The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
When I was younger, it was common for athletes who had just won a championship to be asked what they were going to do next. And the answer they gave was almost always the same: “I’m going to Disneyland!”
What about Jesus when He won the victory over sin, death, and the devil? Where would He go? His disciples might have wished He would say, “I am going to go appear to the Jewish Council that condemned Me,” or “visit Pontius Pilate’s headquarters,” or even “march to the palace of the Roman Emperor.” Who could stand against Jesus or deny His power now that He had conquered death itself?
But Jesus had already told them where He was going. Just before His crucifixion, He said multiple times, “I am going to the Father” (Joh. 14:28, 16:5). On the day of His resurrection, He told Mary Magdalene to tell the disciples, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Joh. 20:17).
But what good would going to the Father do? Why leave the earth at His hour of victory? Jesus ascended to the right hand of His Father because the work the Father had sent Him to do was complete.
God the Father sent His Son to fulfill the law for us sinners—check!
He sent His Son to make atonement for all sin by offering His perfect life on the cross—finished!
He sent His Son to defeat death by rising in victory over death and the grave—done!
Everything necessary to win our salvation was accomplished by Jesus. So now He ascended to His Father.
He ascended to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house (Joh. 14:2).
He ascended so that His enemies would become His footstool (Psa. 110:1, Heb. 10:13), and He would become Head over all things to His body the Church (Eph. 1:22-23).
He ascended so that the Holy Spirit would be sent out to convert hearts and strengthen faith through the Gospel until the end of time (Joh. 16:7).
Jesus had many good reasons for returning to His Father. This was all part of the plan. Jesus’ ascension, His removal of His visible presence, was not a sad day. It was not a day of loss. The disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luk. 24:52), and we join them in rejoicing.
Let us rise to sing the hymn printed in the service folder, “O Wondrous Conqueror and Great”:
O wondrous Conqueror and great,
Scorned by the world You did create,
Your work is all completed!
Your toilsome course is at an end;
You to the Father do ascend,
In royal glory seated.
Lowly,
Holy,
Now victorious,
High and glorious:
Earth and heaven
To Your rule, O Christ, are given.
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Sermon text: St. Mark 16:14-20
In Christ Jesus, the King who reigns over all things and gives us the gifts of His grace, dear fellow redeemed:
The beginning and the end of today’s Gospel reading portrays the disciples in very different ways. Jesus first appeared to His disciples on Easter evening when they were huddled together in a tightly secured room. They were afraid of both the Jewish and the Roman authorities. If the authorities could do what they did to Jesus, wouldn’t Jesus’ followers be next?
Had they taken seriously Jesus’ words leading up to His crucifixion, they should have been excited about that Sunday. He told them multiple times that He would suffer many things in Jerusalem and would be killed, but on the third day He would rise. Sunday was the third day. Everything else Jesus said had happened. But in the disciples’ estimation, the thought of Jesus rising from the dead was a bridge too far. They might have thought to themselves: if He had the power to rise from the dead, why would He let Himself be arrested and killed in the first place?
The first message Jesus spoke to His disciples on that Sunday was, “Peace be with you” (Joh. 20:19). He wanted them to know they were still His disciples. He had not rejected them. But He did take them to task for denying His resurrection. St. Mark writes that “He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen.”
Everything hinged on His resurrection. It verified that Jesus was who He said—the eternal Son of God. It gave meaning to His suffering and death—these were done to make atonement for sin. And it gave a clear message and direction for what the disciples of Jesus would do going forward. They would tell everyone about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, that He died and rose to save the world of sinners.
This is still the mission and message of the church. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” He doesn’t restrict the proclamation of the Gospel to certain groups of people or certain places. He wants the message of salvation to be broadcast everywhere. He wants everyone to know that He “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
People are converted and become members of His holy body by Baptism, and they remain in that baptismal grace by continuing to hear His Word (Mat. 28:19-20). Baptism alone does not guarantee that someone will go to heaven, because the faith worked through the water and Word of Baptism can be lost. Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe—whether or not they have been baptized—will be condemned.”
The key is to cling to Jesus’ saving Word. That is why Jesus had to rebuke His disciples. They weren’t listening to and trusting His Word. They were going by what seemed right to them. They were following their own reason. We are tempted to do the same today. We are tempted to go along with what the culture around us promotes, even when it is contrary to the Word of God. We do this because we don’t want to be singled out and targeted. We don’t want to be rejected by others when our beliefs don’t match up with the prevailing opinions around us.
