[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD 01 May 2008 "A New Reality" Luke 24:44-53 LSB Series A Vicar Heath A. Trampe Soli Deo Gloria!

In the first balcony scene of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," the seemingly inseparable lovers are forced to say good-bye to each other, albeit for just a few hours. Before Romeo departs her balcony, Juliet utters the line familiar to so many of us: "parting is such sweet sorrow". Even if you're not a fan of Shakespeare, you'll agree that he captured the human emotion quite effectively. We don't like to say good-bye. Just remember the last time you had visiting family or were visiting your loved ones and you'll remember the angst at saying good-bye. With the acquisition of technology like e-mail and cell phones we have been able to keep pretty close tabs on our loved ones, despite the distance that separates us. Even with our technology, however, nobody can put a stop on the reality of death, which is the ultimate good-bye. We as Christians know that we'll meet up with our loved ones upon our deaths, but even this reality doesn't comfort the impending good-bye.

In today's Gospel, the disciples are forced to say good-bye to their beloved Lord and Master. Jesus has died on the cross, risen from the grave, and appeared to many, but now it's time for Him to ascend into heaven, and His departure is indeed "sweet sorrow". The disciples' joy at the resurrection of their Lord is tempered by the misunderstanding that He will no longer be with them. Jesus reassures them that this is not so, even proclaiming that through His Ascension,

I. We misunderstand Christ's Word and think that He has departed from us.
--Like the Apostles, we want an earthly kingdom.
--We cannot feel His presence in the midst of our adversities.
II. Christ has promised to be with us in both body and Spirit.
--Christ has NOT been reduced to some sort of ghost or abstract presence.
--We experience His true body and blood in the Lord's Supper.

One need look no further than the prophesy of Psalm 22 or Daniel 9 to see that Christ was, in fact, telling the truth. He did have to suffer and die. Likewise, He has to Ascend into heaven. The Apostles, however, cannot accept this reality. They couldn't accept it when Jesus told them that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father's house (John 14:2-4). They couldn't accept it when Jesus was taken captive at the Garden of Gethsemane. They couldn't accept the fact that their Lord would soon be gone.

Hell has been described as the separation from God's love. The disciples, fearing an earthly hell, were reluctant to let their Lord depart from them. Jesus had faithfully preached the Good News of salvation and performed many miracles throughout the three years of His ministry. The disciples knew how powerful and important He was. They felt weak and hopeless without Him. Indeed, they were weak and hopeless, often confusing Jesus' message and even turning their backs on Him as death approached. They knew that their beliefs were widely disputed, and they feared the opposition of the Jews upon Jesus' departure. Surely they would be suppressed and killed immediately.

In the new movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Ben Stein, better known for His "Clear Eyes" commercials and his bit part in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," seeks to uncover the oppression that is taking place in academic circles. Evolutionists are adamant about squashing any mention of Intelligent Design to the point of blacklisting and destroying the credibility of anyone who dares to bring it up. What Ben Stein discovers, however, is that these evolutionists don't have a leg to stand on. They have no idea how the first living cell came to be. Even Richard Dawkins, noted atheist, evolutionist, and Author of The God Delusion, concedes in his interview with Stein that some form of intelligence could have begun life on this planet. It appears as though intelligent design isn't so far fetched after all.

The world will do everything it can to suppress our faith in God and His love. In Stein's case, the atheists and evolutionists are working around the clock to make sure that Christians and others who believe in a loving and intelligent Creator look like idiots with no hard evidence to back their case.

These same individuals will convince you that God is gone, that He is dead, that He never existed. Like the Apostles, we look to our left and to our right and conclude that God must not be among us. We cannot see Him. We cannot feel Him. We don't hear His answers to our questions. Jesus never says that He will leave us, however. His exact words at the Great Commission were "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). This doesn't sound like a Savior who will leave us to fight our own battles.

One of the most widely disputed beliefs in Christianity is the Real Presence in the Lord's Supper. The Roman Catholic Church has long held that Christ is truly present in the Lord's Supper, but they take it a step too far by making the unscriptural statement that the priest has the power to sacrifice Christ every time Mass is celebrated; that the bread and wine no longer exist. When Martin Luther suggested the more Biblically sound concepts of "body and blood under bread and wine," and "one sacrifice for all time," the truth was brought forth.

Just years after Luther's profound discovery, however, theologian John Calvin stated that Christ's body couldn't be present in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. He stated that Christ's humanity wasn't capable of being in every host and chalice, therefore another theory needed to be put forth. He suggested that the faith of the Christian takes the benefits out of the bread and wine, thus rendering the Lord's Supper effective. This is an attractive theory, one that most of Protestant Christianity has adopted.

It's quite a nice idea to think that my faith makes the Lord's Supper work. It's as if my worthiness is the only quality which leads to my salvation. Once this mindset is put firmly into place, Christians might believe that they are doing the work that Christ only started on the cross when they live lives that are pure and chaste. This theory also suggests that Christ is with us only spiritually, that He's rendered a ghost who merely flies in and out of our hearts. The reality, however, is that Christ is present with us both spiritually and bodily.

Christ's instructions to His disciples were clear. "Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His [the Christ's] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you". We recognize that soon the disciples will be enlightened with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, from whence they will preach Christ crucified to the nations. This message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins is truly the basis of our Christian faith. When repentance is replaced by a message of tolerance, Christ's work is obscured and the church becomes irrelevant. Without repentance there can be no forgiveness of sins. Without the forgiveness of sins, there can be no life and salvation. In this passage Christ is explaining his post-Ascension relationship with all believers.

Christ will now be with all Christians in the preaching and teaching of His Word, as well as the Sacraments. Christ has made the church the new place to experience His love and communion with all of the saints. In the Divine Service, we hear His Word, both preached and read. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, we are really eating and drinking Christ's true body and blood, not just as a remembrance, but in reality. When we receive forgiveness for our sins in the absolution from the pastor, this is just as valid and certain as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself. This is the full scope of Christ's promise to His disciples. In light of His Ascension, He is closer to all believers than human reason can grasp.

This is great news for those of us who are wearied by the world and its provocation. God is not dead. Jesus truly is Risen and has triumphed over the Devil. We need not be sorrowful because Christ has never parted from us. Let the atheists who disguise themselves in science and evolutionism taunt us. We should expect nothing less in light of Christ's words: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18), and also "They hated me without a cause" (John 15:25). We are no longer living in an age of orthodoxy. Being a Christian is no longer the "fashionable" choice to make. Being a Lutheran never was. However, we know this for certain: no matter what abuse we receive from this world and in this life, Christ is and always will be with us in His Word and in the breaking of the bread. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. We are His.