“Worship the Ascended Christ: Our Prophet, Priest, and King!”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow worshippers of the resurrected and ascended Christ,
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord
[Amen.]
“Death-destroying, life-restoring,
Proven equal to our need,
Now for us before the Father
As our brother intercede;
Flesh that for our world was wounded,
Living, for the wounded plead!”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
491:2)
Gospel
Reading........................................................................................
St. Luke 24:52-53
52And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53and
were continually in the temple blessing God.
Prologue: We’re told that “Christ’s ascension meant triumph and
joy for His disciples. As a rule the departure of a beloved leader brings
sorrow and grief to his followers. We think of Socrates, the great
philosopher, when he was drinking the poisonous hemlock, how he tried in
vain to banish the despair of his sorrowful followers. [Many] of us
remember vividly Nov. 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated. We remember particularly the bleakness and blackness of it
all, the sorrow and sadness that filled our land.
“The departure of Jesus Christ, however, meant triumph and joy to His
followers.” (Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations. Compiled by David F.
Burgess. Copyright © 1988 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page
19.)
In addition, The Treasury of Daily Prayer devotion book tells us
that “Ascension Day is the coronation celebration of our Lord as He is
proclaimed to be King of the universe. Jesus’ ascension to the Father is
His entrance to the greater existence beyond the confines of time and space,
being no longer bound by the limitations of His state of humiliation. Jesus
now sits at the right hand of God, which Luther correctly taught is
everywhere, having again taken up the power and authority that were His
since before time. Yet our Lord is present with us who remain bound by time
and space. He is with us as true God and true man, exercising His rulership
in the Church through the means of grace which He established: His Word and
His Sacraments. We mortals in those means of grace can grasp the King of
the universe and receive a foretaste of the feast to come.” (Treasury of
Daily Prayer. Scot A. Kinnaman, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2008 Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 301f.)
What, then, is our appropriate response to this event about which
the Reverend Doctor Albert B. Collver wrote an article entitled “The
Forgotten Holiday” that appeared in the Lutheran Witness six years ago? May
it be what the disciples who personally witnessed and wrote about that event
did, namely, …
“Worship the Ascended Christ: Our Prophet, Priest, and King!”
We do well to review what The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds say as
well as our Synod Catechism explains in the section of The Second Article
about this very significant event that crowned the atoning work of our
Savior, Jesus Christ. We confessed a few minutes ago belief that Jesus
“ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” (Lutheran
Service Book. Page 206.)
In addition, the following questions and answers in our Synod
Catechism help us understand the meaning and significance of this major
event. “146. What do the Scriptures teach about Christ’s ascension? They
teach that 40 days after His resurrection, Christ, in the presence of His
disciples, ascended bodily into the glory of His Father, to prepare a place
for us in heaven. 147. What does it mean that Christ sits at the right hand
of God the Father Almighty? With this expression Scripture teaches that
Christ, as true man, is not only present everywhere, but also now fully
exercises His divine power over the whole universe. 148. What comfort do we
get from Christ’s ascension to the right hand of God? We know that the
exalted God-man, Christ A. as our Prophet sends people to proclaim the
saving Gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit; B. as our Priest pleads and
prays for us before the Father; [and] C. as our King rules and protects His
church and governs over all the world especially for the benefit of His
church.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright © 1986,
1991, 2005 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 140ff.) Saint
Paul beautifully summarized that for us in today’s Epistle Reading: “[God]
raised [Jesus] 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 one
to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all
in all.” (Eph 1:20b-23 ESV)
In view of all that—and oh so much more—let’s be reminded on this
Day of the Ascension of Our Lord that …
I. Everything in the Scriptures Is Ultimately All about Jesus. (44-49)
44Then [Jesus] said to them, “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.” 45Then he opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures, 46and said to them, “Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47and
that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to
all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.
49And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in
the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Earlier in his Gospel narrative Saint Luke recorded that, when
Jesus encountered the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “And beginning
with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (St Luke 24:27 ESV) It’s no
wonder, then, that we have so many “Jesus hymns” in our hymnals past and
present; hymns like “Jesus, all our ransom paid,” “Jesus came, the heav’ns
adoring,” “Jesus comes today with healing,” “Jesus has come and brings
pleasure eternal,” “Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus,” “Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s
won,” “Jesus loves me! This I know,” “Jesus, my great High Priest,” “Jesus,
my Truth, my Way,” “Jesus! Name of wondrous love,” “Jesus, priceless
Treasure,” “Jesus, Refuge of the weary,” “Jesus sinners doth receive,”
“Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,” “Jesus, Thy boundless love to me,”
and, well, that’s only 15 of the 26 hymns in our present Lutheran Service
Book and 40 hymns in our past The Lutheran Hymnal (some of which are in both
hymnals) that begin with the name of Jesus. And that doesn’t count the many
other hymns that contain the name of Jesus in their titles and texts!
