I love my grandchildren . . . and I love goofing off with them. This is definitely a role I can play as Grandpa. They always must be on their toes around me . . . especially when it comes to the sock monster and spider. They need to aware and always on their toes. They never know what Grandpa is going to do next.
One of the so-called games I like to play involves them standing in front of me. I show them my hand and place it above my head. I tell them to watch the airplane and then make my hand move around like an airplane. Then I double check with them to make sure they are watching the airplane . . . and then, suddenly, I bring my other hand (which is way down here) up to their bellies and tickle them while saying, “Watch out for the submarine!” Of course, the scream is followed by laughter.
They fall for it every time.
They get caught every time because they are so busy watching the one hand that is the airplane that they never see or expect the other hand catching them from below.
Today is Ascension Sunday. This is the day that the “church” has set aside to celebrate the ascension of the risen Jesus up to heaven. Our scripture reading describes it quite plainly. As Jesus is talking to the disciples . . . giving them last minute instructions . . . “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” And . . . poof! He was gone. Of course, while they are looking up, they get submarined by a couple of possible angels. The two guys in white want to know why they are looking up.
“. . . why do you stand here looking into the sky?” they ask.
Now that is a good . . . no, great . . . question when you actually think about it. In the instructions that Jesus gives to the disciples before ascending up to heaven, he tells them that they will be blessed with the Holy Spirit . . . “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Now mind you, he tells them that they will be “his witnesses” . . . they will bear the responsibility of putting into practice all that he has shown and taught them . . . the responsibility of doing his ministry . . . the responsibility of sharing his “good news”. That is the game plan.
But . . . they want to know when Jesus is going to restore the kingdom. Which has nothing to do with what Jesus is wanting them to do . . . he wants them to get to work being his witnesses. And Jesus is blunt with them in his answer . . . it really is none of their business. As far as Jesus was concerned, he had given them a job and they were to do it. The restoration of the kingdom wasn’t their problem. Jesus wanted them to get to work.
Which brings us back to the question posed to the disciples: “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?”
All the action is down here.
We are not blessed with the Spirit to sit around, looking up at the sky, and waiting for the heavens to fall onto earth. No, we have been equipped to follow in the footsteps of Jesus . . . equipped to share the “good news” . . . and to minister to our fellow sojourners in this journey we call faith. We are equipped to do as Jesus commanded . . . to love the Lord and express that love in the way that we love and treat others. To build our present reality into the kingdom that is yet to come. We were not blessed to walk around looking up.
As it was then, it still is today . . . there is plenty for us to do right where we are. But we cannot do it if we are constantly looking up and missing everything that is going on around us. I don’t think that there is anyone in this sanctuary who can honestly say that there is nothing to be done for Jesus in the world we are living in today. As I said there is plenty to do.
Like what, you ask.
You do not have to go far to find something that Jesus would want us to address. Check out the evening news. There are plenty of examples on the news . . . things that we have often thought and said would be much better if people would only do what Jesus said to do.
Hunger, for example. Why are there still people going to bed at night hungry? Why do we need food pantries to provide food for those who can’t afford it? We have been told that there is plenty of food for everyone . . . that no one has to go to bed hungry . . . and, yet, we see the numbers of those hungry in our nation and the world rising. Throwing food to the people does not solve the problem . . . that is a Band-Aid. The problem is how to address the monopoly of international businesses who control the food for the pleasure of their profit. How to make it fair and accessible to everyone.
What about the homeless? There seem to be more and more homeless in a time when the housing market has gone crazy. No one can afford to buy a house. Rental property has skyrocketed . . . no one can afford to rent. And besides, there is nothing to rent, and what is available is often subpar for living in. People are living in campers or their cars. Families are doubling and tripling up. There is no such thing as affordable housing. Again, how do we address this problem . . . how would Jesus address this problem? How do we make something as basic as housing fair and accessible for everyone?
Those are only two issues. There are many more. We have war. We have famine. We have the issue of the stewardship of the land with climate change. We have racism. We have politics. We have growing population of those who are aging and the decline in the services that they need. We have a health problem . . . no, actually an insurance problem, with people unable to afford insurance. There is a divisiveness tearing apart our nation, our churches, and families. There is so much that Jesus would have us address.
None of that is floating around up there. It is all down here where we are. The work is down here and not up there. Not knowing when the time when the Kingdom of God will appear, you would think that we would want to work at easing the kingdom in by doing what we can down here. That we would go about doing the work of Jesus. That we would work on loving God and allowing that love to be demonstrated in what we do daily.
On this Ascension Sunday we are reminded by a couple of guys in white that the action is down here where we are. That that is where we need to focus on energy. That we were not equipped by the Holy Spirit to star gaze, but to be witnesses for Jesus. And our witness is not in the words that we speak but in the way that we embody the teachings and words of Jesus to love.
We can’t do that if we are looking up. Amen.
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