| May 4, 2008
You are welcome to reflect on this message Ascension Sunday – May 4, 2008
Only John tells the story of how Jesus spent his last night with the disciples. They didn’t know it was their last night with Jesus, but he did. It was his final opportunity to prepare them for what was soon to come. We have it in 5 chapters, 13-17 of the Gospel of John. The challenge then was the same as today, to continue to follow Jesus when we can’t see him. One thing to say. One time to say it. It may come as a surprise, that Jesus staged no dazzling photo-ops. His style calls for neither backlights, nor props; miracle or metaphor to prepare his friends for his absence. Just a simple enacted parable, that the church has mostly ignored ever since. But it tells us an awful lot about Jesus priorities. And ours.
He got up from the supper table, took a basin of water and a towel and commenced to “wash their feet!” Peter objects, because that’s just not the way things are supposed to be done. So he kept on washing and then he started talking; for a long time too. And the disciples listen. Finally Jesus prayed a lengthy pastoral prayer. (Yeah Jesus wrote out his prayers.) Or else we wouldn’t still have it. You can read it for yourself in Chapter 17. I don’t know why that bothers the spontaneous crowd. But it’s kind of underwhelming, at least in content.
On his last night in town we might expect more. Maybe a “Gettysburg Address” or something on the scale of “race relations in America.” But this is how the Son of God chose to spend the final evening with his friends, in a transitional moment from presence to absence. And the first thing the leader does is unheard of. He got down on his knees before his followers to wash their dirty feet! And he clearly commanded us to do it, but few churches take it seriously. At least not as seriously as baptism and communion. Maybe we find washing somebody’s feet too undignified. But it’s a great symbol of something we could all use a little more of. Then after he washed their feet, he prays that they will continue doing what he taught them.
It’s still a good pattern to follow. Whatever we do in Jesus’ name, we should begin on our knees, with a towel and a basin as our tools, and conclude by praying for guidance and support. So the sacrament of humility and praying should bookend our lives as Christians. Between the foot-washing and the Lord’s Prayer, John generates a conversation about the ascension. But he rambles all over the place to get there. It begins this way: “It is to your advantage that I go away. Unless I go away, the Advocate cannot come to you.”(John 16:7).
And then what follows is Jesus’ longest discourse in the New Testament. He’s in no hurry. John means to slow us down. Listen up. This is important. Turn off your cell phones, stow away your palm pilots, and pay attention to what the man has to say. The Fourth Gospel is getting us ready for something the world has never seen before, the church calls Pentecost. But before Pentecost can come, he must ascend, that is, leave us behind. It feels a lot like dying.
The thrust of Jesus’ oration to his disciples involves two things. First, he tells them he’s leaving. You can count at least 15 times Jesus tells them of his approaching absence. The second thing he says (I count 26 times), that somebody else is coming. This one to come has several names: Paraclete, Counselor, Advocate, the Holy Ghost. But whatever you call it, it’s “to their advantage” that Jesus goes away. How can it benefit them if he’s no longer around? 15 times he says he’s leaving. 26 times he refers to God’s replacement. That’s the dialogue. We don’t know who's coming, but we’ll be better for it. It’s bad news, good news. Luke’s Gospel even uses this ambiguous phrase: “They disbelieved for joy.” How do you disbelieve for joy? Jesus is going away for good. But his leaving is not abandonment. God is sending something better to do in them what Jesus did among them. It’s a new way for God to be present with us. And he allows as how we’ll be better off for it.
“I washed your feet. You wash each other’s feet. I have loved you. You love one another. You have seen me. You shall see the Father who is in me. You’ve seen me work. You will do my work, only more so. I have been with you. The Spirit will be with you. Abide in me. I will abide in you. I was hated. You will be hated. I will go away. The Spirit will come. I have more to tell you but you aren’t ready for it. The Spirit will tell you.”
