Jesus's Will?

On Sunday, June 5th we were honored to have guest pastor Holly MillerShank preach and lead worship.  Below is the text to her sermon.  We were honored by her presence.


Acts 1:6-14


John 17:1-11




Sermon


So, I’m sure Pastor Jared has taught all of you well. What major church holiday did we celebrate this week? Ascension day- that’s right. 

Ascension Day, the day when Jesus rises up into heaven. Ascension Day is an important day in the life of the church. This day marks the end of the Easter season, 40 days after Jesus’ death and Resurrection. The day also notes the start of the 10 day waiting period between the close of Easter and the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit gives birth to the church. 

Ascension Day always falls on a Thursday and as such it is not a regularly observed holiday in the life of most of our local churches. I just moved here to Ohio from Central Pennsylvania and back home a lot of stores and businesses are closed in observation of Ascension Day but I didn’t see anything closed downtown Cleveland or Rocky River on Thursday. 

One of the places that we can recognize this particular religious holiday is the plethora of art work reflecting this biblical event- of Jesus being raised up in the clouds but, if we’re being honest, we can articulate little about that beautiful painting or stain glass window of Jesus rising skywards has to do with our lives as contemporary followers of the Risen Christ. 

If you really stop to think about it, these few days that follow Ascension day really can be the loneliest in the church calendar. It’s one of the few times we’re ever really alone. Jesus has left, but the Holy Spirit has not yet arrived, we’re in a spiritual limbo, a period of transition, of unknowing. 

We experience these indeterminate states of being at other times in our lives. Think about the time between graduation and getting a job, between having a medical diagnosis and receiving treatment, between a loved one’s death and the settling of the estate. These are all times of insecurity, when not all has been revealed and we have little control which makes them all the more anxiety producing. 

I’d like us to push that last example a little further as we think about our lesson from the book of Acts today. Perhaps it would help us to think about Ascension as Jesus’ last will and testimony, his final instructions to his heirs on how his legacy is to be fulfilled. 

This makes sense, after all a will is a living document that records the final wishes and desires of one who is about to depart from this world. Wills are written to specific individuals or communities and give instructions on how to carry out the assets and desires of the departed. 

Even the timing is appropriate, wills generally go through a probate period where the reality of death sinks in and people prepare themselves to move on in the world without the physical presence of their loved one. 

Same thing with Jesus. The scriptures tell us that he was killed and resurrected 3 days later. We’ve now has the entire Easter season to let this reality sink in, to focus and prepare ourselves for a life without Jesus physically by our sides. 

Now I personally have had little experience sitting in a lawyer’s office waiting to have a will read, but what I do know is that it is a very anxiety producing experience. That there is an awful lot of tension and expectation in that room. 

In my understanding is that this is exactly where we find the disciples this morning. In his earthly existence Jesus might not have accumulated an exorbitant amount of wealth, but from his increasingly recognized status as God’s son he certainly has a lot of power. And remember, the disciples have up everything to follow him. There have got to be some entitlement issues beginning to surface. Jesus did after all promise them a reward for their service and there’s already been disputes among the disciples about who sits on which side of Christ the heavenly king. 

No wonder the disciples now ask Jesus “Is this the time when you restore the kingdom of Israel?” 

They want to hear the details of that will revealed, they are anxious to see who gets what and to finally have something to show for their many years of hard work and service. 

Can’t you just imagine what’s going through the disciples’ minds? Jesus is going to rebuild Israel, we are going to live like kings, we will sit and judge the people from thrones of gold and God will bless us beyond compare. 

Ah, this may be the disciples’ desires but not Christ’s intent. 

Jesus in the midst of his ascension does promise his disciples power- just not in the way they anticipated. It’s like a wealthy business man willing his fortune to a charitable organization and ensuring his child has a permanent seat on the Board of Directors- wealth- yes, power- yes, what the recipient expected? No. 

So too with Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples. He tells them to return to Jerusalem, a place of fear and ridicule and hardship for his followers. And it is there that they are instructed to pray and study while waiting for the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit. 

Can you see the crest-fallen image of the apostles as Jesus’ will is revealed? Can you blame them for their questions of the messiahs’ desires? But where, they ask him, and why and for how long???? 

Jesus’ response is vague, leaving the disciples with unanswered questions- just as we often find ourselves after the death of a loved one. But after the will is read and we give ourselves time to step back there is usually something deeper revealed about the character and nature of the one departed captured in the their final instructions.

In Jesus’ case we discover a deep commitment to the communal rather than the individual. As noted in the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary- Jesus instructs his followers to live in a community of solidarity. The apostles do not scatter and go their separate ways to await a private spirit- filling or a personal experience of divine faithfulness. Instead they were joined together in a specific place and task to await God’s action on them all. 

It is as if Jesus was a loving mother wanting to be assured her children would stay together after her departure. 

We also learn in Jesus’ final instructions that holy gifts of power are not about force, control or violence. Instead power is illusive, a wind of change rooted in prayer and service. Revealed not on command but in God’s own time. 

Finally we learn that the kingdom Christ promises is not restricted only to those who have heard his voice on earth. Those gathered as witnesses to the Ascension are not the sole heirs to Christ’s legacy but rather they are commissioned and empowered to spread the good news of Christ’s resurrection to the ends of the earth. 

We as contemporary Christians are co-heirs not only to the gifts of the Holy Spirit promised to the disciples on the day of his ascension but equally inheritors of Christ’s command to share the good news. Each of us are thereby challenged even in the midst of uncertain times to live up to the calling Jesus bestows upon us in his final revelation- to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the word. So go, not as ungrateful children wanting power for self-interest but rather as a community of believers empowered by the Holy Spirit and willing to witness to the good news of Christ our risen lord. Amen.