Sunday after Ascension
The Rev. Jerry Kistler
St. Stephen’s Reformed Episcopal Church
“The Ascension in Redemption and Worship”
There was once a great and noble king, a greater king the world had never known. For his dwelling he built a gleaming castle high atop the tallest mountain in his realm, a mountain shrouded in the clouds.
Far,
far below, where man and beast dwelt in the shadow of the mount, none could see
the castle on the peak; some said it wasn’t really there. Down in that nether-world
the king's loyal subjects grew fewer by the day, until the king’s decrees were
scarcely heeded, scarcely known at all. Rebellion was in the air.
The
people could see their neighboring lords, mighty men all, and soon swore oaths
to serve for their advance, were promised mirth and merriment in return. But
these lords were false, and through deceit quickly had the people as their
slaves.
But
on one bright winter’s day, down came the Prince from the castle on the peak,
and with his mighty sword put to flight those lying lords and freed the slaves,
but suffered wounds five times himself.
And
now by persuasion of the valiance of the Prince, the people forswore themselves
again, in solemn ceremony, to their noble king, ere, striding upward, the Prince
returned to his castle home in the clouds.
Some
days later, the town in council gathered, pondered what new tax or toil might
be their reward for rebellion of sad renown, when with a sudden rush of wind
and flash of fire, a sacred wizard appeared before them, down from King and
Prince to guide them upward, as by mystic transport, to the castle on the peak.
With
the wave of the wizard’s wand, man, woman, and child were whisked away and
lifted through the clouds, and entrance was given to the king’s great
hall.
The
whole company of the king’s counselors were there assembled round the throne,
and at the wizard’s beckon, the way was parted, the people approached in fear.
But,
behold, before them, with hands outstretched and entreaty on his lips, stood the
Prince, the King addressing:
“O King, my father, these be mine, of my own blood
bought. Look here upon my wounds. Receive them well, and not for ill-thought
treason refuse. For I and they are sworn together as a
man, and if thou wilt cast them off, thou must cast me off as well.”
The
King’s solemn countenance then did break into joyful radiance, and all the hall
was filled with laughter and with song as, from the eldest to the youngest, all
extolled their sovereign lord.
Then,
and every first-day, sat they all down together to eat and drink their Lord’s
blessing – the Prince himself their server – in the great hall of the castle on
the peak.
Jesus
said to his disciples that it was given them ( and to
us through them) to know plainly the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But
sometimes a parable helps.
I’ve
told you this parable this morning so that, hopefully, you can see more clearly
the whole panorama of redemption, and, more particularly, why the ascension of
Jesus was so important – why it represents the very goal of our salvation.
This
past Thursday was Ascension Day, and I said in my sermon that the Ascension was
the completion of Good Friday because Christ ascended into heaven to present
himself to the Father as the Lamb who was slain – the perfect sacrifice for
sins once offered. And now he stands eternally before the Father interceding
for us, turning the wrath of God away from us, because he was once offered, because
he has purchased us with his blood, and we’re in him and he
in us.
The
Ascension is the completion of Good Friday because it is the completion of
Christ’s sacrificial work for us. But the Ascension is also the culmination of
Easter. Jesus was raised bodily from the tomb, and in that body he ascended
into heaven. And by bringing our humanity into heaven, (in fact, by bringing
space and time into heaven) he has paved the way for us - for our ascent. He
has parted the vail of the temple that we too might
enter into the holy of holies – the throne-room of God.
And
we do enter in. That’s the awesome reality of what we do here today – we enter
in - because when Christ ascended back into heaven, back to his place of glory
with the Father, he sent forth his Holy Spirit into the Church. And by the Holy
Spirit we are, by a great mystery, really and truly lifted up into the heavens
to approach God with our prayers and with our worship. That’s why I say that the Ascension is the
goal of Pentecost. The Spirit was poured out upon the Church to give us our
ascension, to give us access to the throne of the Great King, there to receive
mercy and grace in our times of need.
That’s what happens here today. That’s the miracle of Christian worship
‘in Spirit and in truth.’
How
could you ever think worship is a dull thing? How could you ever think worship
is something to take lightly? Today we ascend. Today we go to the castle on the
peak.
The Scripture itself speaks in more picturesque terms than I have in my parable. “For you have not come to the mountain that my be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words… But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn… to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling…”
That’s the reality that Christ’s ascension opens up to us. That’s the reality of which we participate here today. I hope my parable has helped you to better picture it in your minds.
One of my confirmation kids asked me just recently, “If that’s what’s going on in worship, why doesn’t God let us see it?” That’s a good question. Wouldn’t it inspire us all the more to fervent worship if we could see the angels and archangels and all the ascended saints – the Apostles, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, our ascended relatives – gathered together with us around God’s throne, and Christ himself leading the liturgy? Wouldn’t that help us in our devotion?
Well, we are given to see that vision – just not directly. We have to see it in the word of God through faith. But if you were given to see that vision directly with your own eyes, my question is this: would you ever want to be anywhere else than in church? Would you ever want to come back down the mountain and to go back to your jobs and your homes and to your calling to be salt and light in the world? Or would you be lost to the world in mystic contemplation – of no earthly good?
We pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
You see I think the reason why God doesn’t allow us to see the reality of what’s going on in worship is that he doesn’t want us merely to be seers, but to be witnesses.
Jesus said he was going away, but that he was sending another Comforter, that where he is we might be also. But he also said he was sending the Comforter that we might be witnesses of the truth of his kingdom, witnesses to the truth that Christ reigns here and now in the world. And this is what Alexander Schmemann means when he says that our spiritual ascent in worship is the very condition of our mission in the world. “For there – in heaven,” he says, [we’re] “immersed in the new life of the Kingdom; and when after this ‘liturgy of ascension,’ [we] return into the world, [our] faces [are to reflect] the light, the ‘joy and peace’ of that Kingdom and then [we are truly] its witnesses.”
It stands to reason, then, that to be of earthly good to
the
So then as we come to the table of the Lord, let us come in the faith that Christ has ascended and that he has ascended for us to be the eternal propitiation for our sins, to stand before the Father as our interceding High Priest, and to raise us up by his Holy Spirit to dine with him in the presence of God. And when we return to earth, back to our homes and jobs, may we bring with us some of that reflected light of the glory of the kingdom of heaven. +