Sermon Ascension Sunday May 17 2026

In our readings today, we hear promises and prayers

Our first reading is an account of what is known as the Ascension. In the church,

Ascension day marks the end of the Easter season. Our 40 days of Easter, which

correspond with the 40 days that Jesus was with his disciples after the resurrection

are over.

In the Acts reading, the disciples are still wondering what Jesus is here to do –

despite all they have been witness to , despite Jesus explicitly telling them he was

not there to overthrow the Roman occupiers, they want to know it its now, finally time

for the Messiah to do what Jewish tradition told them he would do – restore the

kingdom to Israel. Throw out the Romans. Make Israel a great nation on earth again.

And Jesus, patiently, tells them that it’s not for them to know God’s timetable. Things

happen when God means them to happen. Things happen at the ‘right’ time.

Instead of telling them off for misunderstanding his purpose – yet again – Jesus

makes the disciples a promise. He tells them they will receive power when the Holy

Spirit comes, and with that power will come the ability to be His witnesses, in an ever

widening circle starting in Jerusalem itself, expanding out to Judea and Samaria to

‘the ends of the Earth’ – their witness will allow the story of Jesus to expand to the

whole world. Some 2000 years later, the story of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection

has spread over much of the globe. Somewhere between 2.3 and 2.4 billion people

call themselves Christians . The power to witness, made possible by the Holy Spirit

and promised by Jesus before he left the disciples for good, has made Christians of

nearly a third of the world. But not all of it – we still have work to do.

This was the last thing Jesus said to the disciples, that they would be empowered to

tell the Good News to all the Earth. We will hear more about the power of the Spirit

when we celebrate Pentecost next week.

But what are we to make of the Ascension itself? It’s only mentioned in one Gospel,

that of Luke, and the details aren’t quite the same. The two men, presumably angels,

don’t appear in the other account. The book of Acts was written by Luke as a sequel

to his gospel account of the life of Jesus, and given that there were perhaps 30 years

between one being written and the other, it’s no surprise that there are some small

differences. And notice that the angels deliver another promise – that Jesus will

come again. And it’s a promise that we hold true today.

So how are we supposed to understand the Ascension? I would suggest – we’re not.

Not in any intellectual way. The mechanics of it – they’re not important. I’ll return to

this later.

So let us turn to our Gospel reading. In the chapter of John’s gospel which precedes

our reading this morning, Jesus has already tried to prepare the disciples for His

ascension. He has told them that he has to go away, otherwise the Advocate –

another name for the Holy Spirit – will not come. He has warned the disciples of the

difficulties they are going to face , and remember all this is taking place just before

he goes to the cross.

This reading from John’s gospel this morning is the most extraordinary prayer. Jesus

prays for himself, as he prepares for what he knows will come the next day –

betrayal, arrest, torture and a criminal’s death

And he prays for his disciples. He is praying for these men who God gave him, who

know who Jesus is, and who have kept God’s word, asking that they be protected

and united. We don’t hear the rest of the chapter this morning, but Jesus goes on to

pray for ‘those who will believe in me through their message’. He prays for us. For

you and for me and for every one of those billions of Christians around the world.

So to return to my previous question – how are we supposed to understand the

Ascension? I don’t think the how of the Ascension is important. What is important is

why. If Jesus had not ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit would not have come. The

power that Jesus promised to the disciples would not have come, would not have

made possible those first witness testaments, those witnesses would not have

spread the word to ‘the ends of the Earth’ and we would not be here in a church in

Marden, knowing ourselves to be beloved and precious children of God.

AMEN