But Jesus does not call us to fit in with the world. He calls us to be set apart. He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me…. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” (Mat. 16:24,26). Jesus gives us more than the world. The world is small and insignificant compared with what He has won for us.
If you sold your soul for everything desirable in the world, you would only have it for a short time, and whatever you had would be lost. Jesus gives you eternal treasures that will never be taken from you. Through His death to pay for your sins and His resurrection to overcome your death, He has restored the image of God to you that Adam and Eve lost in the fall. You are covered in His righteousness and credited with His perfection. You have the victory over sin, death, and devil. You have eternal life.
These are the gifts of the King. He has the authority to give them to whomever He wants. He chooses to give them to you, and He wants to give them to many others besides. After Jesus’ ascension, this became clear to His disciples. They understood that they would not be with Jesus like they were before, speaking with Him face to face and physically going wherever He went. But He promised that He would be with them “always, to the end of the age” (Mat. 28:20).
Jesus’ ascension did not mean He had deserted His chosen disciples or any who would come after them. It meant that His work that the Father sent Him to do was complete. His ascension also did not mean that He was going into retirement. Today’s reading makes that clear. He promised to work signs through those who spread the message of salvation, such as casting out demons, making them immune to deadly poison, and giving them the ability to heal. When His disciples went out preaching the message of salvation, we are told that “the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
Those signs were given for the initial spread of the Gospel. You can read in the Book of Acts about the miraculous abilities He gave the apostles. But once the early churches were established, those special gifts of the Spirit diminished. Jesus does not teach us to focus on having unique spiritual gifts, which is all that some modern Christian churches want to talk about. Jesus instead teaches us to hold fast to the Gospel.
The mission of His Church is to speak His Word. We are simply messengers of the King. We don’t come up with our own message, something new to excite the people in our community. We faithfully speak what we have been taught. We give what we have been given. We comfort as we have been comforted.
It may seem to us at times that we need something more. We hear the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection so often that it might seem to lose its power. If it is powerful, why don’t we see more growth in our churches? But what the King does with His Word is not the business of His subjects. The authority behind the Word is not ours; it is His. By the same token, the pressure to get results is not on us. When the King sends out His messengers, when Jesus sends out believers, our duty is to proclaim what He has done, and He will see to it that the Gospel message accomplishes what He pleases (Isa. 55:11)
Just as the Lord was still at work with His disciples after His ascension, so He is still working among us. From His position at the right hand of His Father, He fills all things, particularly working for the good of His Church (Eph. 1:22-23). It is His absolution that you hear from my mouth. It is His Word that sounds forth from the pulpit. It is His holy body and blood you receive in the Sacrament of the Altar.
His grace given to you and the Holy Spirit working in you is what gives you the motivation and the strength to take part in “proclaim[ing] the gospel to the whole creation.” Just as Jesus’ resurrection turned His disciples from fear to faith and cowardice to courage, so it does the same for you. You are a messenger of the crucified and risen King, Jesus Christ, at whose name “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phi. 2:10-11).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Beginning forty days before Easter, we recall the intense suffering our Lord Jesus endured for our salvation. Forty days after Easter, we celebrate His glorious ascension. This was His enthronement at the right hand of God the Father, not only as the Son of God but also as the Son of Man. He was welcomed by all the host of heaven as the victorious King, the Conqueror of sin, death, and devil, the Savior of the world.
Jesus ascended visibly into heaven, but He also continues to be with us and bless us here on earth. Just before His ascension, He said to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:18-20, NKJV). He commissioned the Church to take His powerful Word and Sacraments to every nation, land, and people.
Then He added words that give us great comfort and courage, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (v. 20, NKJV). Jesus did not abandon us when He ascended into heaven. He has not left us to fend for ourselves. “I am with you always,” He says. As true God, He is present everywhere. And He is specially present when His message of salvation is proclaimed, when the Baptism He instituted is administered, and when His body and blood are distributed in His Holy Supper.
You know just where to find Jesus. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty right here and right now. God’s right hand touches this pulpit, this font, this altar. His right hand touches our homes, “where two or three are gathered in [Jesus’] name” (Mat. 18:20), hearing and learning His Word. Jesus, the victorious Son of God, is present and active here, just as He has promised He would be.
And on the last day, He will return visibly in glory to judge both the living and the dead. Then you and all trust in Him will also ascend. You will join Him in His heavenly kingdom. You will be gathered with all the host of heaven around the throne of God, where rejoicing and gladness never come to an end.
