Sermon Text: Luke 24:44-53
Date: May 12, 2024
Event: Ascension of Our Lord (Observed), Year B
Luke 24:44-53 (EHV)
He said to them, “These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46He said to them, “This is what is written and so it must be: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
50He led them out as far as the vicinity of Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven. 52So they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53They were continually in the temple courts, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Jesus “Leaves” Us with His Blessings
What do you think it was like? What do you think it was like to stand there on that hill outside of Jerusalem and Bethany, having barely processed all the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection, and then to see him taken up to heaven, hidden by the clouds? What do you think it was like to have the whole weight of this ministry that Jesus had conducted on earth dumped into your lap as he said he was done and now gone?
I think I know what I would’ve been thinking if I had been there. “He left us!” I would feel alone for the second time in just over a month. Sure, his death had proven to be much more temporary than anyone expected, but this? This had an air of finality behind it. He was gone, taken from their sight, not by death but simply by disappearing.
So, they were alone. The protection they had hoped Jesus would provide was now over. They couldn’t rush and hide behind him like scared children. He had left them. But he had “left” them with amazing blessings—amazing power! Jesus had given them a mission to be a blessing to the world. Jesus has given us the same blessings. By his grace, we understand the message that’s been given to us, and thus, we look for every opportunity to be witnesses of that same message.
As Jesus was standing with his disciples before his ascension, he said something that could be alarming. He said, “These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms…. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” Jesus says he needed to endure all of these things. It was so necessary that they were written down hundreds of years before they took place. Whether we hear Isaiah describe in alarming detail all the horrors of the crucifixion, Job’s triumphant assurance that he knows his Redeemer lives, or go all the way back to that vague yet all-encompassing promise of a Satan-crushing champion in the Garden of Eden, all of it was there, foretold by God in his Word.
What stands out to me is not that these things were promised but that they had to happen. That means that I couldn’t do anything. My sin was so severe that literally, the only way God could fix what I had messed up was by condemning his own Son to hell. That was it! The almighty God had only one choice and solution at his fingertips. Even as we hear Jesus pleading with his Father to let there be another way in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest, we know that Jesus had to drink the cup placed before him. There were no other options; everything had to be fulfilled; this was the only way.
We can be tempted to look at what was necessary to save us from hell and say to ourselves, “Look at what my sin did to Jesus! Look at what I caused him to suffer! Look at what I did! How wretched I am!” We tried to address this temptation on Good Friday, but it rears its head again this morning. To some degree, this honest appraisal of the situation is good and healthy. We are so often tempted to take for granted what Jesus did for us that it’s good for us to remember what he did and why he did it. But we're missing the point if we’re overcome with guilt when we hear Jesus recount what he endured.
The disciples were undoubtedly exhausted at this point, having been on this crazy emotional roller coaster of losing Jesus and then receiving him back from the dead, a feat that they could never rationally explain. So what does Jesus do for them to calm them down? He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. The only way to make sense of this was for them to see all of these events through God’s eyes. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come to them when he said, “I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then, the Holy Spirit would enable them to do amazing, miraculous things. But here, the Holy Spirit works a far greater miracle to calm them and increase their understanding. He strengthens their faith. He allows them to appreciate the full extent of what Jesus had done for them—because he loves them, and that’s exactly what he promised.
We don’t need to stand on a hill in Judea to have this experience. We have it right here. As we come together as a congregation, hungry for the food that only God can give, we hear Jesus say the same things to us, promise us great things, and assure us that he’s not left us. But if we want to jump right into the work we have to do together as a congregation, we’ve put the cart before the horse. We all need Jesus to open our minds to understand the Scriptures and have the Holy Spirit increase our faith. And he does that the more we are in his Word—in church, Bible Class, home devotions, and quiet, personal meditation. Jesus opens our eyes to appreciate what he’s done in these ways. He did have to endure all of those things to save us. But he also endured those things because he wanted to save you, because he loves you. And so he did everything we needed. By his death, your sins are gone. You are free!
And what’s our response to that? It’s the same as the disciples’ response. They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They were continually in the temple courts, praising and blessing God. They were overjoyed in what God had given them, but even having Jesus open the Scriptures wasn’t enough. They continually stayed in the temple, worshiping God, studying his Word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to strengthen and build them up.
We need to be doing the same thing. We can’t be content with our knowledge about God. We want God to continually open our minds to better understand his love for us in Jesus. We can never get over the fact that heaven is open. We can never marvel too long at the love shown at the cross and proved at the empty tomb. And if we find ourselves taking these things for granted, we need to stop and look again. Marvel again. Be filled with joy again. Praise again.
And then we’re ready for what lies ahead. Then, we are prepared for the task that Jesus has given to us. He told his disciples, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” That was going to be their job. They would take their understanding, the things they had seen and heard, and share them with the world.
You weren’t there to see Jesus feed thousands of people with a small lunch. You weren’t there to see and hear Jesus call Lazarus from outside his tomb and raise a man to life who had been dead for four days. You weren’t standing in the courtyard at the temple to see the kangaroo court condemn Jesus to death. You weren’t there to hear the shouts of “Crucify!” You didn’t run with Peter and John to see the tomb empty, the burial cloths folded. And yet, like the prophets who wrote about these things so long before they happened, you have seen them. You have been witnesses to them in his Word. With the eyes of faith, you have seen all of these things. You become witnesses of these things repeatedly as God continues to open your mind to understand everything he’s done for you. These are amazing blessings from your Savior.
Sometimes, we overextend ourselves on this work. We assume that as witnesses, we need to convince and make people acknowledge that what God says is true. But you know what? You were not argued into believing in Jesus. You were not logically persuaded that Jesus is your Savior. The Holy Spirit did that. The Holy Spirit created that faith in your heart through baptism or the truths of his Word.
A witness’s job is not to convince anyone. A witness’s job is to tell the truth about what they have seen and heard. As you think about the people you know with whom you desperately want to share your faith, don’t overthink your role, and don’t assume that you have to do everything. God will use his Word on them, just as he used it on you, to create and sustain that faith. And so we bring the Word. Whether bringing our children to the baptismal font, sharing our faith with a coworker, or inviting a friend to church or Bible Class, our job is to witness. Our job is to get as many people as possible as much time with God’s Word as possible. Then, we let God do the rest, the hard part. Because God needs to open their minds to understand the Scriptures, we can’t do that. There, and there alone, will they see their Savior's love for them. There, and there alone, they will see the blood of Jesus shed to save them. There, and there alone, they will rejoice and praise their God for setting them free from sin, death, and hell. There, and there alone, they will be assured that we will all praise our God together in heaven’s perfect, eternal courts.
Your Savior has not left you alone. He’s given you that amazing understanding of his Word through the Holy Spirit. He’s given you the ability and opportunity to be witnesses of all he’s done for you and the whole world. My brothers and sisters, know that though we cannot see him with our physical eyes, he is ruling everything for our good and blessing everything we do. He’s “left” you, but with amazing blessings for yourself and for those you witness to. With that confidence, go, be his witnesses to all nations, starting in your very homes!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
