Sunday Homily - May 24, 2020 - Absence and the Ascension

The Ascension of Christ Icon

Easter VII (Sunday after the Ascension)

Acts 1:6-14

Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

John 17:1-11

I.

Being left,

 alone,

  all by yourself

   is an absolutely terrible feeling. 

If you have ever dropped off your kids

 or your grand-kids at the babysitter or at the daycare,

  and they throw an absolute fit,

   you know how deep-seated this fear of being left alone can be!

    Even when you know that you aren't really leaving,

     you are just dropping them off for a playdate!

But this natural fear within us

 stays with us throughout our lives.

The first time you moved away from home,

 even though it may have felt liberating for any number of reasons,

  did it not also carry with it a feeling of loneliness,

   an absence,

    leaving a home or a family that you have never lived away from

     your whole life?

It happens in adulthood as well,

 as family, friends, neighbors

  move away from the towns that know them

   and the only connection to their old place

    are pictures and memories.

And for those of us still in town,

 we can't help but feel that absence, right?

  Someone is gone that should still be here.

   It is a lonely feeling.

After our best friend moves away,

 after our neighbors take new jobs in a new city,

  after our loved ones die,

   it is truly a feeling of loss on so many levels

    for those of us left behind. 

It is so fascinating how many of us,

 even if on a surface level,

  associate the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

   as the time when Jesus left us behind. 

Just this past week,

 on the Feast of the Ascension,

  I saw several relatively big names within the wider Church

   write reflections on the Ascension using language like,

    "When Jesus had to leave us..."

     and

    "After Christ had concluded his time on earth..."

But, friends,

 is that what actually happened in the Scriptures?

II.

The portion of the Acts of the Apostles

 that we read this morning,

  is only a part of what Jesus said

   in the wider context from the perspective of St. Luke.

Because, remember,

 Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles

  are basically part 1 and part 2

   of the wider story of the witness to Jesus's death, resurrection, ascension,

    and the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

And at the tail end of the Gospel of Luke, 

 we get the following reading from the Feast of the Ascension last Thursday:

"Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God."

 [Luke 24:44-53]

This Gospel reading are the very last verses in the Gospel of Luke

 before the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.

And if you look close enough,

 you can see how similar they are,

  and how part of a larger whole they are if taken together,

   and not separated. 

And the witness to Jesus's Ascension to God's right hand in glory

 reveals an aspect of the Ascension that is often lost

  in our more literal directional interpretation of these passages,

   such as "Jesus went up there, and we are left down here."

Rather, what was the purpose of Jesus's Ascension?

 Jesus himself makes it pretty clear:

  it is so that the Holy Spirit may come to inhabit our very souls and bodies.

The sending of the Holy Spirit is the loving gift of Jesus

 as he ascends into the heavenly places.

But St. Paul also gives us another key to understanding what Jesus did

 when he ascended:

  Jesus ascended back into the heavenly life of the Triune God

   so that he may "fill all in all," [Ephesians 1:23]

    so that Jesus may actually be MORE present with us

     than ever before!

Just as we believe God cannot be limited by time or location,

 and because we believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God,

  part of the Holy Trinity who is One God,

   Jesus now becomes just as present with us

    as the Holy Spirit who dwells within us is right now!

This is one of the reasons why we, as the Baptized,

 have the ability to speak with Christ as a close friend,

  as someone who is deeply near us,

   and closer than we can possibly imagine. 

According to the Holy Scripture,

 Jesus didn't leave us in the Ascension.

  Jesus ascended into heaven

   so that he could become more present with us,

    "filling all in all,"

     and giving us so much more of himself,

      even to the point of choosing to abide within us. 

III.

Jesus is still abiding in us, the Church, even to today.

 And nothing stops Jesus from being with us:

  not even when the world seems to be falling apart

   in the face of this pandemic. 

When we are at our most lonely,

 when we face the terrible absence of each other,

  of our friends,

   or our loved ones,

    look to the Ascension of Jesus Christ as a sure and certain promise

     that in spite of all circumstances,

      Jesus has never left us nor forsaken us

       [Hebrews 13:5]

Maybe you, like me, 

 are facing a time in which loneliness is so much more present

  that we like to admit,

   turn to talk with Jesus about it. 

Tell Christ of your anxiety and worries,

 your need for his presence,

  and ask for him to be with you through this time. 

This is why it is so important for us to develop and nurture

 our life of prayer with Jesus.

If you don't know where to start,

 or if you haven't been able to develop a pattern of daily prayer,

  consider joining us for the Daily Office of Morning, Noonday, and Evening Prayer

   each Tuesday-Friday. 

The daily prayer in our Book of Common Prayer 

 is really meant for anyone to use

  to dwell in prayer with Christ

   and to constantly expose us to the Holy Scripture

    that reminds us of God's continuing presence with us

     even in the midst of loneliness. 

Never forget friends,

 the presence of Christ is always with you

  The same Jesus who Ascended to fill all things with his presence

   will come again to instantiate the heavenly kingdom once and for all. 

Never forget the promise of Jesus to be with us:

 "Behold, I am with you always,

   even to the end of the age."

     [Matthew 28:20]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.