“Jesus Ascended: What Now?”

An Ascension Sermon Based on Acts 1:1-11 and Luke 24:44-53

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, June 1, 2025

This time of year we celebrate many graduations – middle school, high school, university – even preschools and kindergartens have graduations. Graduations are among the most significant milestones in life. Congratulations to our graduates here at STHPC: Kemal Munkem and Layla Zambrano, graduating from high school and Layla’s brother William graduating from U.C. Davis.

Graduation represents the completion of several years of hard work – effort in the classroom, on the athletic field, in extracurricular activities and community service. It signifies the end of one stage of life and the beginning of another – crossing a new threshold, so to speak. Yet, no matter how joyous, starting a new chapter in life can be scary, too. Should I get a job? Can I get a job? Should I go on to university or graduate school? Take an internship? Join the Peace Corps or maybe the Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer program? [Ask me for details if you are interested.] Or maybe take a year off to explore the world?

After years of focusing on studies and preparing for the future, suddenly the future is staring me in the face. Which way should I go? I’ve finished my education – what now?

I wonder if the disciples felt a bit like that the day of Jesus’ Ascension. They also had just spent several years of their lives focused on learning – as they followed Jesus, listened to his words, and watched his actions, learning from him what God is like and how God wants us to live. Then came the crucifixion – and the resurrection – an emotional rollercoaster. Jesus appeared to them a number of times during the next forty days, reminding them of what he had taught them, reassuring them that he would soon send the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide them. But all too soon, he was gone – this time for good. The finality of that day must have sunk in as Jesus ascended into the heavens. Jesus’ work on earth was complete, but theirs had just begun. They must have asked themselves, “What now? What are we supposed to do now?”

Peter Choi, executive director of the Center for Faith and Justice in San Francisco, considered this question in an article our discussion group read a few weeks ago entitled “The Four Gospels and Their Very Different Endings.” Much of what I have to say this morning is based on that article, so I want to give Dr. Choi credit. I don’t actually think the endings of the four gospels are as different as he implies, but they aren’t identical either. They give four different perspectives and four slightly different answers to the “What now?” of Jesus’ ascension.

My professor of New Testament, Dr. Ediberto López, taught us that the Bible doesn’t speak with one voice. Rather it is like a great organ, with many pipes, or a symphony orchestra, with many instruments. They all harmonize, but there are different notes, different timbres; now you hear the high-pitched piccolo, now the double bass; sometimes there are dissonances – not every note is resolved as we wish. Through the centuries many have written harmonies of the gospel – trying to combine all four gospels into one version of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, but the ancient church was wise in choosing four different gospels for our Bible. Peter Choi quotes Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on “the dangers of a single story…the tendency to collapse rich, diverse strands into a flat, one-sided narrative.”

One single version may be incomplete. It makes “one story become the only story.” [emphasis mine.]

If you read four biographies of, say, Abraham Lincoln, you will find that one biographer focuses on the war years, another on his upbringing; one focuses on his character, another on his politics. One author may leave out events that another author devotes an entire chapter to. We tend to think of the Bible as a photograph of what happened long ago, with every detail sharp and clear, but the books of the Bible are more like a series of paintings by different artists, each of whom had their own style. The four gospels are four different portraits of Christ, each painted by a different person. So it is no wonder that each gospel writer gives a slightly different answer to our question: “What now?” Jesus came, lived among us, taught, healed, performed miracles, died, was resurrected, and finally ascended into heaven. Now that he is no longer here, walking among us, what are the disciples to do? What are we to do?

The Gospel of Matthew gives the most direct answer.

Its final verses are known as the Great Commission. Jesus commands his disciples to “Go” – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” We know that some of the early disciples did just that: Thomas got as far as India, where the church he started still exists today, almost 2000 years later. Christianity has spread across the globe with missionaries who took seriously this commandment to “Go,” bringing hope to many who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Sometimes harm was done in the name of Christianity, as when colonial powers used religion to subdue indigenous people and destroy their culture. In Cameroon alone, there are hospitals and schools throughout the country that were started by Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, and other  missionaries. Today the church there is capably are run by people whose parents and grandparents were trained by mission co-workers. Presbyterians are generally an active people when it comes to our faith, to the point that we may even feel guilty or inferior if we are not actively doing something for Christ.

Dr. Choi writes, “Matthew’s ending is the only one with a special name, the Great Commission—revealing a cultural predilection for this ending above the others, at least in North America. If we need to examine our obsession with “Go, go, go!” Christianity, it’s also important to remember that there are other paths commended by the other gospels.”

For example, in Luke’s final chapter, Jesus tells the disciples to stay – stay in Jerusalem and wait for the blessing from on high – the Holy Spirit. Sometimes staying can be harder than going. Choi recalls that most of the disciples were from small villages in Galilee, far from Jerusalem, and not accustomed to the crowded, faster-paced city. Now that Jesus was gone, many of them probably just wanted to go home.

Choi writes: “Luke’s spirituality, rooted in staying, differs from Matthew’s vision of going. Stay where you are, the place you’d like to flee, practice patience, and muster what strength you can. Sometimes… life with God involves staying put when you want to run.”

There is something to this “bloom where you are planted” theology. Not everyone can pick up and go to another country to proclaim the Gospel. If we look around, we will see many people right here who need our help, or just a kind word. There are causes of justice we can engage in just outside our doorstep. We can share Christ’s love wherever we are.

Choi goes on to talk about the gospel of Mark, with its odd ending. He writes, “Mark’s vision of discipleship is different still. There is no inspirational call to action… Instead, we see followers of Jesus failing to act on explicit instructions.” At the empty tomb, an angel told them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.” The angel continues, “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” But what did the disciples do? Mark reports, “They went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

As Dr. Choi comments, “It’s a strange way to wrap up a story that’s supposed to be good news.” He continues, “The spirituality of Mark is one in which Jesus’ disciples regularly fall short. Sometimes life with God looks like weakness. And that’s OK, seems to be Mark’s message. The good news doesn’t need our heroics; it can handle our doubts, fears, and weaknesses.” That’s a message that sometimes all of us need to hear.

Finally we come to the Gospel of John, where, in the Risen Christ’s last encounter with his disciples he tells them, “Follow me,” a phrase often repeated throughout all four gospels. This invitation to follow Jesus comes immediately after Jesus has forgiven Peter for denying him three times on the night of Jesus’ arrest. It reassures us that no matter what we have done or how we have failed, Jesus still invites us to follow him.

Peter Choi comments, “This is good news for those of us who do not have the wherewithal to go to the ends of the world, who are reluctant to stay in the place of discomfort, who are cowering in fear rather than loudly proclaiming the one who has overcome death itself. To the likes of us, this word is a balm: follow.” Follow me.

Choi concludes, “What does following the risen Jesus look like? Go into all the world. Stay right where you are. Stand still and take time to work through your fear and trembling. And when you can’t see the way before you, Jesus is there, …saying, ‘Follow me.’ We don’t have to pick one gospel ending. We have all four, and we can choose all four, at different points along our journey, as the Spirit leads.” Amen.

Reference:

Choi, Peter. “The Four Gospels and Their Very Different Endings: Some Things Are Too Big for a Single Narrative,”  The Christian Century, April 23, 2025.

Sermon ©Deborah Troester 2025