Ascension

Mark 16:14-20 - Festival of Christ’s Ascension - May 29, 2014
Ascension

We confess in the Creed that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and that from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.  What does “thence” mean?  Why don’t we just say “from there”?  The reason is so we don’t get the idea that the right hand of the Father is some distant geographical location.  It isn’t.  If we said, “and from there he will come,” it might sound that way.  But “thence” means more.  It means not only from that time and place, but it also means from that source, or position of authority.  This is to say that when Christ returns, he will judge the earth with the same authority by which he ascended into heaven, and with the same authority by which he has been ruling his Church for the last 2,000 years. 

And what is this authority?  Of what does it consist?  His authority consists in the forgiveness of sins, the rescuing from death and the devil, and the giving of eternal salvation to all who believe.  It is through the means of grace that Christ exerts his authority as the King of kings and Lord of lords over all nations, and indeed over all creation.  And it is by distributing this salvation which he has won that he shall reign forever and ever.  “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.  He who does not believe will be condemned.” 

In Psalm 2, the eternal Father speaks to his eternally begotten Son, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.”   

Well, his only begotten Son asked of him.  He asked for his inheritance of all nations by joining the flesh and blood of all nations.  He willingly came down from his glorious throne in heaven to be seated in the lowliness of Mary’s womb.  He asked for his inheritance also by placing himself under the demands of the law, as subject to it, even though the righteousness that the law required was his own from eternity.  And finally, he asked for the inheritance his Father promised by taking our unrighteousness upon himself and submitting to the just punishment for the sins of the whole world.  He died for all nations.  “Ask and I will give,” the Father said.  Jesus asked by giving his life, and so the Father gave what he promised by raising his Son from the dead.  He gave him the nations for his inheritance by giving him the authority to rule all nations in mercy. 

The Father gave Jesus a kingdom that shall outlast every earthly kingdom, because it consists not of steel and armies, but of the gospel through which the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts and saves us poor sinners from hell.  All things have been placed under Jesus’ feet, both as the eternal Son of God and as the Son of Man united forever in one Person.  The God who rules in heaven is none other than the Man Jesus Christ who lived the perfect life in our place here on earth and shed his holy blood to redeem us. 

But now he is exalted, and all authority in heaven and on earth is his.  He sends his Apostles to make use of this authority by baptizing all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “and behold,” he says, “I am with you always even until the end of the age,” that is, until he comes again in glory to judge.  The weapons of his kingdom consist of the gospel and sacraments, which are themselves nothing other than the gospel attached to earthly elements.  Jesus does not send his disciples out with a law that must be obeyed.  That is how every other kingdom works, by issuing sanctions and no fly zones and imposing taxes and stuff.  Yet all of these are temporary and forgotten in time.  All of these produce resentment and distrust in the process of accomplishing their goals.  But no, instead Jesus sends his disciples out with the word of forgiveness that teaches that he has been obedient for us, and that by his obedience, he has purchased forgiveness, life, and eternal communion with God.  In the process of accomplishing his goal, he produces peace and joy and profound trust.  This is what Jesus does with all his authority.  This is how he makes disciples. 

When people turn Baptism into a sign of our commitment rather than the means by which God freely forgives and regenerates sinners and commits himself to us, they are not just missing out on an enormous blessing of comfort.  Much worse, they are replacing the weapons of Christ’s kingdom – from the gospel to the law.  Jesus did not send the disciples out to get the world to submit and hand their lives over.  No way.  That’s what Mohamed did.  Jesus sent them out to preach the gospel, through which the Holy Spirit freely gives new life.  And he gives new life by creating faith.  And he creates faith in no other way than by clothing us in the righteousness that Christ earned as our God and Brother.  It is Christ who submitted.  It is Christ who surrendered his life.  It is we who in faith simply receive what our Lord and King now offers.  And our faith clings to nothing other than to where he promises to give it: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” 

There is nothing more that we must overcome.  Faith receives it all.  There is no obedience we need to fulfill other than the obedience that was reckoned to us when we were baptized according to Christ’s command and promise.  No, we are living under Christ’s kingdom of grace by hearing and believing the gospel that assures us that Jesus has secured everything for our eternal salvation.  Nothing can take that away.  The gospel we hear has already overcome the world.  So then, what in the world can separate us from the love of God in Christ?  No one!  And Jesus wants everything in the world to know it. 

