Windows to the Word:
Ascension *
Dear Friends in Christ,
Today we conclude a journey we began three months ago.
On June 20 under the general theme “Windows to the Word” and as a way of observing the 75th anniversary of worship in this beautiful church building, we embarked on a summer sermon series using our stained glass windows as visual texts. Twelve Sundays and ten windows later, we come to our final offering. And while we can’t say we’ve saved the best for last (because every window has taught or confirmed us in some facet of God’s truth), it is fair to say we have saved the biggest for last.
That, of course, is the Ascension Window. It adorns the east side of this church as both its crown jewel on the inside and its statement to the world on the outside. Because of its size and prominent placement, we could argue that its beauty and definition surpass all the others. Perhaps. But this it has in common with all the other windows we’ve considered: the only thing more beautiful than its magnificent artistry is the message behind it.
Let us now find strength and comfort in the truths behind our final “Window to the Word,”
THE ASCENSION WINDOW
The window itself portrays facts we heard in our Scripture
readings. The time: 40 days after Easter. The place:
outside a small town named
Central to our window is, appropriately, the ascending
Christ. The clouds remind us of what we
are told of this account in the Book of Acts.
The disciples watched Jesus move heavenward until “a cloud hid him from their
sight” (Acts 1:9).
At the base of the window, watching their Lord and Savior take leave in a mixture of awe, honor and bewilderment, are four disciples. Which particular four disciples they are we can’t say. All Eleven (remember, Judas was gone by this time) were present, so the fact that there are four pictured is more of an artistic device than anything else. If we wanted to speculate based on other portions of Scripture, we might guess three of them to be Peter, James and John, since they formed the inner circle of the disciples. The fourth one might be Andrew, because there are a couple of times when the inner circle was expanded to include him. But again, this is just speculation.
What is not speculation, however, is the deep meaningfulness of the Ascension of Jesus Christ to our daily lives. This is what we’d like to reflect upon for the rest of our time together this morning. Since we have four disciples, let’s briefly consider four different aspects of the Ascension…
First meaning: Confirmation. The Ascension of Jesus Christ is the confirmation once again that Jesus is indeed the Son of God as well as the confirmation that His earthly work was completed. And, we might add, completed for us. Therefore, the Ascension is the final assurance of our personal salvation.
You see, the coronation of Christ as He returned to His throne on high was the last and final step of our redemption. Now, like a victorious king who has conquered all enemies in a far off land, Christ was returning home undefeated. Completely destroyed were the enemies of sin, death and hell that held us captive. Now He ascends – and we who by faith follow in His victory parade and will someday do the same.
It is against the backdrop of His ascension that we
understand the full impact of Jesus words to us: “In my father’s house are many rooms… I am going there to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where
I am.” And so we say with
confidence in one of our great Ascension Day hymns, “On Christ’s ascension I now build, the hope of my ascension…”
Related to this confirmation is the second meaning
of the Ascension: Consolation. Certainly the
Ascension of Jesus Christ provides us with the consolation of knowing where we
will spend our eternity. But it provides
us with all kinds of daily comfort up until that time we join the saints and
angels
Specifically, the Ascension provides us with the comfort and joy of knowing Christ’s abiding presence in our lives. It is our unseen but ever present Lord who reassuringly tells us: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” And knowing that our Lord is present in our lives and that He stands beside us or holds us up or carries us through every situation in our lives is indeed a great consolation.
In his letter to the Ephesians (our second lesson) the Apostle Paul makes it personal. He reminds us that not only does Jesus rule over all things as King of kings and Lord of lords, but He does so specifically in the interest of His church and His children. In other words, He has an agenda. And we’re it.
This is especially helpful to remember during a time of personal trial or when things just don’t seem to make a lot of sense. And those times come. In fact, the four disciples in our window may have been experiencing one of those times.
Once again, let us enter the realm of conjecture. Did you ever think that the Ascension of Christ may have been, at least temporarily, a low point for the disciples second only to Good Friday? As they watched their Lord disappear from their sight, is it possible that they were overwhelmed with a feeling of loneliness and abandonment and thoughts of “what do we do next” as they stared into a blank blue sky? Jesus is gone. We can’t see Him anymore. Does He still care for us?