We now stand to sing our festival hymn printed in the service folder, “O Wondrous Conqueror and Great”:
O wondrous Conqueror and great,
Scorned by the world You did create,
Your work is all completed!
Your toilsome course is at an end;
You to the Father do ascend,
In royal glory seated.
Lowly,
Holy,
Now victorious,
High and glorious:
Earth and heaven
To Your rule, O Christ, are given.
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Sermon text: 1 Samuel 8:1-22
In Christ Jesus, whose kingdom of power, grace, and glory will never end, dear fellow redeemed:
Over the last couple of weeks, we heard how God sent judges to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, judges like Gideon and Samson. After Samson’s death, the LORD raised up one of the great leaders of the Israelites, a prophet named Samuel. He judged Israel all the days of his life and faithfully called the wayward Israelites back to the worship of the true God. But Samuel’s sons were not like him. He wanted them to continue after him and serve the LORD like he had. They were more interested in using their positions for personal gain.
So the elders of Israel came to Samuel and made a fateful request: “We want to have a king like all the other nations.” It was not wrong for them to want a strong leader. It was wrong for them to speak as though they had no king. The LORD God was their king. He had led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land and had given them victory over their enemies. Samuel was troubled by their request. But the LORD told him, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”
God would give the people what they asked for, but He warned them that having a king was not as great as they imagined. The people would not listen. They could only see the positives: our king will “judge us,” they said, “and go out before us and fight our battles.” It’s the sort of thinking that touches every generation. We are always looking for the next great leader who will fix all the problems in our society—and perhaps even the world—and make us more prosperous and happy than ever before. But as soon as we think we’ve found people like that, they inevitably disappoint us. They aren’t as perfect as we thought they were.
The people of Israel were dreaming about what their new king would give them. Samuel informed them about what their king would take from them: he would take their sons to fight for him, farm for him, and build for him; he would take their daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers; he would take their fields, vineyards, and olive orchards; he would take their servants, their grain, and their livestock. They would be his slaves.
That does not sound like a good deal. Why would the Israelites want this? Samuel revealed later that they made this request because they were afraid of their enemies (1Sa. 12:12). They did not trust the LORD to protect them. For the next number of weeks, we will learn about the kings of Israel. Some of them served well for a time. But what God warned the people about through Samuel did come true. It wasn’t long before the kings required more than they delivered; they took more than they gave. Having a king wasn’t as great as the people expected.
We in the United States have no king of our country. The crown was offered to George Washington after the American colonies won the Revolutionary War, but in humility, Washington rejected it. He served as president for two terms and then peacefully stepped aside. We have no king of our country, but we do have a King in the church. This is not the pope. He may be the head of the Roman Church, but he has no divine authority in the holy Christian Church.
The King of our church is no mortal man whose reign is temporary. The King of our church is the crucified and risen Christ, who reigns over all things at the right hand of His Father in heaven. He left the glories of heaven to take on our human flesh and humbly suffer and die in our place. He hardly looked like a king, except to those who looked upon Him with faith. The thief hanging next to Jesus on the cross was one of these. When He looked at the anguished, bleeding Christ with a crown of thorns on His head, He saw a King who even had power over death. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luk. 23:42).
Now, beginning with His victory march through hell and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus is exalted. Now He always and fully uses His divine power as God and Man. As our King, Jesus rules over a three-fold kingdom. He rules with power over the whole universe. He rules with grace in His holy Church. And He rules with glory in heaven. Ephesians 1 tells us that God the Father “raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…. 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” (vv. 20,22-23).
This passage describes our connection to Christ in the closest terms: He is our Head, and we are members of His body. We live in Him, move in Him, and have our being in Him (Act. 17:28). There is no life apart from Him. He gives us our spiritual health and strength. He makes us fruitful members that desire to do good to the glory of God. He also prepares us to follow Him to heaven, to go where He has gone. One of today’s hymns says, “For where the Head is, there full well / I know His members are to dwell / When Christ shall come and call them” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #392, v. 1).
Our King does not use His power and authority to boss us around or take things from us. He was not like the Israelite kings that Samuel warned the people about. Jesus does the opposite. He uses His power and authority to bless us by His grace. Ephesians 4 says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men’” (vv. 7-8).
