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A Sermon preached at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Oak Park, IL
on the Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day, May 4, 2008 (Year A, RCL)
by the Rev. Paris Coffey

Readings: Acts 1:6-14 and John 17:1-11

When the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. - Acts 1:6-9

At the end of a movie released by Disney in 1964, super nanny Mary Poppins prepares to leave her two young charges, Jane and Michael Banks. Having restored the dysfunctional Banks family to unity, Poppins is now lifted into the air by the wind beneath her big umbrella. Wistfully she watches the Banks children below as they set off, with nary a thought of their departing nanny, to fly a kite with their redeemed parents. Bert the chimney sweep, however, gazes up with a hint of loss as the east wind carries his friend away. "Good-bye Mary Poppins," he says with a wink. "Don't stay gone too long."

It's a charming scene, but one that loses all charm if we go down too literal a path, insisting, "No one can be carried off by an umbrella, no matter how big!" Similarly, today's readings lose their power if we get overly caught up in Cecil B. DeMille-like images of a cloud-covered elevator into the heavens. I'm not saying Jesus wasn't bodily lifted up; perhaps he was. I am saying, though, that that's not the point, and that indeed such images can obscure the point for modern listeners who're invested in scientific possibilities and explanations.

What's more such images or simplifying labels like "Ascension" can suggest a kind of power that humans are more apt to associate with politics and economics than with spirituality. Last month, for example, a New York Times' headline announced, "Paterson to Ascend to Power in Midst of Storm," referring, of course, to the replacement of New York's fallen governor, Eliot Spitzer. Last week The Washington Post reported that in the face of "China's economic ascent" a few U.S. schools were rushing to offer Mandarin. Some tabloids related stories of this person's "social ascent" or that star's "ascent to fame," but such stories have little if anything to do with today's readings. In fact, today's reading from The Acts of the Apostles points to Jesus' frustration with apostles who ask if this is the time that Israel will ascend to power.

"Lord," they ask, "Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" It's the first time the apostles have asked this question since Jesus' death, but not the first time that they have thought it, for they all expected Jesus to restore Israel to greatness. Jesus had tried to tell them differently before his death - tried to explain that his kingdom was not of this world - but they couldn't grasp what Jesus meant. Then after his death such hopes were dashed, at least until the resurrection when the apostles must have thought, "Finally, Israel will be restored." But it isn't. Indeed, all four Gospels end with the resurrection - not the ascension - and so the question lingers in the air, "What about Israel? What about our ascent to power?"

Only Luke answers, taking up the story where the Gospels leave off. Only Luke says what they're all thinking, asking in The Acts of the Apostles, which is "Part Two" of the Gospel of Luke, "Is now the time; is this the day when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?" And Jesus answers, "That's not for you to know." Poor Jesus, before his death he had said again and again that God's kingdom was not about political power. On his way to the cross he repeated that his kingdom was not of this world. Now risen from the dead he's arguing the same position, and his disciples still don't get it.

Amazingly, though, Jesus doesn't lose patience but says simply, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Perhaps he thinks the force of the Spirit within them can accomplish more than the voice of God's Spirit without. Whatever the case he says, "Wait for the Holy Spirit. She'll set your hearts on fire. I'm out of here." And with that Jesus returns to the seat of God, leaving his disciples standing like chimney sweeps gazing up at the sky.

How this disappearance happens no one knows for sure, but that it happens - even if you want to understand it metaphorically - is important, for it says that because Jesus has returned to the seat of God we are no longer tossed to and fro by earthly powers but upheld by a power exalted above all others. This is the reason some scholars refer to the event in today's reading from Acts not as the "ascension" but as the "exaltation of Jesus," for it is not about place but about spiritual power. It's about power to love, heal, reveal, unite - power soon to be bestowed upon the apostles, a word that in Greek means "one who is sent." In this particular context, apostles refer to the twelve disciples (minus Judas) who were originally called by Jesus. Later this group will expand to include others who receive the Spirit's power - although now I'm getting ahead of myself - for no one can fully receive the Spirit until Jesus is gone and the apostles see for themselves the Living God in their midst.

It's a reality that reminds me of a story told by Anthony de Mello about a Zen Master who was about to die. The Master's disciples begged him not to leave them, but he said, "If I do not go, how will you ever see?" Perplexed, the disciples asked, "What is it we fail to see when you are with us?" but the Master would not say. Consequently, the disciples simply waited and watched until the moment when their Master's death drew near and they could no longer contain their anxiety. "What is it we will see when you are gone?" they shouted, to which the Master replied with a twinkle in his eye. "When I was with you, all I did was sit on the riverbank handing out river water. After I'm gone, I trust you will notice the river."

Jesus trusts the river/trusts God, and yet how hard it is for us to see - much less be - the presence of God in our midst. Like apostles and chimney sweeps we stand gawking at an empty sky, waiting for what, we do not know exactly. The Second Coming? Two men in white tell the apostles that the Second Coming will happen someday - that Jesus will come again - but all in his own sweet time. Gawking at the sky won't hasten God's kingdom, and so the apostles head back to Jerusalem where, gathering the community together, they devote themselves to constant prayer as they await the Spirit's coming.

We might do well to do the same. After all, we have only a week to wait. Next Sunday is Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and who knows what might happen then? Indeed, who knows what might happen today, tomorrow or the next if we open our eyes to see the river and our hearts to receive God's Spirit. Perhaps we will become one with God and one another, as Jesus is with the Father. Perhaps we will witness to God's love. Perhaps we'll stop wishing with a wink that Jesus won't stay gone too long, knowing that he is within us empowering us through the Holy Spirit to complete God's work in the world.

Amen.