There is an ancient apocryphal story about Jesus' arrival at
the Pearly Gates following the Ascension. The angel host was
gathered to welcome God's Son and celebrate his return home after
his incredible sojourn on earth. Everyone had questions and
wanted to hear his story - born of a virgin, raised in humble
circumstances, years teaching, preaching, healing. Eventually,
there was that gruesome torture and murder, but finally the
conquest of humanity's most feared enemy - death. All to share
the good news of a loving God who wants nothing but the best for
creation. Now the Christ is HOME, and everyone is exultant.
Someone asks, "Lord, now that you are no longer physically
on earth, who will continue to share the good news?"
Christ responds, "There are 11 who were especially close to
me, and I have given them the responsibility of getting the word
out."
"O Lord, these 11 must be incredible people - the best and
the brightest that creation has to offer!"
"Well, actually no," the Lord responds. "These are average
folks with ordinary abilities. Not the 'best and the brightest'
by any means."
"But Lord, if these are only average people with ordinary
ability, how can you be sure that they will get the job done?"
"Well, to be honest," the Lord answers, "I can't be sure."
"You cannot be sure, Lord? Well, what if they fail to do
the job? What is your backup plan?"
Quietly Christ answers, "I have no backup plan."
I wonder if those standing there on the Mount of Olives
overlooking the Holy City had any idea that there was no "backup
plan." I suspect that they were not thinking much, period.
After all, these past three years had been quite a ride. They
had seen the teaching, preaching and healing. They themselves
had been in danger of the torture and murder. They had been
witnesses of their Lord's conquest of death. These past days of
close communion may well have given them the idea that things
would resume where they had left off prior to the crucifixion.
But such was not to be.
During the Passover Seder prior to the Lord's arrest and
trial, Jesus had said he would be moving on, but in that new
scheme of things, they would be sustained by God's Holy Spirit.
Now they have heard the same thing again - instructions to wait
in Jerusalem and, "in a few days you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit."
Did they understand? As usual, not really. Thus the
question, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the
kingdom to Israel?" In other words, "Lord, what now? OK, things
are going to be different - HOW different? What now?"
My friend Rob Elder ministers to the saints at the First
Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon which hosted the national
Christmas Eve broadcast on CBS this past year. Sometime back Rob
recalled being dropped off by his parents for his freshman year
at college. He wrote, "Just days before I had gotten myself all
packed up, ready to head for school, and asked my brother if he
thought I looked like a college man. 'No,' he said, 'you look
like a freshman.' There I stood a couple of days later in my
ridiculous freshman beanie [some of you are old enough to
remember those] at my new school, in a new city, in a new state,
where I knew hardly anyone. I waved at my parents and they waved
back at me. I continued watching as they disappeared into the
distance, over the hill, off into a cloud of mystery as it were,
their day-to-day lives now officially separated from mine. An
old chapter of my life was now behind me, a new one was opening.
Bright as my future was going to be, it didn't feel all that
bright at that moment. And all the previous conversations about
my future, about the work that lay ahead of me, all the dinner
table speculations about the universe of possibilities that
waited over the horizon seemed pretty small compensation just
then for the certainties of the life of a child and teenager in a
loving home that I had known before."(1)
Do you remember being scared that way? All of us have those
moments when we are not only curious about the future, but we
wonder if there will even be a future. What now? That is the
disciples' question. What now? "Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
Jesus' response? He did not answer the "restore the
kingdom" question; instead he answered the deeper "What now?"
Jesus made this promise: "You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes..." He shifted the emphasis from the restoration of
the past to the transformation of the present.
The waiting will soon be over, the coming with power of the
Holy Spirit is just around the corner. Why? Work to do. "You
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth." Jerusalem is "home" - the comfortable
and known and familiar. "Judea and Samaria" - those places of our
life where we are not quite so comfortable and Jesus' reception
here is mixed (perhaps "ethnic" ministries within the Hispanic,
Asian, or other communities; or among the homeless, the prisons,
or with those recovering from addictions). "[T]he ends of the
earth" - the edges of our lives, those places that would stretch
us spiritually because we are not normally involved there. It is
likely something we would find distasteful or off-putting. But,
likely, according to Matthew 25, the place we would find Christ
to begin with.
All right, Jesus. Tell us just a bit more. We have some
questions. Jesus? Jesus? As the text says, "He was taken up
before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight."
Hmm. It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? At the very
moment we want Jesus to be most vivid, something obscures him.
That is why, in some traditions, the Paschal Candle that was
lighted on Easter is extinguished on Ascension Day reflecting the
fact that things will not be so obvious now.
