What Comes Next? (The Ascension)

It’s been forty days. For the apostles, the pain and grief of the crucifixion, the initial confusion of Jesus’ resurrection, these have now settled into what they’re starting to think is a new normal. Jesus is with them, alive, appearing to them, teaching them once again, speaking to them once again about the kingdom of God.

It’s been forty days. They know their scriptures. Forty-day periods are significant. Noah spent forty days on the ark before he and the animals were able to disembark and start over again after the flood. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, before he received the ten commandments and came down the mountain to give God’s law to the people. Jesus himself had spent forty days in the wilderness, being tested and getting ready, before he returned to launch his public ministry in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

Now, it’s been forty days since the resurrection. Something new is about to happen, they can feel it. They’re starting to get excited. What comes next? “Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The apostles are right, something new is about to happen. They expect a new and improved, more powerful, post-resurrection version of Jesus’ mission, not just to proclaim the kingdom of God, but this time around to make it happen, your kingdom come, on earth as in heaven. And if that means the overthrow of the Roman military occupation of Israel, so much the better.

What’s coming next in your life? Sometimes life is predictable, sometimes life is steady as she goes. But then there are the times of discontinuity. Events happen, a new job, a new partner, the birth of a child, a loss, moments that herald change. Threshhold events that push us into a time of uncertainty and unknowing. What comes next?

Yet even in these moments, when we imagine what comes next, we tend to imagine some sort of continuity, an extension of what’s come before. That’s what the apostles are doing in our first reading. But what comes next is about to take them by surprise.

“Lord is this the time when you, Jesus, will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And Jesus says to the apostles, don’t you worry about that. Because there’s a new mission about to start. And it’s yours, not mine. “You, my apostles, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Then, as if to emphasize the point, to make sure they know he’s serious about the handover, he leaves. He ascends as they are watching, lifted up and disappearing in a cloud.

And they just stand there, gazing up into heaven. Surprise!

The text doesn’t tell us how long the stood like that. I imagine that they just stood there looking up for a long time. This wasn’t what they were expecting. They hadn’t planned on Jesus leaving, after all, hadn’t he just defeated death, wouldn’t he be around now for a long time?

They certainly hadn’t expected that in the blink of an eye they would go from being followers of Jesus to being the leaders of this movement that he had started. This could be dangerous.

And for these Galilean fishermen, who probably still got a little homesick just being a few hundred kilometers away from home in Jerusalem, going to the ends of the earth was absolutely inconceivable, beyond their wildest imaginations. No one would have ever thought that that’s what was coming next.

So no wonder they just stood there looking at the sky, secretly hoping that maybe this was all a mistake and that Jesus would be right back, any moment now.

It’s not that Jesus hadn’t been preparing them for his ascension, he had. He had told them he would be leaving and that his leaving would actually be better for them. He’d been teaching them about living in intimate communion with God. He’d said that after he left he would be with them, abiding in them as they abide in him. “I am the vine, you are the branches.” We’ve been listening to much of this teaching in our gospel readings over the past few weeks.  In a little while, Jesus tells them, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. This is eternal life, Jesus says, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jesus came to make God known, to teach us to know God so that we could live in communion with God, to experience the mutual in-dwelling with God which is the gift of eternal life, here and now. Jesus’ ascension nudges the apostles into this new way of being, whether they like it or not.

He knew this would be hard for them. Not only has Jesus been teaching them about this new way of abiding, but he has also been praying for them. We hear Jesus pray for the apostles in our gospel reading today. “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

And not only has Jesus been making God known, teaching them and praying for them, but he has also made them a promise. The promise is that when he does leave, he will send them the Holy Spirit who will teach them everything they need to know, to guide them, to abide with them and to be in them, to clothe them with power.

Just before Jesus ascends, he repeats the promise. Anticipating their surprise, knowing that they really have no clue as to what it will mean to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth, Jesus tells them to do one thing. To wait. You’re not ready for the ends of the earth yet. Stay in Jerusalem and wait.

How good are you at waiting? If you’re like me you want to get going, to do something, even if you don’t really know what you’re supposed to do. But Jesus tells the apostles to wait, to wait for what was promised, that not many days from now, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. As it turns out, they had to wait for about ten days for the coming of the Spirit. We’ll celebrate that next Sunday, on the Day of Pentecost. On that day, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the apostles, and the early church, will embark on their new mission to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth. But for now, in the meantime, they will gather together, pray and wait.

The ascension of Jesus is a pivotal moment in the movement that Jesus started. Luke recognizes its significance by making it the hinge point of his two-volume story, the ending of Luke’s gospel, and the beginning of the Book of Acts. What makes the Ascension so important is that at the ascension, the mission passes from Jesus to the apostles, and to the early church, and by extension, down through the generations, to you and me. Up until this moment, the main task of Jesus’ followers had been to be disciples, that is learners, people who learnt from Jesus, who listened to his teaching, who followed him and watched what he was doing. But now God wants us to be leaders. We are the ones entrusted to carry out God’s mission. We are to be God’s witnesses, the one who tell and act out God’s story, to the ends of the earth. We are the body of Christ.

And yes, we need to figure out what that means in our context. How are we called to be witnesses. Where are the ends of the earth for us?

But before we do that, we need to be empowered, led and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Surprised? Confused? Not sure where to start?

Wait for it. Pentecost is coming. Come Holy Spirit, come.

Amen.

Homily: Yr A Easter 7/Ascension, May 17 2026, Trinity

Readings: Acts 1.1-11, Psalm 47, Ephesians 1.15-23; John 17.1-11

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