“You Are Witnesses Of These Things”
Luke 24:44-53
This past Thursday marked the 40th day since Easter. Maybe some of you are thinking so what! After His resurrection, Jesus walked this earth with His disciples for forty days; which brings us to this past Thursday when He said to the disciples: “Take a walk with me,” and He ascended into heaven; which we celebrate today. Luke is the only Gospel writer who records this event for us; both in the last chapter of his Gospel and the first chapter of the Book of Acts.
Commemorating Christ’s ascension to heaven, Ascension Day (also known as the Feast of the Ascension) occurs each year on the Thursday forty days after Easter. Liturgically minded Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican Christians observe it faithfully. Most Protestant Christians in North America have never heard of it.
For devout Roman Catholics, Ascension Day is one of the six holy days of the Christian year where mass is mandatory. And in doing some research I discovered that Anabaptist groups such as the Mennonites, also have a long history of observing and holding special services on that day. For us, it’s just another day.
Some of you might be asking: what’s the big deal? If Jesus wouldn’t have ascended into heaven, nothing would be complete, nothing would be finished. Jesus said on the Cross: “It is finished.” What did He mean by that? Yes, His human life was finished; that part of His ministry was finished; His suffering was finished. By His resurrection Jesus defeated death once and for all; by His resurrection He proved that Grace wins; but nothing could be finished without His ascension.
At 7 p.m. on October 20, 1968, a few thousand spectators remained in the Mexico City Olympic Stadium. It was cool and dark. The last of the marathon runners, each exhausted, were being carried off to first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier; Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia—looking as fresh as when he started the race—crossed the finish line, the winner of the 26-mile, 385-yard event.
As the remaining spectators prepared to leave, those sitting near the marathon gates suddenly heard the sound of sirens and police whistles. All eyes turned to the gate. A lone figure wearing number 36 and the colors of Tanzania entered the stadium. His name was John Stephan Akhwari. He was the last man to finish the marathon. He had fallen during the race and injured his knee and ankle. Now, with his leg bloodied and bandaged, he grimaced with each hobbling step around the 400-meter track.
The spectators rose and applauded him. After crossing the finish line, Achwari slowly walked off the field. Later, a reporter asked Akhwari the question on everyone’s mind: “why did you continue the race after you were so badly injured?”
He replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it.”
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17).
Jesus Christ had to die so that we all might be saved. Jesus Christ rose from the dead so that we might all know that grace wins. Jesus Christ ascended into heaven so that everything might be complete.
Jesus said often that He came so that the laws and the prophets would be fulfilled. In our text this morning He also adds the Psalms.
In the Hebrew canon there were three main divisions—the law, the prophets, and the Psalms (sometimes referred to as “The Writings”). The law was the first five books of the Old Testament. The Prophets would have been the books of Joshua, Judges, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the 12 Minor Prophets. The term minor was used for those whose material was shorter, not that they were any less important. And everything else, including the Psalms, was called the writings. What is implied here is that every part of the Old Testament speaks of Christ in some way and all of it was pointed toward His Ascension Day.
Celebrating and proclaiming the ascension is crucial if we are to fully and properly exalt Christ. Jesus, because of His ascension, is not only risen but reigning, not only alive but sovereign, not only central but supreme. When we fail to proclaim Christ as ascended, enthroned, and exalted, something else—our personal agendas, the world’s agendas, the church’s agendas—moves in to fill the vacuum. When we fail to exalt and enthrone Jesus, something or someone else assumes the throne.
Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God as we proclaim in the Apostle’s Creed. He ascended into heaven so that we might have the promised Holy Spirit; so that we would have another Advocate (Jesus speaking to the Father on our behalf). In John 14 Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:18-20). “On that day,” Ascension Day, Jesus becomes one with the Father and so do we. Because of His ascension we too are in heaven!
Jesus left the earth and ascended into heaven so that the disciples could spread the news, could recruit more disciples, and they could build up His church. Jesus ascended into heaven so that we can do the very same thing. If He were still here the attitude would probably be, “Let Him do His own work” But because He ascended, His work has now become our work!
Jesus told the disciples, “YOU are witnesses of these things.” He didn’t say someone, or this group, or that group; He said you. And if He were standing right here today, He would be saying the same thing, YOU, Eastman First Methodist Church, are witnesses of these things and YOU have a job to do!
We didn’t hold a special service on Ascension Day, but we all need to remember, celebrate and give thanks for Christ’s ascension. Because Jesus ascended into heaven, we can ascend there too—not just someday, but today and everyday. Because He ascended, He is always with us, and we are with Him. So let us lift up our hearts. In His presence is fullness of joy.
Eastman First Methodist Church 