When I was a child, there was a tv
show called Dallas. I was too young to
watch it, but I do remember at the end of one season there was a cliffhanger
and the question asked was: Who shot
JR? All these years later, I still have
never watched Dallas, and perhaps I learned who shot JR but I don’t remember,
all I remember is the cliffhanger – the question. Good writers want to create suspense, they
want to leave the audience engaged and eager for more. Cliffhangers are great to create the suspense
for the audience to come back, I think that is why we have now have the term
binge watching. We don’t have to wait
week to week or the entire summer, we can watch an entire series in a few
weeks. But eventually, the series has to
come to an end. Just recently, two big shows
had their final episode: Game of Thrones
and the Big Bang Theory. Although I have
never watched Game of Thrones, this chatter about the show ending was all over
social media and even made the news. An
ending to a story or a movie or a tv series can never please everyone, and the
reviews from Game of Thrones are all over the place. Big Bang theory – well it offered one surprise
but really offered a sense that everyone was growing up, their goals were being
met, and their lives were going to be alright. That’s what we seem to expect
from good endings, all the loose ends are tied up, the boy gets the girl, good
conquers evil, and the lost has been found.
I personally, like endings that you never saw coming, but those seem to
be far and few in-between.
So, why all this talk about
cliffhangers and endings? Because the
Ascension of Jesus is the end of the story.
Jesus was born, he lived, taught, healed, performed miracles. Spoiler alert, he was killed and talk about a
great cliffhanger, three days later he rose from the dead. For many, wouldn’t this be a good enough
ending? I mean really, did you see that
coming? The disciples sure didn’t. I guess the twist in this story is that what
seems like a good ending is not yet the ending.
The risen Christ, after appearing several times to his disciples, is not
going to finish out his life to an old age.
Even though he has conquered death and has risen from the dead, his time
is still limited. And so we get this
event, that only appears in one other place in the Bible, of him ascending into
heaven. Elijah, the prophet, also
ascends into heaven. Our stained glass
window, here in the sanctuary is of that event.
I, honestly, cannot give you an explanation
of the ascension. It does make me think
of a literary term I learned in high school freshman English: Deus ex machina, (Latin: “god from
the machine”) a person or thing that appears or is introduced into a situation
suddenly and unexpectedly and provides an artificial or contrived solution to
an apparently insoluble difficulty. This
is a difficult situation, how does Jesus return to heaven? How does the one who has conquered death end his
earthly life? He can’t die again can
he? So, if he has already overcome
death, he must return to God in his earthly form, and so the disciples watch him
being lifted up, out of their sight, into heaven. I’m too scientific for a literal
understanding of this text. I believe
our souls go to heaven, but not these physical bodies. But since Jesus is the son of God, I believe
part of his teaching to his followers is this final miracle, his showing them
that now he is returning to his Father, to his Creator, to take his place in
heaven, to reign with God.
I guess the disciples were a bit
baffled as well, or at least amazed and awed by the sight. The text tells us they were standing around,
looking up into the sky, I assume watching Jesus until they could no longer see
him. I had the chance to see a launching
of the space shuttle, and that is what we all did. We all stood there, eyes fixed on the sky,
watching until we could no longer see it.
So, what do you think of this ending? Does it tie up the loose ends? Or does it just create a whole lot of new questions? This is the kind of stuff theologians love,
they love to debate whether this is a literal ending or a symbolic ending and they
use all kinds of big words to support their theories – but maybe we are not
suppose to get stuck in the details of the text. Sometimes, by getting stuck, we keep
ourselves from the real meaning behind it.
So, perhaps Luke is telling us
something important about Jesus' departure: that it is both an ending and a beginning. Since this event happens at the beginning of
the book of Acts, we know there is more to come. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up
toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will
come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Why do you stand
looking up toward heaven? I attending a
conference a few years ago and this was the theme scripture. Does it feel like maybe we, as a
denomination, or as the church in today’s world, are stuck? That we seem to be looking to heaven, asking
God – what do we do? How do we fix
this? I know I am constantly praying for
inspiration: God show me the way to be
the church in today’s world. Is the
ending, just the beginning? Was the birth,
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus just the first season of the show, and then
the book of Acts – season two? And if
so, what season are we? I kind of feel,
we are in a cliffhanger, except not everyone is interested in staying
tuned. We seem to have lost our audience.
Why do you stand
looking toward heaven? Rather, there is
work to do. Jesus instructed his
followers during his lifetime, and in his resurrected state he instructed them
again, to follow his teachings, to care for each other, to love one another, to
feed his sheep. And the book of Acts is
just that. It is the continuation of the
story, season two, of the disciples going out, teaching others about Jesus,
proclaiming the forgiveness of sins, seeking the lost and sharing God’s love
with them. And the Good News is, we are
not yet at the final episode of the show.
The Holy Spirit has poured out upon God’s people, and upon God’s church,
and people of faith are still investing their lives into the work of Jesus,
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, sharing God’s
love and forgiveness in a chaotic world.
We can stand around wondering what to do, or we can act. We can continue God’s story, leaving the
symbolic or literal interpretation of the text behind, but rather engaging in
the simple teaching of Love one another as I have loved you. Amen.
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