The “host of captives” includes you and me. We were captive to sin and death by nature. The devil, the prince of demons and darkness, ruled over us. But Jesus broke us out of this prison. The devil, the unbelieving world, and death tried to stop Him, but there was nothing they could do. Our King was too powerful for them. His victory was complete.
He shares this victory with all who trust in Him. “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” The gifts He gives to us are the gifts of eternal salvation. He forgives our sins; He covers us in His righteousness; He has prepared a place for us in His kingdom. We couldn’t have it better than we have it with our King.
But like the Israelites who wanted to be like the nations around them, we often look for more than what Jesus gives us. We want to have power and success and prosperity now. We want to enjoy the good things of here. These things seem real to us, unlike the invisible gifts from an invisible King, who promises us a place in a heavenly kingdom we have never seen. And yet we never get as much from the world as we hope we might. We find that despite its promises and seeming advantages, the world takes more from us than it gives.
Only the grace of God prevails. Only the grace of God gives us what cannot be taken away. Jesus’ ascension into heaven was the crowning moment of His saving work. It was the ultimate recognition that He had accomplished everything His Father sent Him to do. No sin was left unpaid for. No accusation of the devil left unaddressed. No chain of death left unbroken. Everything for salvation was carried out, completed, finished—for you and every sinner.
Our King now sits at the right hand of God the Father dispensing these gifts of His grace. Every day, He hands them out to you, to me, and to all His people all over the world. He never runs out. In fact, He always has grace for more, more who will join Him in His kingdom. This grace comes through the means or channels He has established for giving His gifts. He calls pastors to speak His Word, baptize, and administer His Supper. The pastor is not the King; he is just the courier or the messenger. He only passes on what Jesus has given to His Church.
The Church receives these gifts with joy. We know who our King is, we know what He has done for us, and we know He is preparing us for even greater things when He returns in glory.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Vicar Lehne exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
“It is finished.” These are the words that Jesus spoke on the cross after he had completed everything that was necessary to save us from our sins. But just because Jesus’ work to save us was finished didn’t mean that he was done with us. There is still so much that he does for us from the position of authority that he has in heaven. He ascended to the right hand of his Father in order to be our Prophet, High Priest, and King. As our Prophet, Jesus sends out believers to spread the good news about what he has done for us and works through the good news of Scripture to bring the unbelieving world to faith. As our High Priest, Jesus intercedes for us on our behalf to the Father. And as our King, Jesus rules over not just heaven, which is his kingdom of glory, and earth, which is his kingdom of power, but also over his Holy Church, which is his kingdom of grace.
This is what Jesus ascended on high to do for you. He was seated at the right hand of the Father in glory in order to share the finished work of redemption with you. He is not done with you. He continues to give you these gifts. As your Prophet, he tells you the good news that he has finished the work to save you. As your High Priest, he reminds the Father of his sacrifice that he made on your behalf, and the Father sees your sins no more. And as your King, he rules over all things for your good so that you can be safely led by him to heaven to be with him forever. For these wonderful gifts, we praise and glorify his name by rising to sing “O Wondrous Conqueror and Great,” as it is printed in your service folders.
O wondrous Conqueror and great,
Scorned by the world You did create,
Your work is all completed!
Your toilsome course is at an end;
You to the Father do ascend,
In royal glory seated,
Lowly,
Holy,
Now victorious,
High and glorious:
Earth and heaven
To Your rule, O Christ, are given.
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Sermon text: Acts 1:1-11
In Christ Jesus, who did not leave us but continues to be with us always, dear fellow redeemed:
The disciples didn’t want Jesus to leave them. They had spent three years of their lives following Jesus and getting to know him well. During that time, they heard his words and saw his miraculous power. Because of these things that they saw and heard, they were hoping that Jesus would use his power to establish a kingdom on earth. But then, Jesus “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). This was not what the disciples wanted. Peter even “took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you’” (Matthew 16:22). But, even though it wasn’t what the disciples wanted, Jesus did suffer and die, just as he said he would, and his disciples were left alone and afraid.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the end. Jesus had also told his disciples that he would rise again on the third day, and that’s just what he did. When the disciples heard that he had risen, they didn’t believe it at first, but when Jesus appeared before them, they could no longer deny it. Jesus had risen, just as he said! He hadn’t left them after all. Now, the disciples were sure that Jesus would establish a kingdom on earth, and they would get to be with him as he ruled. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Jesus told them to “[g]o into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). As they did, they were to baptize all nations “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [and teach] them to observe all that [Jesus had] commanded [them]” (Matthew 28:19–20). Then, after telling them this, Jesus was taken up into the sky before their very eyes, until he was hidden from their sight by a cloud. Jesus had just told his disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), but now, the disciples appeared to be alone once again, this time for good.
