renew your wonders: 21 May 2023

He presented himself alive to them

by many proofs after he had suffered,

appearing to them during forty days

and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Jesus had taken great care to appear to his apostles, demonstrating that he the cross had not been a defeat, but that death itself had in fact been conquered. He was not merely a vision or a spirit or an apparition. He was present to them bodily. He ate and drank with them and was able to be touched and embraced by them. He continued to speak of the kingdom of God which had always been his most frequent theme. Yet he did not use this apparent new found invincibility to go forward into the wider world, bringing about his kingdom by conquest.

When they had gathered together they asked him,

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The disciples were still expecting something different of the kingdom than what Jesus himself intended. Their expectations were probably growing by the day, as all of his appearances to them seemed to be preparing them for something. They not doubt recalled that he had promised that they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (see Matthew 19:28). Was he now gathering the twelve to go forward with him to establish this kingdom on earth? Indeed he was, but not in the way they imagined. The kingdom would not be some visible and immediate change in worldly structures of power.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God was in the midst of his listeners. And this was true precisely because he was the king, and the kingdom consisted of everyone gathered around him. But there were limits to the ways in which the human body of Jesus could be present to the multitude. Therefore, to accelerate the coming of his kingdom he desired to shift the mode of his presence from visible, through his body, to invisible, through his Spirit.

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,

throughout Judea and Samaria,

and to the ends of the earth.

The disciples were being prepared to do more than sit back and watch the king conquer. They were being prepared to serve as his own hands and feet in the world. They were being prepared not to be conquerors, nor to build up the kingdom by battles with flesh and blood, but witnesses, building up the kingdom through the warfare of the Spirit. The kingdom would be found anywhere Jesus himself was welcomed. This meant that the enemies of the kingdom were not Romans or Jews or any other flesh and blood, but the powers of darkness.

are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

Although there was to be a time when the kingdom would go forth in a hidden and invisible way it was nevertheless still the case that a day would come when the kingdom was fully restored and the king himself reigned completely. His reign would not remain forever heavenly and invisible but would one day restore all things even within the visible order of creation. However, the timing of the coming of the kingdom was to remain elusive. The disciples had no guarantees about any specifics regarding the spread of the Gospel, nor about when this project would reach its culmination. Jesus promised them something better than specific details. He promised his abiding presence. He promised that his own power, the power of the Holy Spirit would fill his body of believers from on high. This was to be an age of trust in the invisible power and presence of God in our midst, the age of the Holy Spirit.

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

Our celebration of the Ascension can often find us like those "standing there looking at the sky". But the Ascension is not a time to lament the visible absence of Jesus, but rather to celebrate the new fullness of his invisible presence. We are not to simply wait longingly for the kingdom to happen. Rather, the kingdom is still in our midst because Jesus himself is with us. We must learn to let this reality define our lives as disciples and to invite others to experience it for themselves.

The Holy Spirit is the one who alone can transform us from disciples immobilized by fear and confusion into effective and courageous members of the body of Christ in the world. It is this revelation that Paul prays be given to his readers in our passage from Ephesians. Let us hear ourselves as included in this prayer:

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,

what are the riches of glory

in his inheritance among the holy ones,

and what is the surpassing greatness of his power

for us who believe

Because of the Ascension and the gift of the Spirit we are joined to Jesus in a better way than merely physically close to him. From heaven he reigns as head over all things as head the the Church which is his body. He is even now moving to more and more fill all things in every way. Let's stop staring aimlessly at the sky and allow him to equip us with the power we need and then use us as he himself desires.

God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;

the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.

Sing praise to God, sing praise;

sing praise to our king, sing praise.