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation,”  Jesus said.  To whom?  To all creation!  Not only to everyone whose sins Jesus bore on the cross, but also to everything that might touch their lives, everything that might threaten them, and tempt them, and accuse them – preach the gospel to every rock, tree, and squirrel, to every height and depth, every principality and power, to everything that is present and everything that is to come.  Preach it.  Preach that Christ the Savior of sinners has been raised from the dead and has received power and authority from God the Father almighty to give eternal life to everyone in the world.  Preach that nothing in all creation can separate him who believes and is baptized from the inheritance which Christ has purchased by his blood, and which he bestows to us by water and his word. 

Those who are saved are those who believe this.  Those who are damned are those who do not believe this.  And so they are shattered like a potter’s vessel. 

And what shatters them?  What damns them?  What stands against them as they face God on the Day of Judgment?  Is it the fact that they have committed too great a sin?  Is it the fact that they have been too persistent in some particular vice?  Is it because they have broken too many vows or wasted too many second chances?  Is it because they have lived too shameful a life or because their flesh continues to find the world alluring?  Is it because they have not fully yielded their hearts to the Lord?  No.  It is not any of these things.  It is because they do not believe. 

It is the gospel alone, which stands against those who will not repent and receive the righteousness of Christ.  It is the gospel alone, which gives forgiveness, which will also expose the hearts of those who refuse forgiveness.  Christ has earned the forgiveness of all sins.  The only unpardonable sin is the sin of refusing to be pardoned; it is the sin of unbelief.  And so it will be that the same rod that comforts the Good Shepherd’s sheep according to Psalm 23 will dash to pieces the unbelievers according to Psalm 2.  It is the authority of Christ and his almighty kingdom, which he has earned by suffering and dying for the sins of all humanity.  It is the gospel. 

The confidence of the gospel is the confidence of what Christ’s judgment will be when he returns.  You know it now, because Christ serves you now through the means of grace.  We call them the means of grace, because they are the means through which Jesus continues to send the Holy Spirit to bring us to and keep us in the one saving faith. 

Jesus ascended to heaven.  We live on earth.  But we don’t ascend to Jesus to benefit from him – whether by some religious exercise or by our good works.  Rather Jesus comes down to us in similarly humble fashion as when he hid his glory as a lowly servant.  He comes to us and to all Christians in the preaching of the gospel, in the absolution you hear, in the promise of Baptism that saves, and in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, where Jesus gives us his very body and blood for us to eat and drink.  Through all these means, Jesus is truly present with his Church. 

Jesus’ ascension was not Jesus leaving.  He did not ascend to his Father in order to be somewhere other than where he was while he walked the earth.  On the contrary, he ascended in order that he might no longer limit himself and be bound to one location at a time, but so that he might always be with his Church wherever she is gathered in his name, just as he promised.  To ascend into the highest heavens is to fill all things, but not just in the sense that he is everywhere.  It is more.  As God he has always been everywhere.  As the Son of God, he has always been equal to the Father.  But for Christ to ascend to God’s right hand means that, as true God and true Man, he now assumes the honor, power, and glory that belong to God alone.  He has earned it by paying the redemption price for all humanity.  This is what is meant by the right hand of the Father.  It means that Jesus our God and Brother has received the authority that his Father gave to him to embrace all of sinful humanity in mercy. 

When Christ is dealing with us, God is dealing with us. He is the God who humbled himself to bear our sin.  The only God whose presence surrounds us is the God who took up his cross to redeem us and reconcile us to his Father so that we might always be with him.  This is of great comfort. 

Natural law will teach us that God exists and that his tends to his creation.  Natural man can conclude that he is always near.  But God gave his apostles the power to bend and defy natural rules of his creation in order to teach that there is something greater for us to learn and discern about God.  Signs followed the preaching of the gospel that teaches us still that God’s gracious presence and reign is found where he freely and liberally forgives sinners their sins and assures his children that he remembers them no more. 

Today the laws of nature are not so defied by the preachers of the gospel.  But your reason will be.  Your natural assumptions about how God should work will be defied by God as he sends his ministers out with even greater signs – signs that may not look miraculous, but signs that give more than any healing or raising or show of strength can give.  He buries us and raises us with Christ in our Baptism.  There you have a sure sign of God’s favor.  He feeds s with the very body and blood of Christ whereby he made full satisfaction for humanity’s sin (and so just as surely, dear Christian, your deepest most shameful sin that won’t stop harassing and plaguing and tempting you!).  Here’s a sign that he who lives gives life to those who die.  We see in these signs, not in miracles, but in signs of divine kindness and promise – we see here the world submit to Christ.  For here the world has testimony from heaven that we have God’s favor and that his propitiated face shines upon us.  And if this is so, and it is – Christ lives and furthermore reigns in heaven as our Brother and Lord – if this so, then surely he shall come again – whether buried or living – to bring us to where he has gone!  Amen!