Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! +
And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was take up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” We have reached the Ascension of our Lord – past it, actually. 40 days after Easter – which would have been this past Thursday, Jesus ascends. He wraps up His teaching with the Apostles, preparing them for life in the New Testament Church. Then, He ascends – and the disciples are left there, staring into the sky. Why are you looking there? That's not the point – Jesus is going to come back – and shouldn't you be on your way back to Jerusalem – He told you to wait there until you'd be clothed with power from on high (that will be next weekend, not to spoil it for you all in the congregation).
But let's have a moment of sympathy for the Apostles – they've seen so many wondrous things, and in some ways that's over for them. They are suddenly in the same boat as the rest of us – they'll have to wait until the end of their lives to see Jesus again. And this is something that we can forget when we ponder the Bible, the great stories therein, all the times when God does these majestic things. Those wild things tend to be... rare and temporary. Consider the children of Israel in the wilderness – yes, the LORD was with them in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud... but He also set up the tabernacle and said, “this is the way I'm going to be with you in the promised land – less flashy, but I'll be there.” Or the fact that they crossed through the Red Sea once – seas didn't part for them every day. Elisha sees Elijah taken up into heaven... but then Elisha has to go back to his new job as the head prophet. Peter, James, and John see the Transfiguration, but then it's just back down the mountain. Things return to normal.
And normal – well, it's actually quite good. God continues to give us our daily bread, He daily and richly forgives us in His Church, He gives us everything that we need. But we sinful people, we can have a problem with normal. We can get bored. We can get forgetful. In just a few weeks the paraments will shift to green for the season of Trinity – for normal time, regular time in the church – and it will be green for a long time. And in times of peaceful calm, we can become complacent towards God, we can forget the wonders of the simple forgiveness and life He gives, we can forget the depth of the riches that He provides for us in His Church. God always sets things up to be normal and routine because that way things are predictable and we know where to find the gifts of God.
And so before He ascends, Jesus sets up an order, a routine for how things will work until He returns. And it's a good order, a good routine. A good one for you, for your benefit. How so? Well, first – Jesus has given us the Holy Scriptures. “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 and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” The Scriptures, whether they are the Old Testament – the books of Moses, or the Psalms (which we've read from today) or the Prophets (which we've read from today) – they're Jesus' Words. And the New Testament, the memoirs of the Apostles and the Letters – they are Jesus' Words. The Inspired Word of God are Jesus' Word for you, today, to hear, to listen to, to know. And they are all about Jesus and how He saves you – Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations.” This is the point of the Scriptures – that we are in need of saving, that we need to repent of our sin – and that, thanks be to God, Jesus comes and by His suffering, death, and resurrection He wins us salvation and forgives us our sin. And these Scriptures are read and are proclaimed throughout the world, to all nations – indeed, even unto here in little old Herscher thousands of miles away from Jerusalem and a few thousand years in the future from that date. And we get the same thing, the same Jesus, the same salvation.
And this is what is normal for us. Every worship service here, whether it's our weekend service, or a midweek service, a funeral, a wedding, even the little facebook devotions – you know what they will all have? Scripture and then the proclamation of Christ Jesus. This is normal – this is the normal that Jesus sets up for the Church – read the Scriptures and then preach repentance and forgiveness on account of Christ. You've been a part of this hundreds, thousands of times. Jesus comes to you, over and over in His Word, in the preaching there of. And you know what – He comes to you even when you are doing your private devotions at home – you read the Word at home, you talk about Jesus – and Christ is there, seeing that you receive forgiveness, that you live in His forgiveness. It's utterly fantastic!
And it's utterly ordinary. And it's utterly routine. And we can get bored with it. That's what sin does, it makes us bored and boring. And we think that if things were some how jazzed up it would be better – actually, that we'd be better. Nope – last week's old testament lesson was great. The people in the wilderness complain about how there's nothing to drink, no food, and we “hate this worthless food.” Well, if there's no food, how do you have worthless food to hate? Oh, wait... you're talking about Manna, manna from heaven – the miraculous bread, sweet and light, that God just gave you day by day... and you hate it. You're tired of it. You're sick of it. How could those people get sick of Manna, Pastor? The same way we get tempted to get sick and bored with the Word, with Church, with gathering together to hear God's Word with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And this boredom is dangerous. There's few things more dangerous than becoming bored and dismissive of the Word – because you'll be so easily tempted to run off after whatever shiny stupid sin the world dangles in front of you – and there are lots of those. And there's fewer things more dangerous for a preacher than to get bored of the Gospel – Churches get led astray by pastors who decide to ignore Jesus and His Word for some other hobby horse all the time. Because what Satan is trying to do is to wrest our eyes off of Jesus – to leave us staring in the sky hoping for some sort of spectacle while we stand and ignore the simple, regular, wonderful working of God for us over and over.
No, we don't have to look for excitement or adventure or wonder. God does wonderful stuff for us all the time in the Church. And as for the wondrous, the miraculous – it happens. I've seen Jesus heal people – I've seen people protected and kept from harm in the most deadly and dangerous of situations. I'd bet you all have too. But that's not an everyday of our life thing – thanks be to God it isn't, I'd don't want you facing horrid death and destruction daily! Thanks be to God for normal days simply spent at home in peace and quiet! Instead, Jesus normally blesses you... normally. Daily bread. Forgiving you your sin. Leading you away from temptation and delivering you from evil before you even get a hint that evil is around.
For another brief look at the wondrous normalcy of life in the Church, let's consider another Gospel. Matthew records a few other words from Jesus from the day of Ascension – we call them “the Great Commission” - even though it's not really a commission at all. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Again – this is just setting up the normal pattern of the Church. Jesus says that He has won – that all authority in heaven and earth is His. Our Risen Lord is in charge – and you know what that means for life in between the Ascension and our Lord's return? Well, the church is going to go out and make disciples of all nations – there will be baptisms in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – oh, look, there's a baptismal font, and the words that we started our service with. And there will be teaching to observe what Jesus commanded – hey, a lectern where Jesus' Words are read, a pulpit from which I'm supposed to go teach and preach the Words of Jesus, well what do you know. And lo, Jesus is with you always, even until He returns again at the end of the age – take and eat, this is My Body, take and drink, this is My Blood – as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show forth the Lord's death until He comes. Simple, yet wondrous. We don't need to look up into the heavens to find Jesus – He's right where He has promised to be, in His Word and Sacraments, wherever two or three are gathered in His name as the baptized children of God – at His house, in our homes, in hospital rooms (because sometimes horrid excitement does come and please call me and I'll come and bring Jesus' Word and even the Supper to you in the Hospital) – all simple. All normal. All incredibly wonderful behind the simpleness that we can be tempted to despise.
Jesus Christ, your ascended Lord, has established the Church for you, to keep you in the faith, to keep you centered in Christ by the Word and by the Sacraments, even until He comes again and you see Him face to face. Normal? That's pretty cool. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia! + Amen.
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