Strange as it may seem, I take comfort in that. The life of
faith does not lend itself to easy answers, despite what some of
our friends at the extremes of the religious right and left might
want us to believe. We go about our work with clouded vision,
with things not always as clear as we might like...just as the
disciples did after Christ's ascension.
Perhaps the "clouded vision" is the reason for the recent
controversy over whether Christians and Muslims worship the same
God. The question has been posed ever since the beginning of
terrorist acts in the Middle East, but more so after 9/11 and
subsequent comments by President Bush. At a press conference
with England's Prime Minister Blair last November, Mr. Bush was
asked his thoughts on how the war on terrorism and his promotion
of freedom intersects with his Christian faith. "I do say that
freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person," he answered. "I
also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the
world. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we
worship the same God."
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and
Religious Commission, said that while he respects Mr. Bush he
believes the president is wrong. "Like many other Americans I
applaud the president as a man of deep religious faith who
attempts to bring that faith conviction to bear on public policy
issues. However, we should always remember that he is Commander-in-Chief, not the theologian-in-chief. And when he says that he
believes that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, he is
simply mistaken."
So who is correct? For what it is worth, according to a
Harris Poll taken last year, a slender majority of Americans -
53% - believe that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the
same God, but 32% think they worship different gods. That is
based on a nationwide sample of 2300+ adults.(2)
Again, who is right? The quick and dirty answer, in my
estimation, is both. Since both Christianity and Islam are
monotheistic religions, to say that we worship different (or even
competing) gods is a logical impossibility - if there is only one
God, there is only one God!!! Thus, we worship the same God.
On the other hand, to say we have the same understanding of
that God is clearly not the case. The most obvious difference is
that Christians believe we come to know God through Jesus Christ;
Muslims disagree.
What makes the question more pressing is our understanding
of how God expects us to behave. Christians cannot imagine a God
who would approve of someone flying an airplane into an office
building or blowing up a crowded bus or slashing an innocent
human being's head off while shouting GOD IS GREAT!!! For that
matter, neither can many Muslims. In a Washington Post article
last week, it was reported that a national Muslim advocacy group
has announced that it is asking Muslims around the world to sign
an online petition condemning terrorism as "un-Islamic" and a
betrayal of their faith. The Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations said that its petition, titled "Not in
the Name of Islam," is "designed to disassociate the faith of
Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims."
Obviously, there is disagreement within Islam as to what God
expects. But to be truthful, there is disagreement within
Christianity as well. Thus we have continuing controversies in
the church over human sexuality, abortion, capital punishment,
the role of women, etc., etc., etc. We continue to deal with the
same "clouded vision" as those gathered there on the Mount of
Olives so long ago.
What a group! Standing there. Staring into space.
Paralyzed like deer mesmerized by oncoming headlights. These 11
were the A-team. It was to them that the Lord entrusted his
mission. There was no backup plan. But, as Will Rogers once
said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if
you just stand there."
YO!!! "Men of Galilee. Why do you stand here looking into
the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into
heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into
heaven." He'll be back! Meanwhile, you have his work to do.
Back when the West was being settled the major means of
transportation was the stagecoach - we have all seen them in
western movies. What you might not know is that the stagecoach
had three different kinds of tickets: first-class, second-class,
and third-class. If you had a first-class ticket, that meant you
could remain seated during the entire trip no matter what
happened. If the stagecoach got stuck in the mud, or had trouble
making it up a steep hill, or even if a wheel fell off, you could
remain seated because you had a first-class ticket.
If you had a second-class ticket you also could remain
seated...until there was a problem. In case of a problem,
second-class ticket holders would have to get off until the
problem was resolved. You could stand off to the side and watch
as other people worked. You did not have to get your hands
dirty. But second-class ticket holders were not allowed to stay
on board. When the stagecoach was unstuck you would get back on
and take your seat.
If you had a third-class ticket, you would definitely have
to get off if there was a problem. Why? Because it was your
responsibility to help solve the problem. You had to get out and
push or help lift to fix a broken wheel or whatever was needed
because you only had a third-class ticket.(3)
I tell you that to tell you this: men and women, boys and
girls of First Presbyterian Church, why do you stand here looking
into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into
heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into
heaven...and you are now proud owners of third-class tickets for
the journey between now and then!!! Even with clouded vision,
let's get to work.
Amen!
1. via Ecunet, "SERMONSHOP 1996 05 19," Note #59, 5/16/96
2. Harris Poll, 10/16/03, http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=409
3. Larry Warren on Ecunet, "SERMONSHOP 1996 05 19," # 7, 5/13/96
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