Whew! That folks, is a cursory walk through the middle of the John’s Gospel. Meandering around. Jesus is leaving. The Spirit is coming. Jesus’ absence from them gives way to the Spirit’s presence within them. Then we get to Chapter 17 where Jesus prays. This is the real Lord’s prayer, the Lord praying. Here’s just part of it: “I am no longer in the world; they are in the world. You sent me into the world; I send them into the world. As I and the Father are one; may they be one. ”
John is rambling, unsystematic. It’s not what the experts say is good teaching methodology; certainly not like his memorable parables. He sacrifices clarity in order to make it memorable. There’s no convenient outline to follow, no neat transitions to smooth out the ambiguities. And no comforting rules for those who crave certainty. Jesus knows what he’s trying to say but they don’t get it. So John immerses us in Jesus’ prayer that’s about who he is more than what he says.
Did you notice the lack of imperatives? No militant Matthean “go ye therefore and make disciples” in John. No hints about how to practice spiritual formation. None of this simplistic how-to-do-it stuff. Besides, there’s not a lot we can do. But that’s where the Spirit comes in. All we can do is what they did: try our best to accept Jesus’ absence, grieve over it and move on. People read popular books about being “Left Behind,” you know it makes the end-of-the-world authors rich. Fiction sells. It’s about us good people leaving the bad people behind.
But the gospel throws us a curve and says Jesus is leaving all of us behind. Yeah it’s a lot like dying. And all we can do is what we do when anybody we love dies...just do the best we can to live with their absence, and wait for what God sends in its place. Be present, be humble, be receptive, be prayerful, and be prepared. This is how Jesus spent his final moments with his followers in the Gospel of John. Teaching the importance of service, with a towel and a basin. Underlining the lesson of humility: washing dirty feet. And praying to God for his church to stand together or else they’ll fall apart. And the repetition: “I’m leaving. I’m sending.” “I’m going away. You can’t come. A Counselor will take my place.” Simultaneously experiencing the emptiness of absence and the fullness of presence.
No wonder they “disbelieve for joy.” Jesus visibly taken up from the earth on the Mt. Olivet. Ascension. So that the Spirit can visibly arrive. Pentecost. John says all we can do is wait ... on God. And while we’re waiting, pray. In Chapter 17, he takes us into the waiting room where Jesus is praying to the Father for us. And the last thing he prayed for us before he died may surprise you. It’s not what you would expect. Nothing profound or even spiritual, but doable. Just: “...that they may be one, as he and the Father are one...” In a word, “unity.”
The foremost impression Jesus wanted to leave upon his church, the last thing he wanted to ensure that stuck in their minds; more important to God than anything else is that we stick together, be of one mind, unified, tied at the hip -- “as he and God are one.” When you think of the things Jesus could’ve prayed for: that we’ll get saved? Or be protected? Or successful? Nope. E Pluribus Unum! And that’s an advantage we don’t want to miss out on! (John 13:1-15).
Pastoral Prayer (5-4-08) Ascension Sunday
We give thee thanks with one voice for all the ways we are blessed. For the many good things in our lives--our health, our families, our friends, having fun, enjoying life abundantly. For your word that leaps off the pages of Scripture, writing upon our hearts and inspiring us with hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
We remember all for whom life is hard--trying to come to terms with their losses, those who see their health declining, those facing surgery or recovering from serious accidents, the lonely and confused. For the ones coping with transition times. Bless all these Lord, with your promise and our presence. Help us to stand with one another, as we bow before you.
We would not forget to pray for ourselves and our church, with the tall spire that stretches every nerve skyward. May this day of worship and reflection on Jesus’ Ascension remind us that he left us behind, so he could come within. We are humbled that you expanded yourself through the Spirit -- far more than a localized Jesus, that you are no longer confined to only one place at one time; but are available to us anytime, wherever we are. May Thy “goodness and mercy continue to follow us all the days of our lives that we may dwell in your house forever,” in the name of the Creator, the Christ, and the Comforter we pray. Amen. Back |
