Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "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."

   Luke begins the second part of his two-volume work with another address to Theophilus, the patron of his work. We don't know who Theophilus was, but it is interesting that his name means 'lover of God'.
   Luke begins Acts the same way he ends his Gospel, with an account of the ascension.The disciples have learned a lot, but they still have a way to go. They ask if this is the time the Kingdom would be restored to Israel: a reversal in the national fortunes of Israel, perhaps the restoration of a monarchy like David's. Jesus deflects the question, but the answer is 'yes', though 'the Kingdom' is much broader than the disciples are thinking, 'Israel' will be redefined as all who accept the gospel message, and 'now' is not a day or a moment, but a new era, beginning after the resurrection, spanning to the present day, and continuing until the final completion of God's great plan of new creation. Notice how Jesus gently nudges the disciples into a broader view of things: they are not to get impatient and try to guess the timing of all this; they must prepare for faithfulness over the long haul. And this vision will encompass not onyl Israel, but Samaria (a bit of a shock) and the ends of the earth (an even bigger shock).
  Do we sometimes narrow down the scope of what God is doing in Christ, and in the Church, like the disciples did?  Some of Paul's most inspiring passages suggest the scope of god's plan goes way beyond 'Samaria and the ends of the Earth': God is preparing a whole new creation, where heaven and earth are no longer divided. How would the disciples have reacted to that? How do you react? 

“I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

-Ephesians 1:15-23

I remember when I first visited my uncle in France, I had to learn that you couldn’t just sit anywhere at the table: you had to be placed. My mother instructed me about the special designation of sitting to the right of the host who was at the head of the table. The last night we were there, I was granted such honor… and it was a big deal. Who knew being on the right offered so much more honor than being on the left.

Jesus actually used this as an example in St. Luke’s Gospel on what the Kingdom of God will look like (Luke 14). The apparent moral of the story deals with not presuming to be entitled to anything, particularly the Kingdom of God. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, missed this and started arguing about who would sit on Jesus’ left and right when He came into power (Mark 10). I suppose it was hard to answer the brothers’ question about who would be on Jesus’ left since he’s suggestively not the host.

Along with the right hand being the place of honor, the man standing to your right is the way you get something done… much like you’d turn to your right hand man to make sure that a job gets done and gets done well. This picture St. Paul paints of Jesus ascending to the right hand of the Father makes a statement about how God was now going to work in the world: his right-hand man, Jesus.

When we say weekly in the creed, He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, we’re not commenting on the place cards on dining room table in heaven. We’re affirming our hope as Christians that it is Jesus whom God works through in the world. And as the Body of Christ, it is our privilege to continue Jesus’ ministry in caring for the poor, neglected, sick, and lonely.

Scott D. Parnell

Luke 24:44-53

Jesus said to his disciples, "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, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. See, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

   In some ways, this is a retelling of the same story we heard in Acts, though this time we are more focussed on the past than the future. As he did with the men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus opens the scriptures to the disciples. This is not just about finding little snippets of scripture which predict some of the things that happened to Jesus (though you can find plenty of those). It is more about learning to see the story of Jesus as the great final chapter in the whole scriptural drama. God's plan to bring His wayward creation, and all His wayward people back into a loving trustful relationship with Him is reaching its final payoff, its great climax, in the story of Jesus.
   Both accounts of the Ascension have images of Jesus being carried up. One very ancient painting of the Asenscion shows a cloud with two feet sticking out. We respect the vividness of the scriptural account, but at the same time it can be helpful to remember the thoughts of Martin Luther: where did Christ ascend? To the right hand of the Father. Where is the right hand of the Father? Everywhere.