Maybe we’ve been there, too. Maybe you’ve gone through, or right now are going through, the experience of looking for Jesus to act for us, to rescue us, to possibly do the miraculous – but end up staring at a blank blue sky… and wondering, does He still care for us?
But let’s return to the “rest of the story.” The disciples’ anxiety and feelings of abandonment lasted only a moment. The angels set them straight. Christ wouldn’t forget them. He’s coming back. And if He’s coming back, does it not stand to reason that He will continue to be intimately involved in the lives of His children until that time? Those thoughts must have registered in their minds, because we’re told in the Gospel of Luke that after hearing the angelic promise they went on their way rejoicing.
The application: When our faith in a just world gets shattered or our personal lives are punctuated by the unexpected and unwanted, let us remember this: Our God reigns. And although we may not always understand why He does what He does, of this we can be sure: He is not absent or disengaged when it comes to the lives of His people. Paul ties it all together in Romans 8:28 when he reminds us that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And the knowledge that Christ, our ascended King, is ultimately in control fills us with joy and peace and consolation.
The third aspect of the Ascension: Direction. The Ascension of Jesus means a shift has taken place and that the spread of the Gospel now becomes the responsibility of His followers. That’s us. Those are our directions.
An often told illustration (which I’m sure many of you have heard before) tells how, when Jesus returned to heaven, he was given a grand and glorious welcome by all the saints and angels. Gabriel especially welcomed Him, and then asked how the spread of the Gospel would take place now that He was back and no longer visibly present in the world. Jesus answered by saying He had a handful of devoted disciples on the earth, and that to them He entrusted the spread of the Gospel to all the world. Gabriel, who knew of the frailty of men, looked troubled and asked, “But what if they fail? What’s your plan then?” To which Jesus replied, “I have no other plan.”
The point of that little legend is clear. We are the plan. The spread of the Gospel has been entrusted to those who know it. So while we glory in the Ascension and what it means regarding the confirmation of our personal salvation and our daily consolation, it is also a reminder of the glorious direction and responsibility we have while we remain on this earth.
The Ascension is, therefore, our encouragement to keep praying hard, contributing generously and working in whatever ways are open to us for the spread of the Gospel. Likewise, the Ascension is our encouragement to live our lives as Christian witnesses and, in the words of Jesus, to “let our lights shine before men” in such a way that may cause them to take notice and investigate the hope that is within us…
Yes, the Ascension of Jesus Christ reminds us that we are the plan and invites us to respond with lives of service. Because we are, as Scripture tells us, the “body of Christ.” The world sees Him in us. The Gospel advances through His people. Paul tells us we are “Christ’s ambassadors.” That is how our ascended Lord Jesus intended it to be.
The final aspect of the Ascension is: Anticipation. A basic law of physics says that what goes up
must come down. The same applies to the
risen and ascended Christ. Listen again
to the words the angels spoke to the disciples:
“Men of
In music or in theatre, an interlude is a short period of time that serves as a connection between two main pieces or events. We are living in a period of interlude. We are between the two great and epochal events of history. The first happened two thousand years ago when Christ Jesus entered our planet as the Babe of Bethlehem. He grew up to become the suffering Savior who lived, died and rose again so sinners like us could stand righteous and forgiven before a Holy God. That first event has taken place.
The second one we await. He is coming again. What goes up will come down. This time it will be different. This time He will come in power and majesty to judge the living and the dead. And we will join Him, body and soul, in heaven. Because through the first coming we have been redeemed and forgiven by His grace, we can now look forward with anticipation to His second coming. And then the interlude period will be over.
But we’re in it now. And while we are, we can find no greater strength for the journey than to reflect on the Ascension of Jesus Christ and what it means to us. And what it means to us is confirmation… consolation… direction… and anticipation. It is our great blessing to have that message proclaimed to us each and every Sunday in a visual way through our last and grandest “Window to the Word.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.