The Ascension Train

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Readings:
Acts 1:6-14
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11

Just before the reading of the Gospel, we sang an African Alleluia. It was moving, prompting many feet to go a tapping in pews.

From this dark spot on the Earth a great light.

Luke, in Acts, has his quill scorching the parchment to tell us without a doubt that Jesus is The Messiah, that Jesus IS alive. What is occurring is not random. It is fitting like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. But it is important to remember that how that puzzle falls into place is not for us to know.

Don’t get stuck, then. Just because things do not work out just the way we thought they would doesn’t mean The Plan is not playing out as it should. He will bring it about through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Samaria, Jesus broke all the rules, talking with women in the light of day. It is here, at the well, to a woman, that He reveals He is The Messiah.

So we say, “Yeah, but ….”

To which Jesus replies, “When the time comes, none of this is going to matter.

Luke’s message is “This si the Messiah for all the people.” And first the people use their ears, then their eyes. They watched, then they gazed, peering, seeing a cloud, This cloud they SAW with their own eyes. This was no random act, but a vision with a strong Biblical connection. A cloud is a holy sign signifying God’s presence. Clouds, by day, pillars of fire by night. It is noted that two saw this cloud, reminiscent of the Talmudic indication that it took two witnesses to affirm that something has truly taken place. A note that twp witnesses were present assures us that Jesus IS alive. By prefacing this story with the fact that these witnesses were a Sabbath’s day’s journey away assures us also that the witnesses were reverant men following the law, unlikely to lie about what they saw.

If you don’t believe these guys, you haven’t got a lot going for you!
Luke knows that when hard times come, when we’re on the last lonely journey to recovery or salvation, we’d better have something going for us.

Like the apostles, we’re all wanting for something to happen. We find ourselves saying, “Lord, when are you going to take this off my shoulders? … Lord, is it today you will fix my marriage or my relationship with my kids?” And Jesus answer, Luke assures us, is Yes! If Christ is alive within us, our brokenness will be healed, our sins forgiven. This is why Luke works so hard to get us on the Ascension Train. This train is bound for The Promised Land. The cost of a ticket: to humble ourselves. Cast all your baggage aboard. No charge for a second or a third or fourth bag. He’s here to carry your burden. There’s no weight limit here. This IS your Father’s train!!

You know the feeling once your bags have been stowed overhead or beneath and you can relax in your seat? Then, climb aboard the Ascension Train. But, Luke tells us, there’s a catch: we have to be ready. We can’t let the Sabbath go, we can’t not pray, we can’t forget our devotions, we can’t not sing at the beginning of the day, we can’t not plead for forgiveness, we can’t not gather together. We can’t not humble ourselves before the Lord.

And … we can’t pray enough.

When we’re dropping the kids off, in the grocery store, in the car, on the playground.

I know this, Luke says, because there WERE witnesses. They were good men and women. This, then is The Good News. On the Ascension Train, we have everything we need riht here, right now …