Do we ever feel like Jesus has left us? While we would certainly love to say that we’ve never felt this way, all we have to do is look at the sinful world around us, and it becomes extremely difficult not to feel alone. Sinful lifestyles that we know are wrong are regularly practiced and encouraged by those around us. Even though the world claims to be a tolerant one, it seems to be tolerant of everything except Christianity, making it harder and harder for us to live as Christians. Like the disciples, we want Jesus to be visible and establish a kingdom on earth that is free from trouble, but we look around for him and can’t seem to find him anywhere. During times like these, it can be very easy for us to say, “Jesus, where are you? Why have you left us all alone?”
But Jesus has not left us all alone, just as he hadn’t left his disciples alone. As our gospel reading for today says, “[the disciples] went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). Jesus wasn’t visibly with his disciples, but he was still with them. He was with his disciples as they carried out the mission he had given them by preaching the Word and administering the Sacraments. In the same way, Jesus is with us as the Word is preached to us and the Sacraments are administered to us.
When Jesus’ Word is preached to you, or when you read his Word on your own, Jesus is present as he tells you everything that he did to save you from your sins. You were unable to follow God’s command to live a perfect life, but Jesus says through his Word, “I lived a perfect life for you, and that perfect life is now yours.” Your sins needed to be paid for with blood, and Jesus says through his Word, “My blood was shed on the cross for you. I have paid the price for your sins.” There are times when you may fear death, not wanting to leave your loved ones behind, but Jesus says through his Word, “I have risen from the dead, which means that you too will one day rise from the dead when I return in the same way that I was taken up into heaven.” You may wonder if the work to save you has truly been finished, but Jesus says through his Word, “My ascension into heaven is proof that everything that was necessary to save you was completed by me.”
How comforting it is to know that you can see Jesus whenever you want by simply opening up and reading your Bible. And because Jesus is present in his Word, that means that he is also present in the Sacraments, since they get their power from the Word. One of those Sacraments is baptism. When the water was applied in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit at your baptism, all of your sins were washed away. At that moment, Jesus gave you the forgiveness of sins that he won for you by his death on the cross. He clothed you in the white garments of his perfect life, the perfect life that he lived for you. And he sent his Holy Spirit into your heart to create faith, a faith that trusts in him.
So, Jesus is with us in the preaching of his Word and in the waters of baptism, which are connected with his Word, even though we can’t see him, but he isn’t bodily present with us, right? After all, at his ascension, he was bodily taken up into heaven, which means that his body must be stuck in heaven. But this simply isn’t true. Jesus’s body and blood are present in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Whenever we come to his table to receive the bread and the wine, which have been connected with his Word, we are receiving Jesus’ true body and blood. Even though we can’t see him, Jesus is with us in his meal to personally give us the forgiveness of sins that he won for us with the shedding of his blood.
You may not feel worthy of receiving the forgiveness of sins from Jesus in his supper. When you look at your sins, you are burdened with guilt. You don’t feel like Jesus is with you, and so, you think that he must have left you because your sins are too great to be forgiven. But Jesus didn’t come to save the worthy. He came to save the unworthy. He invites you to join him at his table so that he can freely offer you the forgiveness of sins. He freely forgives your sins not because you deserve it, but because he loves you. And you can leave his table knowing that the forgiveness that he just personally gave to you through his true body and blood was for you.
From his throne in heaven, our ascended Lord works through these means of grace, which he has promised to be present in, for our good, for the good of his church. This may not be how we expect Jesus to work things for our good. Like the disciples, who asked Jesus if he was going to restore the kingdom of Israel, we may want Jesus to give us a heaven on earth. But Jesus didn’t come to establish an earthly kingdom, nor does he rule over all things from his position of authority to make our lives a heaven on earth. He came to give us something far better: a perfect life of endless joy in heaven. The doors to heaven were opened to us when Jesus died on the cross, and then, he ascended into heaven after his resurrection to “prepare a place” for us (John 14:3). Until that time comes when Jesus returns “in the same way as [his disciples] saw him go into heaven” (verse 11), he comes to us in his means of grace, his Word and Sacraments, to prepare us for the day when we will leave this world and enter heaven to be with him forever. We are only strangers here. “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). And everything that our ascended Lord is doing for us here on earth is preparing us to come home to heaven.
