Sermon for June 5th (Jesus and the Ascension)

Where is Jesus? My kids ask me this question a lot, but don’t you ever wonder as well? Is he in heaven? Is he on Earth? Is it both? If he’s here, why can’t we see him? If Jesus is up in heaven, why do we still say that Jesus is “with us”? If God is everywhere, and we believe that Jesus is also God, is Jesus everywhere too? Why was Jesus taken up into heaven? What was the purpose of that? If you’ve ever wanted the answers to those questions, then today’s your lucky day because today we are talking about Jesus’ ascension.

What does ascension mean? The ascension of Jesus refers to the time when Jesus Christ, in his body, was taken up into heaven after his resurrection. Let’s read what scripture has to say about this great event. First Acts chapter 1, “Jesus said, ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” Luke 24 says it this way, “When Jesus had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.”

I am often asked the question, “Where is Jesus?” It’s not just a question that the kids ask, it’s on everybody’s mind when struggles come into our lives. Where is God? When I was younger, I often thought that life would be easier if I could see God, if I could touch Jesus or point to him and say, “There he is! Now you can believe, right?” But God knew much better than we do about how hearts and minds work.

Imagine the shock the disciples felt when their Lord and Savior, the one who had died and rose from the dead ascended up into heaven. I mean, death is such an enemy because it takes our loved ones from us. Can you imagine if you had lost a loved one and then had them raised from the dead only to have them taken from you again! Jesus wasn’t just taken from the disciples once, but twice. The second time was at the ascension. When Jesus was taken up into heaven, the disciples probably felt a lot of confusion and loss. Why did this happen? What now? They were expecting Jesus to lead the one into the end of the world, but he leaves them to simply be his witnesses. Why?

In order to answer this question, we need to think of this not simply from our own human perspective, but from God’s perspective. We, as humans, tend to hold on really tightly to the belief that “seeing is believing”. If I only SAW Jesus, met the man in real life, saw a couple of miracles, THEN I could believe without a shadow of a doubt. I mean, admit it, haven’t you thought that very thought before. We believe that the whole world would be Christians if they just met Jesus. But the truth actually turned out differently.

What happened when people met Jesus? They hardened their hearts. They asked him to leave. They persecuted him. They had him crucified. They came to see the miracles he did, but no number of miracles ever seemed to convince them. Why? Because seeing, actually, isn’t believing. According to Hebrews chapter 11, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” And Jesus never said that people were saved because they met him; he said they were saved because they believed in him. This really is an important distinction to make.

When Kristy, my wife, was pregnant with our first child, Sophia, I read to her every night while she was still in the womb. Now, that might not seem like that big of a deal, but I started long before Sophia ever had ears and, actually, I started pretty much right as soon as we saw the plus sign on the First Response pregnancy test. Why? Because while I had never seen that little baby, while I knew that she couldn’t even really hear me, I loved her. I didn’t need to see her. In fact, if I had never seen her, I would have still loved her. Faith is a lot like love.

Seeing isn’t believing. God sent His son Jesus to earth in the flesh to shower the world with love and healing and acceptance and the truth, but he was met with hate and unbelief. This is part of the reason why the ascension happened: because the work of salvation was finished. Jesus had died and was raised in order to make us right in God’s eyes. Romans 5:19 says, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many will be made righteous.” But, now, now was the time to share the good news of faith and faith comes through hearing, Paul says in Romans. Seeing isn’t believing, but faith comes through hearing. Jesus sends out his disciples to be witnesses to the truth of what had happened.

Do you understand this? Meeting Jesus does not save you. Coming to church does not save you either as far as that goes. Trusting in Jesus saves you, however ,without ever seeing his face. Believing that Jesus Christ died on a cross for your sins and forgives you saves you without ever stepping into a church. Jesus Christ came as a human being for a purpose: to die and be raised from the dead. He was raised—get this—he was raised so that we might have something to witness to today. Salvation isn’t a matter of science, it is a matter of faith. You have an opportunity to witness to what Jesus did so that others might fall in love with their Savior.

But there is more to the ascension that simply this. The second reason it happened was so that we might believe something else. When Jesus was walking around with Peter, James and John there was no doubt about where he was. If you wanted to see him, you had to find the disciples and there he was. But, because Jesus was truly God, we also know something else: because God is everywhere Jesus must have been everywhere too; however, as long as Jesus was walking with his disciples, there is no way anyone could have believed that.

How can you say that “Jesus is with you” when you are talking to your daughter over the phone? Because of the ascension. How can you believe that Jesus is here in Fontanelle just as much as in Greenfield? The ascension. We think that it would be easier to believe in Jesus if we could see him . . . but we are wrong. The only way to trust in Jesus as a Savior. The only way to believe he is truly God is if he ascended into heaven.

Where is Jesus? Where is Jesus now? That’s our final misunderstanding, but it is very important. We often say that “Jesus is with you.” But we really believe that’s he somewhere up in heaven. A man named Zwingli argued that there couldn’t be any way Jesus could be in heaven and down on Earth at the same time. And he would be right, or at least, we couldn’t believe any differently if Jesus had not ascended.
But when Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave you the opportunity to have faith. Not faith in a person, but faith in God. Who can be in heaven and on earth at the same time. Who can be in every town at the same time. Who could die 2000 years ago and still walk at your side today. Where is Jesus? On the right hand of God. Where is Jesus? Right here. Right now. With you. Amen.