The point is that the church’s rich hymnody adopted by us
Lutherans reflects and emphasizes the indisputable fact that the entire
contents of The Holy Bible is all about Jesus … His divine conception by the
Holy Spirit, His incarnate birth of the virgin Mary, His holy life lived for
us, His suffering and death endured for us, His resurrection from the dead
accomplished for us, and His glorious ascension back to His heavenly throne
from which He rules His kingdom here on earth below and in heaven above, and
from which we confessed that “He will come again with glory to judge both
the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.” (Lutheran Service
Book. Page 206.)
Our almighty King Jesus, who is our beautiful Savior, both
fulfilled the Law given by God through Moses and is the fulfillment of the
prophesies throughout the Old Testament about Him. He is the One who was
foreshadowed by the Old Testament prophets, who proclaimed God’s Law and
Gospel to His beloved Israelites; by the Old Testament priests, who
interceded for and offered sacrifices to God in behalf of His rebellious
Israelites for the forgiveness of their sins; and by the Old Testament
kings, who led, defended, and provided for His oftentimes lost and wandering
Israelites. He is the One whom we worship and adore on this celebrative
occasion for having accomplished all that’s necessary for the forgiveness of
all our sins, the healing of our sin-ravaged souls, and the blessed
assurance of eternal life with Himself in heaven. He is the One, who now
comes to us with Gospel reassurance in Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, Holy
Communion, and the written words of His Holy Word.
And as if all that’s not enough, …
II. Jesus Blessed His Disciples Then and He Blesses Us His Disciples
Today. (50-51)
50Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he
blessed them. 51While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried
up into heaven.
To be blessed by God, that is, to receive His holy benediction
that Pastor Marks will speak with outstretched hands at the completion of
this Divine Service, is a most meaningful and significant thing that, sadly,
people who leave prior to it miss out on. You see, to be blessed by God
through His pastor-servant is to be reminded and reassured (as Jesus did
with His disciples at His ascension) that He loves us, cares for us, and
abides with us. To be blessed by God through His pastor-servant is to be
told (even as Jesus told His disciples at His ascension) that He will never
leave us nor forsake us and that His victory over Satan is for us. To be
blessed by God through His pastor-servant is to be guaranteed that He did
not and will not leave us to wander through the wilderness of this life
alone.
Instead, He bestows on us the Holy Spirit, who imparts to us the
divine wisdom and discernment that we so desperately need to wind our way
through this temporal life to eternal glory with Himself in heaven. Perhaps
the most popular of His blessings is what Saint Matthew recorded: “Then
children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children
come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of
heaven.’ And he laid his hands on them and went away.” (Matt 19:13-15 ESV)
Okay, here’s what—no, whom—it’s all about; it’s all about
Jesus—what He did for us then, what He’s doing for us now, and what He will
do for us in the future. In grateful response and led by the Holy Spirit to
do so, we now …
“Worship the Ascended Christ: Our Prophet, Priest, and King!”
As we do so, let’s bear in mind and never forget that …
I. Everything in the Scriptures Is Ultimately All about Jesus. (44-49)
He is the One, about whom the Psalmist declared in today’s Introit: “God has
gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” (Ps 47:5 ESV)
And, He is the One, about whom the Easter Gradual declares: “Christ has
risen from the dead. [God the Father] has crowned him with glory and honor,
He has given him dominion over the works of his hands; he has put all things
under his feet.” (adapt. from Matt 28:7; Heb 2:7; Ps 8:6 ESV) In addition,
let’s always realize the most wonderful gift that He gave His disciples then
and gives us today, namely, …
II. Jesus Blessed His Disciples Then and He Blesses Us His Disciples
Today. (50-51) For the disciples then as well as for us today, it meant the
wonderful promise contained in today’s First Reading: “‘But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’
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 taken up from you into heaven, will come in
the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:8, 10-11 ESV) In
light of that glorious reality, let’s make today’s Collect petition our
ongoing petition: “as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and
continually dwell there with Him … .”
God grant it all for the sake of the resurrected and ascended
Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
_______________________________________________
Sermons mailing list
Sermons@cat41.org
http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