When Jesus was taken up into heaven and hidden from the disciples, they were no longer able to see him. But that didn’t mean that Jesus had left them. He continued to be with them throughout the rest of their earthly lives, and when their time on earth was over, Jesus led them safely to his side in heaven. In the same way, even if you can’t see him or feel him, you know that Jesus is with you, because he gives you the same promise that he gave to his disciples “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He speaks to you through his Word. He washes you in the waters of baptism. And he personally feeds you at his supper. Your ascended Lord may not be present in the ways that you want him to be, but he is present in the ways that he promised to be and in the ways that you need him to be. Jesus hasn’t left you. He is with you always and will continue to be with you throughout your life, until he takes you up into heaven to be with him forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
The Sunday after the Ascension & Saude Confirmation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 15:26-16:4
In Christ Jesus, who is constantly interceding for us at the right hand of God and pouring out His blessings on the Church, dear fellow redeemed:
This past Thursday marks the day of our Lord’s ascension, forty days after He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (v. 8). Everybody likes to receive gifts, so what gifts come to us from Jesus’ ascension?
Some people teach that the gifts we receive from Jesus are all about our life in this world. “If you give your life to Jesus,” they say, “you will receive great blessings. You will be more successful at your job and become more secure financially. Your family life will improve. You will have a more positive outlook, and your life will be happier.” Those are all wonderful things, but Jesus never promised to give them. Many people have been misled and frustrated by these false promises.
The gifts that Jesus did promise to give are tied directly to the work of God the Holy Spirit. Just before He ascended, Jesus said to His disciples, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Act. 1:8). And what would they do with this power? Jesus told them, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (v. 8). The Holy Spirit would be poured out on them, and they would boldly proclaim the truth about what Jesus had done for all sinners.
In today’s reading, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Paraclete,” which is often translated as “Helper” or “Comforter.” The Holy Spirit would come to guide them along the way and give them strength to do what they never could on their own. He would teach them the truth which He received from God the Son and God the Father. He would bear witness about who Jesus was and what He had accomplished. It is obvious that the disciples of Jesus received these gifts, because they went from huddling together in locked rooms to openly preaching about Jesus in Jerusalem from the day of Pentecost onward. Their attitude changed from fear and doubt to confidently and eagerly speaking the truth.
And what reward did they receive for their faithful work? They were put out of the synagogues—excommunicated from the church. They were often beaten for preaching the truth. And of the apostles who were sent out to preach the Gospel after Jesus’ ascension, church tradition indicates that all but one of them were martyred for what they taught.
That seems like a questionable bargain. If I were to start a club, and I told people that membership in the club would not benefit them in any obvious external way, how many would want to be part of it? It would not bring them more respect in the community. It would not make them more likely to be chosen for important positions. It would not make them more popular, and in fact, it would probably bring them trouble and hardship. That wouldn’t be a very popular club. But this is something like membership in the Christian Church.
Now you could find a church that would not compromise your standing in society at all, because many churches have changed their teachings to fit the trends in society. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church, for example, is that no one should receive Holy Communion unless he has been properly examined, but many churches open Communion to everyone regardless of what they understand and believe. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that only qualified men should be pastors, but many churches allow unqualified men and women to preach and administer the Sacraments. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that all sex outside of traditional marriage is sinful, but many churches say that God supports whatever personal choices anyone makes about when and with whom to have sex.
If you do hold to the biblical and historic teaching of the Church, you will find that society and a significant part of the church in the world is not very friendly toward you. You may have heard disparaging comments from people in the community or even from your own friends about how the church you attend is too judgmental, too strict, or too old-fashioned. “That’s why your church is so small,” they say. “Why don’t you just attend one of the larger churches around?”
It all comes back to what we are expecting to receive from the ascended Lord Jesus. We can’t expect to receive approval both from Him and from the world, because Jesus said that the world hated Him and persecuted Him (Joh. 15:18,20). Ultimately Jesus was nailed to a cross, even though He had committed no crime and had healed and helped many who were sick and hurting. The people who crucified Him thought they were doing it in service to God, and Jesus said this same belief would also motivate those who would persecute and kill His followers.
