Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Thursday 29 May 2025.
The Ascension of Jesus in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berrycirca 1410 (Source )
• First Reading: Acts 1: 1-11 (Jesus taken up into heaven)
• Second Reading: Ephesians 1: 15-23 (Thanksgiving and prayer)
• Gospel: Luke 24: 44-53 (This is what is written: the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead)
We have all been at funerals and have seen how the most difficult part is having to walk away from the graveside or the place of final interment or sprinkling of ashes. The beloved departed is now irrevocably committed to the ground. There is no coming back and even the ashes in an urn or box are no longer there to be honoured.
Of course there are other partings. We saw how at Bishop Nick’s consecration, the parishioners from Didsbury finally had to get back on their bus and return home, having had to commit him to the mercy of God and this diocese. That was not easy for them either.
Then there are children leaving home, and there is the prospect that some in our families and churches could be called to national duty during tense and difficult times.
But now look at the Ascension of Jesus.
This was definitely not a sombre “goodbye, please write, take care of yourself.”
We are told that the disciples returned to Jerusalem rejoicing, spending quality time together in prayer and worship, enjoying company and recalling what Jesus had said and done.
It was a time of expectancy, even exuberance. If Jesus had overcome death then the priests should be a doddle. Worry about Rome later.
The promises that Jesus left behind were ringing in their ears. There really would be a further revelation, and they really would find Jesus’ words and actions coming alive as they recalled them. There would be further insights and understandings.
They would be able to handle personal differences – I rather wonder just how Simon the Zealot really got on with Matthew the tax collector.
And yes, Jesus had been received by a cloud. I rather suspect that is was not quite like that Glasgow mirk that we all so love during the long winter months. Maybe more that shining glory of God, the shekinah, which never dims?
So the Ascension of Jesus was definitely not a funereal event. It pointed to a new kind of life together.
Rather it pointed to His presence in all places and at all times. It definitely pointed to Pentecost, much as Christmas and Epiphany are paired together.
So with that in mind, may I offer a few comments?
First, as I just said, Jesus would be present in all places and time zones. Equally accessible, whether in Jerusalem or Antioch or Rome. No longer would one need to travel to see Him personally as before. If you were in Jerusalem and He was in Capernaum then you would have to go and see Him, personally.
Now He would be present to all who sought His face.
But second, and this points to Pentecost, the disciples, now apostles, would find that their purpose and service had changed.
Now they were to be witnesses – and Jesus offered no room for question here. No ifs or buts or maybes. This was a statement of fact, rather than of inclination.
All would be witnesses – even if the question might become: just what kind of witness, how convincing the evidence presented, do words and deeds correspond?
Yet there is more here as well. Pentecost is the festival of first fruits and if Jesus is the first fruit of those who have died then the apostles and disciples in all ages and continents are also part of the first fruits of the resurrection of Jesus.
Nothing less.
And so our celebration of Ascension is a time of looking forward to the purposes of God which have yet to be shown to us. It is a time of reconciliation: first with God and then with one another.
For the task entrusted to the apostles and all who follow them shows Jesus’ confidence in those apostles, and a mixed bunch they were.
Some impulsive, some reflective. Some a little pessimistic, others exuberant and expectant. Some dramatic and others quite composed.
All had had their issues, all had had their memories and agendas and relationships. All would find the cross one way or another, and they would all definitely get very well acquainted with God the Father’s loving but sharp pruning knife.
And so that 10 days leading up to Pentecost were not going to be wasted, as if they were all sitting in the pub wondering what was going to happen next.
Much more that kind of waiting of the Psalmist. Waiting on God, and on one another. Looking to serve, and to note the need of the other.
Maybe those personal prayers: for family and friends, for colleagues in the faith, for boldness and yet sensitivity when the moment came.
But I also sense something more. The Lord watching, guarding, waiting for those prayers, and yet proud of the people He had chosen for the tasks He had given them.
Knowing His plans for them – perhaps with a light smile on His face.
