What Time Is It?

And just like that, he was gone. Jesus…was gone! They watched as the clouds enwrapped him, they strained their eyes to hold onto the last glimpse, and then, he was gone.

It must have seemed as sudden to them as his arrival. One day, just a few years ago, he had walked up to each of them and invited them to be his disciples, to follow him and be his students. It had been amazing to watch as his reputation spread and people crowded around him everywhere they went. Things had gotten tense with the Temple authorities in Jerusalem as he became more and more popular. Then, he was crucified. They had not expected that, either. Three days later, his tomb was empty. Then, he appeared to them. They were in hiding in the Upper Room and all of a sudden he was there…through the locked door. He cooked and ate with them. He was recognizable, but his body, was different. Forty days he had been with them. Forty indicates a season of preparation. For forty years, the nation of Israel was prepared to depend completely on God as they entered the Promised Land. For 40 days and 40 nights, Noah and his family were prepared to start over from scratch after surviving the great Flood. And now Jesus spent 40 days preparing his disciples for the time when they would no longer see him, but must carry out his mission. Over and over again, he showed them who he was both by showing them proof that he was alive even after they had seen him suffer and die and by teaching them about the Kingdom of God. And now he was gone.

And they were left, standing there, eyes wide, necks craned, mouths agape.

I have tried to picture Jesus ascending, but I can’t. I have looked for images in art and they all seem to me like either a child’s level of understanding of what is going on with a man with his hands at his sides standing on fluffy white clouds or like some kind of new-age weirdness. Jesus ascended, like a balloon going up, to where? Why did Jesus leave like this? It was a final proof for the disciples. Remember, their understanding of the complexities of the world was much less than ours (which always reminds me how much we still don’t know). They knew that the world was flat with corners and that beyond land was water and at some point that water ran out…the ends of the earth. They knew that the sky was a dome and that beyond was heaven. Jesus ascending was a visual confirmation to them that Jesus was returning to the Father in heaven. The ascension wasn’t about Jesus going “up” but about Jesus returning to God.

They had sung about this, it was Psalm 110, “The Lord says to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” They asked Jesus, their Lord, about when justice was going to be done, when the nations would be judged. And Jesus’ ascension showed them that Jesus was going to the right hand of God the Father and that the time would come that the psalm would be fulfilled. And they were entering the meantime.

In the meantime, were they prepared to carry out his mission? No. Not on their own. Before many days, Jesus told them, you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then, you will have the power to be my witnesses. So, they just stood there until God nudged them.

It may seem a bit comical, but I think it really speaks to how authentic the account is. They were so stunned they just stood there. Jesus…was gone. As quickly as he had arrived in their lives, he was…gone. And I think there is something so powerful about their experience of Jesus’ arrival and departure as moments in time that are transformational, moments that they can clearly label as before I met Jesus and after, and when Jesus appeared to us and after he ascended. And that they experienced them as sudden, but for God, those moments are part of a great arc of relationship with creation – like the seasons turning or a child learning or a flower blooming, all in due time.

We have just experienced one of those periods in history that will forever divide our world into before the pandemic of 2020 and after. There have been days that we experienced our world transforming around us. And we may, like the disciples, feel powerless, staring and not seeing much, paralyzed. What do we do?

This isn’t about masks or no masks, vaccine or no vaccine. It is about moving forward. We have been tasked with a mission.

Our world is filled with disappointment, grief, people struggling with anxiety. They need to experience from us the One who said, “Peace I give to you.”
Our world is filled with division and hatred, comparison and people competing for power. They need to experience from us the One who said, “Love your enemies and bless those who curse you.”
Our world is filled with people who are sick from drinking dirty water, people who are gasping for oxygen, people who are shoved to the margins. They need to experience from us the one who said, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” (adapted from Dr. Claude Kayler)

They were surely overwhelmed as they stood there. He just…left. So much still to do, so far from God’s vision for life on earth,…it is overwhelming still today. It wasn’t within their power and it isn’t within our power to change it. They returned to Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer.

Next week, we celebrate what happened 10 days later, on the Day of Pentecost. And we celebrate what God will do now, through us, as we receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the meantime, it is time for prayer. It is time for us, church, to pray. For you, and you, and you, and me to pray. If you are worshiping online, Paul is going to type it into the chat for you to get a pen and paper and write it down. For those here in the Sanctuary, I invite you to write it on the post-it note on your bulletin. I will say it again at the close of the service, so if you don’t get it this time, you will get it next time. It is time for us to pray: “Holy Spirit, come to us. Give us power to be and do all that you envision for us to do and be. Amen.” You can vary your prayer. Sometimes when you pray, instead of us, say our family, let “us” be you and your spouse, pray for Farmington, and pray “Holy Spirit, come to me. Give me power to be and do all that you envision for me to do and be. Amen.” Put that post-it note somewhere you will see it over and over throughout your day and each time you see it, pray. Amen.