So why would any of us want to follow Jesus if we know it will cause us pain and trouble in the world? We follow Jesus, because He has the words of eternal life (Joh. 6:68). The world cannot give eternal life. All the world can offer is temporary wealth, temporary fame, temporary pleasure, temporary peace. But as soon as we die, everything we built up, everything we enjoyed in this life, goes away. It would be one thing if we just ceased to exist when we die. If that were the case, then why not live it up now? But God says that all who die in unbelief, rejecting the salvation Jesus won for them, are consigned to eternal punishment in hell.
That is not the case for believers. You and I will not be punished eternally, because we are justified in Christ. To be justified does not mean that all the things we have done and said are reasonable and right—far from it. We have sinned just as greatly as everyone else in the world and deserve damnation just like they do. But by faith in Jesus, we are declared right with God, innocent of any wrongdoing. That’s what justification means. It means that through Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection, we are counted righteous before God, forgiven of all our sins, heirs of eternal life.
Because Jesus gave Himself for you, you can expect to receive tremendous spiritual gifts through the means He has established. Through Holy Baptism, you were washed clean of all your sins and made a child of God. Your life and your future were tied to Jesus, who “is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Because He lives, you live. Because He reigns, you reign. And He promises to come back again in glory to take you and all believers with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
Jesus has also promised to bring you His gifts through the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Holy Supper. Even though He visibly departed from this world, He is very much present in all His power and glory. After Jesus ascended, the evangelist Mark wrote that the apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs” (16:20). Jesus is still at work among us. He imparts His righteousness, forgiveness, and life as we listen to His Word, and as we eat His body and drink His blood with the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
Here we are, so often weak, faithless, stubborn, and lacking in love toward one another, and Jesus comes to us with mercy and grace. “Peace be with you,” He says. “I forgive you all your sins. I am not angry with you. All that is Mine is still yours.” And the Holy Spirit works through these powerful promises to comfort us and strengthen our faith.
The Holy Spirit convinces us that what Jesus has won for us and what He has stored up for us are greater treasures than we could find anywhere else. No one else has atoned for sin. No one else has conquered death. We proclaim what Jesus has done, not to cause trouble in the world, but to save the world. Our merciful God wants “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti. 2:4), and so do we. That won’t happen if we water down God’s truth and compromise our teachings with the times.
But we know that boldly speaking the truth will cause friction, just as Jesus and His disciples met opposition and persecution. We can expect to have trouble in the world, because we are not of the world. Jesus chose us out of the world (Joh. 15:19). He wanted to give us so much more than the world ever could.
As we follow Jesus by faith, we know exactly what to expect. He has told us clearly about the gifts that are coming our way. He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to comfort us through His saving work. He also warned us to expect hostility and trials in the world. These things do not come to us as punishment from God, but as signs of His faithfulness.
We are not meant to stay in this world any more than Jesus was. After completing His work to save us, He ascended to the throne of His Father, where He rules over all things and continuously blesses His Church. With Him as our Lord and King, we cannot lose, even if everything we have in this life is taken from us. With the psalmist we say, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psa. 118:6). Soon the sufferings of this present time will come to an end, and we will join our Savior in the glories of heaven.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. Mark 16:14-20
In Christ Jesus, your ascended King and Lord, who lives and reigns over all creation, who is still with you until your ascension, dear fellow redeemed:
A role model is a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated. While baby-sitting I found out how quickly you can be put into that role. Looking back now, I see why parenting can sometimes be difficult. Children watch every single thing that parents do. They watch especially when you think that they are not watching. They point out how impressionable they are. Part of that reason is the trust that they have. Now as children put this trust in their parents and role models, tonight we see Jesus asking for that same trust. Not only is He the one who we want to imitate, and He is our guide, but He is our Savior. And as He ascended into heaven, He puts the trust that we have in Him on display. Jesus assures us with His ascension the hope that we have in Him. We will ascend and meet Him in glory!
St. Mark in this last section of his gospel is giving an overview of Jesus last forty days on earth. In our text we see Jesus rebuking the disciples. “He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.” Now this rebuke is warranted because of what is recorded before our text. Jesus had appeared to three witnesses after His resurrection and only two witnesses proved something happened. Jesus had appeared to three. On that evidence they should have believed that He had risen.
Like the disciples, we can need that same wake up call. The disciples were told by three witnesses. We have the Scriptures. The Old Testament reveals to us what God demands and promises that someone is going to come and follow those demands perfectly for us. The New Testament reveals to us the heart of the Gospel, Jesus is the Christ who came down from Heaven, lived a perfect life and died for us. When hardships arise in our lives sometimes the first thing we do instead of looking to the Scriptures is look for earthly answers. We forget about God’s promises, and we can question if Jesus is even real, our hearts harden. The same eyewitnesses who had unbelief, they wrote down the gospel to be our witnesses.
