John 17,20-26. Christ's Ascension

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

John 17,20-26   2813

Christi Himmelfahrt (Exaudi 6. Sonntag nach Ostern)  041  weiß   

Pancratius, Martyr at Rome 304   

12. May 2013

1.  Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God, so that as we do believe Your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so may we also ascend there in heart and mind, and continually dwell with Jesus (The Book of Common Prayer).  Amen. 

2. Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed: „I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, so that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, so that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me, so that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O Righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You, and these know that You have sent Me. I made known to them Your Name, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.“ 

3. The setting in our sermon text is a portion of the High Priestly prayer Jesus prayed in the upper room on Maundy Thursday. A few hours after this prayer His disciples were scattered, and Jesus was betrayed, arrested, condemned to execution as a blasphemer and a seditionist, crucified, die and was buried. Jesus walked the path of the cross alone; He bore the weight of the cross alone; He carried all the sin of the world upon His shoulders alone; He redeemed all the world by His own vicarious atonement and righteous merit. 

4. Doesn’t Jesus say in this prayer that God the Father and He are one? Would this not mean that Jesus was not alone at His trial and crucifixion? If the Father and He are truly one, doesn’t that imply that the Father stood by His Son’s side during these hours of tribulation and execution? The Gospels of Matthew and Mark, however, record these words of Jesus: »My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?« (Matthew 27,46; Mark 15,34). On the cross, paying for our sins, Jesus was abandoned by even His Heavenly Father. 

5. Perhaps you feel, or have felt, abandoned by God. You might ask: Where are You, Jesus? Have even You abandoned me? Do You still love me? These are real emotions and thoughts we have from time to time because we are mortal human beings. We have doubts. Our faith falters. We struggle with these thoughts, and in doing so we are no different from the men and women in the Bible who believe in the same Triune God that we do. Faithful people just like you asked these questions. Job and David wrote laments that expressed these feelings of loneliness from God. Even the prophets and the apostles felt separated from God, and you can read about their painful experiences in the pages of Holy Scripture. The good news is: When you feel apart from God, you are not alone for God is love and He is with you. 

6. The love of God is imitated in the love of mothers for their children. God blessed us with mothers who love us, nurture us and care for us. God has blessed some of you to be mothers and you show this love to your children, even when then treat you as the prodigal son treated his father. God has not chosen others of you to be mothers, but you are still blessed by Him to love and care for other people in your life. God has given all women a love and nurturing attitude that is a blessing to many people in addition to their children. Such is the love of God toward each of you. 

7. This past Thursday the Church celebrated the ascension of Jesus into heaven. It might seem that Jesus was leaving His apostles and disciples all alone. It is probable that the disciples felt sad, a bit scared and alone. After all, they had spent three years with Jesus day after day. They travelled together throughout Galilee and Judea. Jesus and His disciples had forged a strong band of friendship. They were a family, and, in the language of the New Testament, they were the Church. On His ascension, Jesus left His disciples for His heavenly throne at the right hand of God the Father. It is probable that both Jesus and His disciples had a twinge of sorrow at this departure. 

8. This is why 43 days earlier Jesus prayed for them, prayed for the unity between He and they and prayed for the bond of fellowship between each disciple with one another. Jesus might no longer be standing in their midst in physical form, but He would nevertheless be present with them as they gathered in His Name. Jesus is omnipresent, and He exercises His presence in the midst of all His dear Christians. Now if you look around you won’t see Jesus as a 5’5” man with brown hair and eyes seated among us, but He is most certainly in our midst, just as He is at this very moment in every church worshipping Him at this minute and He is also in heaven in the presence of all His disciples who have entered Paradise: such is the reality of Divine omnipresence.  

9. Listen again to Luke’s account of the ascension: »Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. While He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God« (Luke 24,50-53). My attention is drawn to two points: 1. Jesus blessed His disciples and they returned to Jerusalem blessing Jesus; 2. the disciples worshipped Jesus at Bethany and returned with great joy. 

10. 1. Jesus blessed His disciples. Before they left for Bethany and His ascension, Jesus told them: »I am sending the promise of My Father upon you« (Luke 24,49). There are many facets to the blessing and promise Jesus gave them, but today’s sermon text gives this heavenly blessing: God the Father and Jesus are in them, and they in Them. God is one with them, and they are one with God. Jesus gives us this same blessing: He is one with us, and we are one with the Triune God. God created man to be male and female in His image and likeness; He created us to be in full fellowship with Him and He with us. Adam’s disobedience separated all mankind from Divine fellowship, but through His Son, God the Father restored His unity with all men and women. Jesus has ascended to heaven, but He is with you. He watches over you, He provides for you, He protects you, He knows what is going on in your life and He is always ready to hear you when you call upon Him. I don’t know how you think of Jesus when you pray, but I often envision an ascended, glorified Jesus seated on His throne attentively listening to my petitions and pleas. The ascended Jesus is a Jesus who has been given the reign of His Father, and He hears your prayers and answers them. Thus the disciples returned to Jerusalem where every day they were in the temple blessing Him. They were giving thanks to Jesus for the great blessing and promise He had given them. His blessing uplifted them and strengthened them in all aspects of their lives. 

11. 2. The disciples worshipped Jesus at Bethany and returned with great joy. The disciples confessed Jesus to be the True God and so they rightly worshipped Him as God. They returned to Jerusalem with great and abiding joy. Yes, Jesus had left for His heavenly throne. Yes, Jesus was no longer in their midst like He had been for the past three years. Yes, great challenges lay ahead for these apostles and disciples. But they received all this with joy and peace. Jesus was still with them. Jesus was watching over them. Jesus was blessing them. He would soon send them the blessing of the Holy Spirit. He would soon work through them to preach the gospel unto all the world. Jesus loved them, looked out for them and provided for them. He does the same for each one of us today. Like the disciples, we gather to worship and bless Jesus. It is my most heartfelt desire that each Sunday you leave the Divine Service with joy and peace. Does this mean you will still have the tribulations, struggles and concerns you had when you walked through the narthex doors an hour before? Yes, you may very well have all those issues still on your plate, but you should be leaving each Sunday with Jesus’ blessing upon you so that you have peace and joy that all your cares are soundly in Jesus’ hands and that He will deal with them in His good and gracious will. 

12. The Gottesdienst (Divine Service) of the Church sends you out with the Divine blessing of Jesus ringing in your ears: »The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and ✠ give you peace« (Numbers 6,24-26). I speak the blessing of Jesus upon you with the very words that God has blessed His people since the days of Moses and Aaron. You know they are Jesus’ blessing because I make the sign of the cross, which testifies that they are Jesus’ words. You then respond with singing: „Amen, amen, amen.“ This means: yes, this is most certainly true and I believe it. Your triple amen response is a response of worship and blessing, testifying that you humbly receive the blessing Jesus has impressed upon you. This is why you leave each Sunday with joy and peace, for you leave with the blessing of Jesus placed upon you and the song of thanksgiving echoing from your lips in the final song we sing each Sunday. 

13. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Christ is ascended! Alleluia. Christ is returning for you! Hallelujah! On that last day He will raise up your dead body to new life and you will stand before the throne of Jesus and worship Him with your resurrected body and soul seeing Jesus as His disciples saw Him: in heavenly glory and honor.  Amen. 

14. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You Sit at Your Father’s right hand, until He makes Your enemies Your footstool. By Your right hand exalt us and valiantly defend Your beloved bride, the Church, so that we await Your return with joy and peace in our hearts.  Amen.  

Christ crucified and risen for you 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1771 Oxford University Press. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.