since the Romans adopted much of their folklore directly from the Greeks, this practice was common in the stories from the Roman world, as well. There are, in the writings of the time, multiple mentions of favored emperors rising up into the heavens because of their goodness/holiness.
None of these examples mean that Jesus rising to heaven is not true. It does mean that we need to understand that if we believe this story only because it is found in scripture, then we might be on shaky ground.
There is an infinitely better reason to believe, and that is because we have a personal relationship with Jesus – we know this one because he is present and active in our lives. Jesus is not just a character we read about in a book, or hear about in the preacher’s sermons. We experience a living Jesus in our own hearts, our own souls, and in our own daily lives. We have come to know this living, risen Jesus through our reading, our studying, and yes, the preacher’s sermons, but even more importantly, through our experiences of him loving us, calling us to service, calling us to believe and to trust.
Our acceptance of this story says much more about us than it does about Jesus. We have come to trust his leadership and his wisdom. We recognize that if anyone is going to ascend straight into heaven, then certainly Jesus should do so. Jesus’ followers had made the switch in their minds from seeing him as a valued teacher to recognizing him as someone sent from God. If he came from God then it is entirely logical that he should return to God in this extraordinary fashion. Why not?
Is this story factual in a physical sense? Does it matter? Jesus has shown himself to be divine – to his disciples in that long ago first century and down through 2000 years of Christian belief. That is what matters. He comes from God and returns to God – while still being here with and in us and in all this incredible created world.
Thanks be to God.
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