Are they still believable? Even the disciples questioned Jesus with His death. Tomorrow marks Ascension, He visibly left us. Why would He leave those He loves? Does He care? Shouldn’t we get special treatment because we follow Him? This would make a lot of sense if God would come and establish an earthly kingdom. We would want a part ruling in that kingdom. These distractions can move us away from the truth. When it looks like it is us against the world or we are just selfish, we don’t want or need that mindset. We have no reason to be selfish or independent. The world wants to be independent, but our independence gets us nowhere.
The command to go into the world also looks as though it is challenging. What will people think of us? We see that they don’t like the message that we have. This message points out the truth of what we have done. The truth is that we have made many mistakes. We don’t like to hear when we have made mistakes. Jesus then says to share the Gospel. This can even be harder when people are already mad because you first told them that they were doing something wrong, that if they don’t change their ways, then they will be condemned. Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). We hear the truth that we have done wrong, but then the Gospel comes in and everything changes.
The disciples are brought to faith once again. Jesus immediately puts them to work. He knows that He is not going to be with them much longer. Jesus commands them that they are to spread the Gospel, baptizing all nations. We see how smart Jesus is. Since the disciples are not perfect, what is to stop them from hardening their hearts again? Jesus allows them to perform signs. These signs are not meant to be used like magical spells. They are meant to help those in need. They are special signs used to prove that the Gospel is true. How could the disciples be lying if the message that they are bringing comes with special signs to help those in need? The disciples speak the truth of Christ, and we see how they go out faithfully to do so. They go out, perform these signs, and they gave their lives to preach this saving truth. Even as their Lord had ascended before their eyes, we see that Jesus never left them. These signs were performed in His name. It was not power of the disciples, but the power was Christ. These signs prove that Christ is still carrying out His Work. His enemies can’t stand against Him.
Jesus’ time on earth has ended. Like the disciples, we can sometimes struggle to understand this, but Jesus ascended for your benefit. Jesus’ ascension means that the Holy Spirit would come to the disciples. As the disciples receive these gifts, it is through the Holy Spirit that Christ comes to you. He uses the means of the Word and sacraments. He tells you the benefit of your baptism. With baptism, you have faith that what Christ did for you is true. He died for your sins on the cross and He rose from the dead for your justification. It is through this work that God finds you not guilty. Your baptism into Christ’s death brings forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Your baptism washes away your sins of doubt.
The world will try to convince you that Jesus has left you all alone to live this life on earth. To deal with all these hardships. That is not what His ascension means. If Christ did not ascend, you would have to travel to see Him. He ascended visibly into Heaven so that He can be with you wherever you are. He is not just a man confined to a body; He is true God. Christ is with you wherever you go. You know His presence is here in His Word and Sacraments. You believe this through faith in Christ, faith that you only have because of the work of the Holy Spirit in you.
Through faith in Christ, you see the work of His ascension. You see His authority; Christ puts His work on display for the church. You see Him as a Prophet. He sends trained men to come and share you this gospel message. In His ascension He is also a Priest. He intercedes your prayers on your behalf. Lastly, Christ has taken His crown as King. He has crushed all His enemies. He takes care of you and He will live and reign over the church triumphant when He calls you home. Christ’s ascension reveals to you that there is a home that you will go to when you die. Your destination is not to remain here and suffer. Christ ascension, Him not being here, assures you that you do not have to stay here. Jesus has prepared a home for you, the hope of your ascension.
We have tried to look to Christ and imitate Him in our lives. Like the disciples, we have failed to do that, and we will continue to fail as long as we live. Where we are not perfect, our Savior was perfect. He not only lived His life in our place, but He gave up His life so that we would be saved. He brings us that comfort through our baptism, that we are marked children of God. But Jesus couldn’t stay with us on earth. The time came for Him to go back to His Father. This happened for us. He didn’t abandon us. He left visibly to live and reign over all creation, to be at all places, to protect, and comfort you from all trials and hardships, preparing a place in Heaven for you. We confess our hope with hymn 392, On Christ’s ascension I now built the hope of mine ascension; This hope alone has ever stilled All doubt and apprehension; For where the Head is, there full well I know His members are to dwell When Christ shall come and call them (ELH 392 v. 1). Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)