Becoming One

“Becoming One”

June 1, 2025 Cobleskill United Methodist Church, Pastor Anna Blinn Cole

Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1: 1-11

Ascension Sunday

Luke 24:44-53

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah[a] is[b] to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses[c] of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension of Jesus

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.[d] 52 And they worshiped him and[e] returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and they were continually in the temple[f] blessing God.[g]

In the calendar of lesser-known holidays that you’ll only ever hear about in the church, comes…. Drum roll…. Ascension Day.  It’s so unknown that even most church folks will go their whole life and never really pay attention to it.  It doesn’t get a series of greeting cards from Hallmark and it doesn’t even have a big festive party like other obscure church holidays like Pentecost (get ready to party, folks, next week is the week).  

But today is the day to talk about Ascension and for me, anyway, it really helps make the whole story of Jesus feel more complete.  It’s a conclusion to the chapter of our faith that tells Jesus’ story.  The problem is, it’s a conclusion that is bittersweet and, I’ll be honest, a little mystical.  

It goes like this.  The day is called Ascension Day because it’s the day, the very moment when Jesus’ body ceases to be on earth and it is, as the scriptures say, carried into heaven.   

This is a significant moment.  After experiencing the living and breathing child of God in our midst as humans, we watched as this child of God was born in a dirty manger, lived with us, ate with us even though we were sinners, healed us when we were thought to be dead, laughed with us in our joy, cried with us in our sorrow, and at the very end died for us on a cross because his love was greater than the worst thing we could do, and he died only to be raised from the dead with the wounds still on his hands and feet.  He stood in our midst in the flesh saying put your fingers in my side.  Feel for yourself how wounded I was.  How my flesh was torn apart so that you might know salvation through my death and resurrection.  After seeing all of this with their own eyes, the disciples then watched one day, a day Jesus said would be coming, as their beloved teacher and messiah just floated up into the sky and disappeared.  Once a living and breathing person around their campfire and now a vision of light in the sky.  

This is a significant moment.  It feels, in some ways, like a bookend to the beginning.  The story of Jesus’ time living on the same earth as us comes to its conclusion.  I mean, it had to at some point, right?  

I’m not sure what it was that made Jesus decide when the right moment was to leave.  Maybe he lived through two and a half months of a rainy cold “spring” where it snowed or rained every weekend for nearly six months straight and he said “That’s it! I’m done. Beam me up, God.” 

I could not blame him if this was indeed the case.  I could not.  

Whether or not we know the exact reason for the timing, it’s important, I think, is for us to talk about this bookend, this conclusion to Jesus’ presence with us for a couple of different reasons.  

The first, is because good God, what must it have felt like to be close enough to God incarnate that you could reach out and touch him and then suddenly that ability is gone.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure “joy” would be my first emotion.  In fact, another account of this story from Luke in the book of Acts says “[Jesus] was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. “10 And they were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, (I imagine their mouths were hanging open) and suddenly two men/angels dressed in white stood beside them, and said, basically, what are you waiting for there looking up at the sky?”

I have never witnessed any person literally floating up into heaven, let alone Jesus Christ himself, but I have absolutely found myself gaping at a world that seems like God has left us behind.  I have absolutely wondered to myself, “why does it feel like God’s not here anymore and what are we going to do now.”  

You probably have, too. 

And it’s because we’ve all probably felt like that at one point or another in our lives, that this Ascension story is so important.  Because on one hand this may seem like a bookend to Jesus’ life with us—a moment of despair that echoes in every moment of despair we’ve ever felt—and yet on the other hand, what if it’s actually a hand off?  A passing of the mantle.  God knew Jesus couldn’t stay with us physically forever.  God always knew there would come a time when we’d be on our own.  God knew Jesus would be with us long enough to show us how it’s done.  And even right before he left Jesus said….

You have seen it all!  You have witnessed my life.  My love.  My death.  My resurrection.  New life is possible.  You are the witnesses.  

And then he says this: 

49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised, so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”  Stay left behind.  Remain on this earth.  And it’s here with the spirit of God that we will find a new strength that we didn’t know we had.  A power to carry Jesus’ love forward.  A power to witness the possibility of new life and redemption.  A power to build God’s kingdom on earth.

So what are we waiting for as we look at the world Jesus has left behind?  What are we waiting for?  

It’s us.  

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.  

These hands, your hands, my hands, these are the hands of Christ.  These feet, this mouth, these ears, this heart.  Your heart.  Your ears.  Your mouth.  Your feet.  These are Christ’s.  We’ve been left behind to carry Jesus’ purpose forward.  

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.  

A poem adapted from Steve Garnaas-Holmes.

Heaven is not up, but in.It's the heart of things.That's where God is.Jesus was pure love,the love of God made flesh.He was resurrectednot as an individual,but as a community.We're his risen body.The angels at his tomb said “He is not here.”He is not in any “here;”he is in us, each of us,and all of us together.When Jesus was raisedand came to the disciplesit was not to prove a point,but to give them his spirit,so we could be the living bodyof the risen Christ.[What if ascension could mean he] dissolved into us,like salt dissolving into the soup.Christ, the love of God made flesh,is now in us.We are witnesses—we are the evidence—of resurrection.

What does this mean?  It’s means go.  Stop waiting.  Stop staring with your mouth open and saying God left.  It means go and be Christ’s body in the hurting world.  

Don’t wait any longer.  

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Anna