St Luke 24:44-53/Acts 1:1-11/2 Kings 2:5-15
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord is tethered to the Feast of the Incarnation. St Luke makes this connection when he closes his Gospel saying, the disciples were continually in the temple blessing God; he concludes where he began. Recall the priest Zechariah in the temple, offering sacrifice and prayers, and the announcement of the Forerunner; so now “Christ, by a road before untrod,” our Forerunner, and His priestly apostles worship Him as God, the Man Jesus Christ.
This day is a celebration that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, became Man. He took up our flesh by the means of your kinswoman, the royal peasant of David’s line, the Virgin Mary. His Holy Spirit overshadowed her. He was conceived without the aid of man, with only God as His Father. He is the only-begotten from eternity and also the only-begotten of a woman in time,
All this was done so that He might be a worthy sacrifice to atone for all the sinners who ever sinned. God has provided the Lamb for the offering. And the cords that once bound us to Hell’s altar are severed. By being Man, the Son of God has fulfilled the Law in His perfect life, obedient death, victorious resurrection, and His glorious ascension.
By becoming one of us God has elevated our position. One of the Holy Three shares our flesh. God is our Brother. By virtue of His holy incarnation His Father is our Father. And so by His holy incarnation, the Spirit processes to us and is our Helper. In this way, we enjoy a greater honor and privilege than Adam and Eve did even before the Fall. Heaven is better than Eden.
And it is to heaven that the Body that was mocked, beaten, and nailed to the cruel tree, but raised to life again, has now gone. From there He sends His Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, who guides us into all Truth, bearing witness of Christ and what He has done. And He makes you baptized witnesses, martyria, of Christ. From heaven the Son mediates and intercedes for you. He advocates. At the right hand of the Father He pleads our case in the scars of His holy Office.
But His Body in heaven is exalted, glorified. For this Man, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, ransom for our sin, is also God, has always been God and will never cease to be God. There is no division between His two natures. He is both God and Man, one Christ. He is capable of being everywhere. This is what the right hand of God means. He is omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal; as another hymn sings, He is “Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord.” And this is in both His Divine and Human natures; God and Man.
There is no contradiction between His ascension into heaven and His promise to His disciples, and to us, Lo, I am with you always. He is. His Body ascended. A cloud took Him out of their sight. But He is not gone. In one sense “the right hand of God” are the Word and Sacraments. For whereever the essence and work of Christ is preached, there He is present.
And He is present for you in His Body, borne of Mary, in the Holy Communion. He who died, lives. He who went away, is here. The right hand of the Father is heaven, and behold Jesus, who ascended on high, brings heaven down to earth in the Eucharist. For in His last testament, in His dying promise, He said, This IS My BODY, given for you. Do this. Eat it. It was given on the Cross, a sacrifice for guilt, and it is given now as the benefit of that sacrifice, the removal of that guilt, by being eaten and believed.
It is the Body of God, crucified, risen, and ascended for you. It joins you to Him by His entrance into you. You eat His flesh and drink His blood, but really it is Christ who consumes you. It is the Holy Communion, the koinonia, a uniting of the God-Man to your sinful flesh, sinful no more, but pure and holy as He is pure and holy.
This Body is the fiery chariots and horses of Elijah – they bring you into the very realm of heaven in both body and soul. Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Where He is here, on the Altar for you. In the Holy Communion, the feast of His Body, we join with Elijah and Elisha, with angels and archangels, and they descend by this Living Bread from heaven and join us.
Christ ascended into heaven, but Christ is here. It is a divine mystery. Considering it too deeply is like staring at the sun – the more closely one peers into it, the more baffling it becomes. Simply receive it in child-like faith and be comforted by His promises.
For here, Christ joins you to heaven, to angels, and to the saints who have gone before us. We are in heaven tonight, though we are on earth, for we are with Christ and in Christ. Our sins are removed, forgiven by Divine declaration and grace! The cloak of Christ’s righteousness has fallen from heaven and ferried us across the river of Baptism. And we feast on the foretaste of the feast that will not end.
This is what the Ascension is about. Not about Christ leaving us, for He has not left. It is about Christ preceding us, as our Divine Forerunner, who goes to prepare a place for us even as He is still with us, still for us, still in us. He who broke down the gates of Hell that locked us in has also broken down the gates of Heaven that kept us out. His holy, precious Blood and His innocent suffering and death have paved the way. He is our Captain. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no one to accuse you. There is no more guilt, shame, or regret. Yours sins are forgiven.
