Acts 1:6-11 “Pre-Pentecost”

This is really a two-part sermon. Every year we celebrate Pentecost, which is the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the fulfilling of the Trinity in heaven and earth. Yet, somehow we always forget to mention the Ascension of Jesus that happens right before the coming of the Spirit.

As I preached on Easter, it was very important for us to recall that when Jesus is recognized by Mary Magdalena just outside the now-opened tomb, Jesus admonishes Mary “not to touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father in Heaven.” These words from Jesus are critical to our faith, in fact, because they show that Jesus is NOT just resurrected to the physical world but that he is resurrected to the life everlasting with God in Heaven.

These words are so critical to our faith that they are in fact mentioned in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD. This is the Creed that all churches uphold as the basis of the faith. Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant; we all agree on this document that outlines biblically what we hold as Truth. In the Nicene Creed, we can read the lines That Jesus “died on the Cross, was raised three days later, and ascended into heaven.”

We have already seen Jesus raise people from the dead. Mark 5:21-33 tells the story of Jarius’ daughter being raised from death. In John 11 we read about the raising of Lazarus from death after four days. So, we already see how Jesus has power over death. However, we also must recognize that both Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus are still having to die again. That is the sad realization of their resurrections from death.

To be sure, Jesus is not just physically resurrected, leaving him to die again. What a terrible thing it would have been that Jesus would be put back on the Cross again and again. The Life eternal that we hope on is not to live forever here in this world! Our hope is with the eternal life in heaven. Our hope is truly transformative! Jesus was glorified at his ascension. We too hope to be glorified one day in heaven.

I want you to recall the story of Jesus’ birth and that after forty days he was taken up to the temple by his parents to be blessed. In the first chapter of Acts, we see that Jesus has been resurrected, reborn after death, and he has come back to meet his disciples in Jerusalem. Again, he is with them for forty days before he is taken up to heaven to be with the Father. Yes, there is an interesting parallel with Jesus’ birth and his rebirth! Come to think of it, we might make parallels with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness prior to the start of his ministry and even to the remaking of the planet during the forty days of Noah’s flood.

Even in Genesis 50 we can read that Jacob’s body was kept before burial for forty days after his death. There was a belief back then that the proper time to hold a body while the tomb was being prepared was forty days. The fact that Jesus is walking around for forty days after his death is significant. One could read it like this: Not only is it clear that Jesus was dead on the Cross, and was dead when he was laid in the tomb, and rose again on the third day, but even after the usual forty days of mourning Jesus is still very much alive. In other words, if you could be alive for forty days after your death, you were going to be alive forever. You passed the “forty days” test. Remember when Jesus was born and taken to the temple for blessing? That was because it was assumed that after forty days, the child would in fact live and thrive. The danger of infant death was over.

Jesus is alive and walking around talking to people and healing them just like he was doing before. Like before, he could have been picked up by the authorities and questioned, mocked, and put to death on the Cross again. After forty days, however, we get the assurance that the most dangerous time for Jesus has passed. Jesus lives! Alleluia! He is now glorified in heaven.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells his disciples on three different occasions to go to Galilee ahead of him after he dies so that he can meet them there once more. And yet, we know that after the death of Jesus that the disciples went into hiding in Jerusalem rather than head out to Galilee as they were told to do.

The first chapter of Acts, therefore, does not transpire in Galilee, where we would have expected the disciples to go. As it is clear from our text for this morning, the disciples neglect to follow Christ’s command to them. So, rather than getting upset by this, Jesus just gives them the new commandment to stay put in Jerusalem. I think that this is interesting psychology.

We used to own a Siberian husky dog. The funny thing about huskies is that they will do just about anything you command them to do except come to you. The huskies as a breed have been trained to respond to the whip. Now, we never whipped our dog. We would call him, his name was Chaucer (like the poet), and he would sit there with his tongue hanging out. We would call him again. No response. He might look at us funny. Well, every once in a while he would come when called, but he always seemed to convey the message through his demeanor that his coming to us was of his own volition, and we just happened to be beckoning at the same time.

