2011-06-02 Sermon Ascension Day

110602pm Ascension Day

What I like about these Stations is that they remind us vividly that the gospel events took place in the real world. Strange as it may seem, by portraying them in an imaginary setting in modern Leeds, they are somehow more powerful than if they were portrayed in what the artist imagines ancient Israel looked like.

It's important to remember that the gospel events were events. The gospel is first and foremost a narrative about what God has done in the world. Now, from that we can work out things about who God is. It's not just a matter of speculation but real knowledge. And these events show us some of the ingredients in our own salvation.

Thomas: CONVICTION. The element of doubt, and the overcoming of doubt by conviction, is a crucial part of the gospel events. We know that Jesus had been teaching the disciples that he was going to Jerusalem and would be handed over and killed and on the third day be raised to life (several times in the gospels this is repeated). But one of the things that makes the resurrection utterly convincing is that the witnesses took so much convincing. There are many occasions where you try to prepare for something that is going to happen, but you can't believe it when it does. The big example I often come across is bereavement. You've known for ages that someone is going to die, but it doesn't sink in when it happens. How much more with resurrection! The twelve had not been conspiring to tell the world that Jesus was alive when he was not. They knew that he was dead and had to see and touch and hear him before they believed he was alive.

Peter: CONFRONTATION. Immediately after Easter there must have been a real tension in the air: Jesus comes back from his ordeal, back from the dead, and surely he is going to ask the disciples, 'Well? What happened to you guys? I was arrested and you just melted into the background. Peter, you lied and said you'd never heard of me.' But this never happens, at least not in this form. When Jesus does confront Peter it's all in love, forgiveness and challenge for the future. How could he ever trust the disciples again? But he does, and he en-trusts the sheep, the future church, to them.

On the mountain: COMMISSION. The exact sequence of events is hard to pin down, and there are several other appearances of Jesus recorded, including in 1 Cor when Paul says he appeared to more than 500 of the brethren at once (pictured here at the football stadium). And it's clear that this involved commissioning them to take the good news out into the world. The good news is the proclamation of the next one...

Ascension itself: CORONATION. I think the going up is intended to demonstrate Christ's greater rule. If you want to talk to a small group of people you can stay on their level, but the more people you want to address the higher you have to rise (that's why we used to have a pulpit!). Christ rising into the sky isn't telling us that he is further away from us, but that he rules over all of us. He ascended to the throne of heaven.

It tells us that just as he descended to the lowest depths so he has ascended to the highest heights. Now clearly we are talking about things beyond our imagination, we are talking about heaven and hell, and we use the language of space and time, going up and going down, because that's all we've got. Our 39 Articles say:

“III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell. AS Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed that He went down into Hell. IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ. CHRIST did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherefore He ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until He return to judge all men at the last day.”

It's very clear that we are not talking about Christ laying aside the human nature which he had taken on when he came into the world; rather his humanity had been transformed into the glorious body that St Paul speaks of. From our perspective in space and time, we have to talk about places – 'down' into hell and 'up' into heaven; and times – he went down while he lay dead on Holy Saturday, he went up and is now in heaven – and the dead saints are with him in heaven now awaiting the time when he comes back to us and they come with him so that we are together in the new creation. So now in the meantime (from our perspective) he is seated on the throne, reigning as the Son of Man, the new Adam, our representative.

Pentecost: CONFIRMATION. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit which began fifty days after Jesus was raised is the confirmation of Jesus' promise and the confirming of our faith. I won't go on about that now because a week on Sunday this gets a whole sermon.

Paul: CONVERSION. Unlike the Stations of the Cross, there is no clear way to end the Stations of the Resurrection. The old order goes down and down in the arrest and trial and suffering and crucifixion and death of Christ, and there it reaches rock bottom. It hits the buffers, there is nowhere else to go. But from the resurrection the new age which has dawned goes on and on, outwards in ever increasing circles until the Last Day when it merges with eternity. So these Stations could go on through church history right up to now. But we end with the conversion of Saul who became Paul, the last person to see the Risen Christ in this authentic way.

All the previous events we have looked at took place within Paul's own personal experience – he he was confronted by the risen Christ, he was convicted of his sin and convinced of the truth of Christ, he believed that Christ was crowned as Lord of the world, and he was confirmed with the Holy Spirit and commissioned to preach the gospel. But this happened to him personally in his experience only because it had previously happened in the experience of Christ; in other words, the events which happened once and for all in the world were the basis of what happened in his heart and mind. This is something that the Reformers rediscovered, though we their heirs might sometimes forget it. To put it in theological shorthand, salvation is eschatological not biographical. It is based on what happened in the events of history, not on what happens in our little lives. When were you saved? You were saved 2000 years ago when Jesus died on Calvary. You were given new life when he rose, because he did all this as our representative. Jesus didn't become Lord when you decided, when you got round to realising it and deigned to allow him! A good analogy is when a head of state signs a treaty, and all the citizens of his country are included because he represents them.

So, far from the Ascension being about Jesus leaving us alone, it's about him drawing us into his realm. I In one of my favourite comedies, Yes, Minister, Jim Hacker sees it as a threat that he might be made a Lord, kicked upstairs to a position of great stature and no actual power. He asks one old politician to whom this has happened what it's like going from the House of Commons to the House of Lords : he says, it's like moving from the animals to the vegetables. No, Jesus has not been kicked upstairs out of the way, he has ascended to rule. His rule is implemented as people are convicted of their need, confronted with his claims, confirmed with his power and commissioned to his service, in a word, converted.

As music is played we can move around the Stations to meditate and pray.