Death is dead. Life lives. Heaven is open. For Christ, our Brother and our Savior, has ascended. The Lord has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Alleluia! Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord is tethered to the Feast of the Incarnation. St Luke makes this connection when he closes his Gospel saying, the disciples were continually in the temple blessing God; he concludes where he began. Recall the priest Zechariah in the temple, offering sacrifice and prayers, and the announcement of the Forerunner; so now “Christ, by a road before untrod,” our Forerunner, and His priestly apostles worship Him as God, the Man Jesus Christ.
This day is a celebration that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, became Man. He took up our flesh by the means of your kinswoman, the royal peasant of David’s line, the Virgin Mary. His Holy Spirit overshadowed her. He was conceived without the aid of man, with only God as His Father. He is the only-begotten from eternity and also the only-begotten of a woman in time,
All this was done so that He might be a worthy sacrifice to atone for all the sinners who ever sinned. God has provided the Lamb for the offering. And the cords that once bound us to Hell’s altar are severed. By being Man, the Son of God has fulfilled the Law in His perfect life, obedient death, victorious resurrection, and His glorious ascension.
By becoming one of us God has elevated our position. One of the Holy Three shares our flesh. God is our Brother. By virtue of His holy incarnation His Father is our Father. And so by His holy incarnation, the Spirit processes to us and is our Helper. In this way, we enjoy a greater honor and privilege than Adam and Eve did even before the Fall. Heaven is better than Eden.
And it is to heaven that the Body that was mocked, beaten, and nailed to the cruel tree, but raised to life again, has now gone. From there He sends His Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, who guides us into all Truth, bearing witness of Christ and what He has done. And He makes you baptized witnesses, martyria, of Christ. From heaven the Son mediates and intercedes for you. He advocates. At the right hand of the Father He pleads our case in the scars of His holy Office.
But His Body in heaven is exalted, glorified. For this Man, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, ransom for our sin, is also God, has always been God and will never cease to be God. There is no division between His two natures. He is both God and Man, one Christ. He is capable of being everywhere. This is what the right hand of God means. He is omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal; as another hymn sings, He is “Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord.” And this is in both His Divine and Human natures; God and Man.
There is no contradiction between His ascension into heaven and His promise to His disciples, and to us, Lo, I am with you always. He is. His Body ascended. A cloud took Him out of their sight. But He is not gone. In one sense “the right hand of God” are the Word and Sacraments. For whereever the essence and work of Christ is preached, there He is present.
And He is present for you in His Body, borne of Mary, in the Holy Communion. He who died, lives. He who went away, is here. The right hand of the Father is heaven, and behold Jesus, who ascended on high, brings heaven down to earth in the Eucharist. For in His last testament, in His dying promise, He said, This IS My BODY, given for you. Do this. Eat it. It was given on the Cross, a sacrifice for guilt, and it is given now as the benefit of that sacrifice, the removal of that guilt, by being eaten and believed.
It is the Body of God, crucified, risen, and ascended for you. It joins you to Him by His entrance into you. You eat His flesh and drink His blood, but really it is Christ who consumes you. It is the Holy Communion, the koinonia, a uniting of the God-Man to your sinful flesh, sinful no more, but pure and holy as He is pure and holy.
This Body is the fiery chariots and horses of Elijah – they bring you into the very realm of heaven in both body and soul. Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Where He is here, on the Altar for you. In the Holy Communion, the feast of His Body, we join with Elijah and Elisha, with angels and archangels, and they descend by this Living Bread from heaven and join us.
Christ ascended into heaven, but Christ is here. It is a divine mystery. Considering it too deeply is like staring at the sun – the more closely one peers into it, the more baffling it becomes. Simply receive it in child-like faith and be comforted by His promises.
For here, Christ joins you to heaven, to angels, and to the saints who have gone before us. We are in heaven tonight, though we are on earth, for we are with Christ and in Christ. Our sins are removed, forgiven by Divine declaration and grace! The cloak of Christ’s righteousness has fallen from heaven and ferried us across the river of Baptism. And we feast on the foretaste of the feast that will not end.
This is what the Ascension is about. Not about Christ leaving us, for He has not left. It is about Christ preceding us, as our Divine Forerunner, who goes to prepare a place for us even as He is still with us, still for us, still in us. He who broke down the gates of Hell that locked us in has also broken down the gates of Heaven that kept us out. His holy, precious Blood and His innocent suffering and death have paved the way. He is our Captain. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no one to accuse you. There is no more guilt, shame, or regret. Yours sins are forgiven.
Death is dead. Life lives. Heaven is open. For Christ, our Brother and our Savior, has ascended. The Lord has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Alleluia! Amen.
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