Eastertide #7

He who Descended is the same One who Ascended

(Ephesians 4:10)

Today, Ascension Thursday, the church celebrates how the One who “descended into the lower parts of the earth”—as low as you can go; is the same one who forty days later, “ascended far above all the heavens”—as high as one can go. The New Testament church put it to a hymn (Phil 2): God the eternal Son…

            Humbled himself and became obedient to death

                        --even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

                        and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

                       in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

                        to the glory of God the Father.

This “descent” and “ascent” is preserved in our earliest creeds:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord:

        …who was crucified, died, and was buried;

        he descended to the dead.

        On the third day he rose again;

        he ascended into heaven,

                        he is seated at the right hand of the Father…

The full name of this day is “The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.” It’s a festal day—a day for eating and drinking and rejoicing. It’s gospel—good news. The feast points to that feast that awaits us at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rv 19). It’s a celebration of the whole of Christ who is always and already both lion and lamb (Rv 5):

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda,

        the Root of David, hath prevailed…

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

        to receive power and wealth and wisdom

        and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

It’s not as if God the Son once humbled himself, but is now triumphant—once a lamb, but now a lion. Our triumphant Lord will always be our humble Lord. That’s just who he is.

Eastertide #6

The One Who Ascended

(Ephesians 4:10)

 This Thursday is Ascension Day when the church celebrates how our resurrected Lord “ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill the whole universe” (Eph 4:10). There “far above the heavens” Christ receives gifts for his church which anticipates the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out in ten more days at Pentecost. From Christ’s ascension we receive…

            1.  Our heavenly Advocate, Christ Jesus, who “speaks to the Father in our behalf” (1Jn 2:1). Jesus knows us—he knows what it means to be human. And, it seems he has carried his humanity back into the Godhead, so that we speak of Jesus today as “the man Christ Jesus” who mediates in our behalf (1Tm 2:5). Or, to put it another way: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. So let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hb 4:15-16).

            2.  The Holy Spirit to keep us close to Jesus even when Jesus can no longer be seen going before us (Jn 14-16).

            3.  Meanwhile, Jesus is preparing a place for us in Glory so that where he is we will soon be (Jn 14).

In the early part of the eighteenth century, Charles Wesley gave the church the following ascension hymn:

Hail the day that sees Him rise,

To His throne above the skies,

 Christ, awhile to mortals given,

 Reascends His native heaven.

Him though highest Heav’n receives,

Still He loves the earth He leaves,

Though returning to His throne,

Still He calls mankind His own.

See! He lifts His hands above,

See! He shows the prints of love,

Hark! His gracious lips bestow,

Blessings on His church below.

The Christian calendar reminds us that Christ’s saving work continues after Easter Morning—there’s still more: “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Ro 8). There’s more—there is always more.

Eastertide #5

Behold Your Mother

(John 19:27)

It was a wonderful Mother’s Day Sunday—baby dedications and all. It just bothers me some that Mother’s Day Sunday intrudes into Eastertide. Wouldn’t it be better if Mother’s Day Sunday, like most civic holidays, could be celebrated after Pentecost when the calendar celebrates our “Ordinary Days”? After we celebrate the outpouring of Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday), we’re ready for our “Ordinary Days” that take up the rest of the year all the way to Advent.

But that’s not going to happen. You can’t mess with Mother’s Day Sunday. So let’s see if we can celebrate Mother’s Day Sunday within the sphere of Eastertide and the events of Holy Week? We do find motherhood there—on Mount Calvary of all places. While Jesus suffers on that Cross; Mary, along with those other Galilean women who followed Jesus all the way to Calvary, linger at the Cross watching and grieving. From the Cross, Jesus speaks to his mother: “Woman, behold your son!” It’s not a derogatory “woman”, for in the next breath Jesus calls her “mother.” Maybe it’s an upper case “Woman” as in “The Woman"—the mother of our Lord. While still speaking to his mother, Jesus turns to “the disciple whom he loved”, and says, “‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour on the disciple took Mary into his own household” (Jn 19:25-27). From the Cross, Jesus makes sure his mother is cared for. Tradition has it that John took care of Mary while pastoring the Ephesian church. I’m told you can find Mary’s tomb there to this day.