“Ascended Triumph”
Original sermon given on Sunday, June 1, 2025 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
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“Ascended Triumph”
Luke 24
Luke 24
In the name of the Living God and the Ascended Christ. Amen.
Last Thursday the church celebrated a major event of the life of our Lord, but it’s one which is often overlooked, so we’re making sure we get it in today: the Ascension of Christ. As he’s taken into heaven before their eyes, before our eyes this morning, we see Christ’s enthronement at the right hand of the Father. It is his last step in his state of exaltation. You might remember from confirmation the “wheel” of the life of Christ. Think of Christ’s work operating rather like a Ferris Wheel. The descending half is our Lord’s state of humiliation, as we speak it in the Apostles’ creed: conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilot, crucified, dead and buried. The second half is his state of exaltation: he descended into hell (to proclaim victory over Satan), was raised on the third day, and now ascends into heaven, where he lives and reigns for all eternity. Ascension is the last stop on the divine Ferris Wheel, so to speak. (Now whenever you go to Navy Pier and see the Millennium Ferris Wheel soaring 200 feet into the air, you’ll think of Jesus, and make your pastor happy.)
Let me take you into St. Luke’s Gospel account of the Ascension (he’s also got a second, more detailed version in the book of Acts, which we heard this morning). Jesus is teaching them in Jerusalem, but then leads them out to a nearby suburb, Bethany. There, while lifting up his hands in blessing, he is parted from them and is taken up into heaven. After witnessing Christ’s final exaltation, the disciples finally get it: they understand, finally, and for the first time in Luke’s gospel they worship Jesus in the full knowledge of who he really is and what he has really done.[1]
I want you to take note of where they go when they finally, fully understand: back to the temple, where it all began in the first place. At the very beginning of Luke, we find Zachariah the priest worshipping in the temple. That’s when the angel appears to Zachariah, promising the birth of John the Baptist, who will prepare the way for Christ. Now, the disciples return to that same temple and await in worship and joy the coming of the Holy Spirit.
When we think of the Ascension, we often get caught up in the physics: you know, “hey, where’d Jesus go? He’s here, and whoop, he’s gone. How’d he do that? Man, that’s cool” (unless you’re afraid of heights). In fact, this is not the toughest part of the account to believe. Let me assure you that the God who made from nothing heaven and earth, all that is seen and unseen; who spoke at the beginning and by the power of his word created the very fabric of time and space; who raised Christ bodily from the dead — this God is certainly capable of bringing Christ into the eternal, invisible, other-dimensional realm of heaven. Sometimes on Ascension Day, we get distracted with mechanics of the minor miracle and forget the larger point.
Believing in the Power of the Ascension is far more difficult than you think. The larger point is that the resurrected, ascended Christ actually “lives and reigns for all eternity.” Christ rules from there. All things are under him. He is the king of all the universe. And perhaps even harder to believe, he rules all things in my life, and yours too. As St. Paul put it in Ephesians, “God has put all things under Christ’s feet, and has made him head over all things...” (Eph. 1.22).
Do you see where I’m going with this? If Christ, ascended on high, seated at the right hand of God, is really in charge, then why… you fill in the blanks. “Why is there bloodshed and war in the world; why does the church seem to be in such a mess; why do the innocent have to suffer; why did this hurtful, painful experience befall me, in my life?” Let’s get past the minor miracle, people, and move to where faith is really tried and tested: we believe that Christ the King is ultimately in charge — even though so many things in life tell us otherwise — and that’s the message of the Ascension... and the challenge of it, as well.
Why do we believe? Not because we always understand; not because it makes complete sense (it often doesn’t). We believe because the message of the life of Jesus — the full wheel from beginning to end — is the only message that truly brings God down among us, and then us back up to him. Every other message ultimately crashes down in the cycle of cynicism or nihilism or despair. We cling to the love of God revealed in this story, which pervades and prevails upon us and in us even when nothing else makes sense. The Ascended Christ rules in power, but also in love. Even though so many things say otherwise, we cling to the message that, ultimately, God is in charge, that his purposes are greater than we can understand, that his ultimate plan is perfect, and that his Spirit remains with us in all things. Jesus said that he would suffer, die, and be raised again. This he accomplished. He said that he would give us his Spirit, which he has done. He also said that he does reign and rule over all things: we believe this too, we trust his word over any other word: in heart, in mind, in the world, in life.
The account of Christ’s Ascension — his final enthronement as ruler over all things, the final stop on the divine Ferris Wheel — calls us to the question of faith today. On this day we dare to believe even through the tough stuff, and by believing truly have life. The King is in control. All things work together for the good of those who love him. There is a greater plan. God’s purposes are at work. And one day he will return, just as he said, to take us to that place where faith will give way to sight.
Come soon Lord Jesus.
Amen.
[1] Arthur Just, Luke, 1055