Sometimes when I called him and he did not come, I would stare at him and command him really loud “Chaucer, stay!” Of course, he would stay, and I would feel like I was the master of my own dog for that fleeting moment. And as he sat there, I might add: “Good dog. Well stayed.” And so it is that Christ is telling his disciples to stay in Jerusalem, and we all feel relieved that they should be able to get this trick right.

Now they are all staying put in Jerusalem, and Jesus is with them. In this time, they ask the question that seems to be burning in the back of their minds: Is this now the time that Jesus will establish the Kingdom of God to Israel? That is a fair question. But, Jesus is not wont to answer. He says something to them then that hearkens back to the very creation of humankind in the Garden of Eden. He tells them that (verse 7) “it is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” You don’t get to eat from that tree of knowledge that God has forbidden to you! There are some things we are not supposed to know!

In my way of thinking, knowing when the Kingdom is going to be established would ruin the moment. Consider how it would be, for instance, if you knew the precise moment when you were going to fall in love with your mate! Wouldn’t that in fact ruin the whole thing? Wouldn’t you question afterwards if it were true love then if you knew ahead of time the precise moment it was going to happen? Be honest!

I think it was first the great poet William Wordsworth who made the point that to dissect an animal is just another way to say that you have murdered it for the sake of knowledge (The Tables Turned, 1798). Don’t kill the moment for the sake of knowing! Don’t dissect God’s plans. To do so kills the faith in God that we need to meet the moment when it does arrive.

Look, I know that it is a popular thing to go ahead and pick some date in the future when Christ is supposed to come again. People have been doing this for nearly two thousand years already. If you really need to hone in on a date for this, be smart about it. At least pick a date after you're dead so that you won’t have to live with the embarrassment when the date you pick proves itself to be wrong!

Christ is so clear: the time of God’s plans for His creation are not for us to know.

Christ does let out one little secret about God’s timing of things. He tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will be coming “not many days from now.” (verse 5) Let’s say within the week perhaps the disciples are promised to be given the power of the Holy Spirit. So, the disciples don’t get the power of knowledge that they want; they get something much better: the power of the Holy Spirit. Between you and me, that is a much better deal for them! It is a good deal for us, too. We can all use more spiritual power!

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who once said: “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”

Mahatma Gandhi once said that there is only one true power in the world, and that is spiritual power.

We think about all of the great people who have changed this planet by their lives: Jesus, Paul, Peter, Martin Luther, Calvin, all of the saints of old, Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, and the list goes on and on. The one thing that they had was spiritual power. And by this power, they inspired others. It was not by their own intellect, but rather the power of the Spirit of God working through them that made their lives exceptional. You can add your name to that list by allowing the power of the Spirit to work through you!

I must get to the second part of the scripture for today: After Jesus said these things to his disciples on that fortieth day after the resurrection. He ascended up into heaven. We have this wonderful image of the disciples standing there looking up to heaven as Jesus disappears in a cloud. Two angels are standing on either side of them. The bible says they were dressed in “white,’ but the Greek term here “levkos” can mean transparent and bright. This is the moment when the glory of heaven enwraps the body of Christ. He is glorified. The angels ask the disciples why they are watching–silly question!

Do you know what? We have all been left looking up to heaven, haven’t we? And, that is exactly where we should be looking, for Jesus will come again in the way he went up, according to those angels. He will come back glorified.

Young Sheldon’s twin sister in the show always prays looking up. Everybody else is looking down, she is eyes up to God. That is how we are supposed to be too.

At least the disciples are not left looking down at their feet—or staring blankly at one another. They are left looking up to where we hope we will all one day follow. And, we do have the choice as to whether we will in our own lives choose to look up. That is my hope for everyone here. Look up!

If you look up in your life, you are going to see Jesus. If you look down all the time, I can guarantee you are going to see that other guy from the nether regions. Just put a book under your chin to keep looking up. I recommend the Bible! A good thick Bible can help you keep looking up to Jesus!

Amen.