Acts 1:1-11 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Summer Series: Joy for Our Journeys 8 Sunday, August 25, 2019 “The Journey from Earth to Heaven”
Are you familiar with the idea of riding off into the sunset? That phrase could encompass a few different connotations or concepts that largely have to do with moving on from a completed task. The phrase comes from the closing scene of many old western movies, perhaps some that were filmed right nearby at Old Tucson Studios. In those closing scenes, the hero cowboy, after his work is done and the problems are solved, is seen fading away into the distance against the backdrop of the setting sun. It became such a familiar and perhaps overused scene that the phrase is now regularly used to describe someone’s retirement or farewell. It has become a common expression that someone rides off into the sunset. We might be tempted to view the journey of Jesus Christ from earth to heaven as sort of a riding off into the sunset. It does have some similarities to this common scene. There is an aspect of completion and farewell. But at the same time, there are many differences between our Savior’s departure and the closing scene of a cowboy movie. Our Lord’s Ascension is an important journey that teaches many important lessons. It is the journey that captures our attention this morning, the eighth journey of our summer worship series. The basic facts of the Ascension are not difficult to understand. Forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus took his disciples out to a hill just outside the walls of Jerusalem. As he was teaching them and blessing them, Jesus was taken up into the sky. How high the disciples watched him go we aren’t told. What we are told is that a cloud came and hid him from their sight, and they did not see him again. That is how Jesus made his journey from earth to heaven. Luke, the same man whom God led to write the Gospel of Luke, records this event to comfort and to strengthen us. And he gives a little more context to explain why Jesus ascended into heaven. These very first verses of the book of Acts remind us that this book really continues the account of the Gospel. There we learn all about the life of Jesus, how he was born as a baby and was at the same time God over the universe, how he taught many things about the kingdom of God, and how he offered his life as a sacrifice for sins. Luke summarizes these events in a few short verses and says, “After he had suffered, he presented himself alive to the apostles with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and told them things about the kingdom of God.” What Luke discusses in these verses really encapsulates all of the journeys we have spoken of in regard to our Savior. He journeyed from heaven to earth to live in the place of sinful people. He journeyed to the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. He journeyed from death to life because the sacrifice was complete and those sins were paid for in full. And then he kept proving and convincing his followers that he was truly alive. A journey from death to life is not a part of our regular experience. It is not something that people expect to see. Even though Jesus had promised it to his disciples, they did not fully understand. If you were with us last week, you heard how when two of Jesus’ disciples saw his tomb opened with just grave cloths lying where his body had been, they were confused and uncertain. But Jesus didn’t want them to remain confused and uncertain. He wanted them to be sure and confident. He appeared to them. He taught them. He allowed them to touch him. He sat with them and ate with them. He gave proof, over and over, convincing them that even though he had died he was certainly alive. And he continued to teach them about what all of this meant, what he had accomplished, how he had brought the kingdom of God to people. And then he went up, he ascended, into heaven. He had come from heaven to earth to accomplish this purpose, to live and to suffer and to die and to rise again, and his mission was complete. He had paid the price for the sins of the world. He had completed the sacrifice and had overcome the enemy. Even death itself was defeated. And so, in a manner of speaking, Jesus’ journey from earth to heaven was a riding off into the sunset moment. It was an indication of completion, of joy, of a happy conclusion to the task he had come to undertake. It was the end of this work he had been doing.