5-24-20 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Ascension Sunday May 24, 2020 A Victory to Share with All People Luke 24:44-53 1) Jesus Won the Foretold Victory 2) Jesus Blesses Us with His Victory

I don’t know if you knew this, but today is a big day for us at Grace Lutheran Church. Not just because it’s our first time in 2 months teaching our Christian education classes on Sunday morning like Sunday School and Adult Bible Study. Nor it is only because we get to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion today in a different yet treasured way. Today is especially a big day because it is Ascension Sunday, one of the great festivals of the liturgical church year, our last time seeing Jesus physically on Earth.

What makes Ascension Sunday a unique festival is that it is the culmination of the liturgical seasons we’ve observed since December. First there was Advent and its focus on Jesus’ threefold coming. Next was Christmas when Jesus truly came in the flesh. Then was Epiphany where Jesus reveals himself to be our Promised Savior. Following that was Lent where we see the depths of our Savior’s love for us in the depths of his suffering and death. Now we are closing out Easter where Jesus’ resurrection from the grave proves he is victorious over this, that, and every other thing. And it’s today, on Ascension Sunday, where we pull all those liturgical seasons together and tie a bow on them as our Savior ascends back to his home in heaven. As we’ll see, Jesus didn’t ascend into heaven because he got homesick or bored. It’s because he achieved the victory he came win, a victory he graciously shares with us.

1) Jesus Won the Foretold Victory In order to understand the significance of Jesus’ victorious ascension, we need to look back at the Old Testament, or as they called it back in Jesus’ day: the Law of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. It’s in here that we discover what all had been foretold about the Christ and how Jesus fulfilled them all. Like in Genesis 3(:15) with one of Eve’s offspring crushing Satan’s serpent head. Or in Genesis 12(:3) with all people on Earth being blessed through one of Abraham’s descendants. Or in Deuteronomy 18(:15) where God instructs us to listen to Jesus as intently as Old Testament Israel listened to Moses. Or in 2 Samuel 7(:11b-16) with King David’s greater son reigning for eternity. Or in Isaiah 7(:14) with Immanuel being born to a virgin mother. Or in Zechariah 9(:9) with our promised King entering Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Or in Isaiah 52(:13ff) with 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

Ascension Sunday May 24, 2020 the Suffering Servant bearing the price for all our sins. Or in Psalm 16(:10) with God’s Holy One never seeing the grave’s decay.

These are only a handful of things the Old Testament foretells about the Christ and what must happen for him to be victorious. But this all can be summarized in the same way Jesus told his disciples, “This is what is written and so it must be: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47) This is exactly what has happened!

Jesus suffered, died, and rose to win the victory so that we may be forgiven when we repent. Jesus’ ascension is proof that he has indeed achieved the Old Testament’s foretold victory.

But we may not initially view Jesus’ ascension that way. There’s a lot the Old Testament says the Christ must do so that repentance and forgiveness can be preached to all nations. Can we be so sure that Jesus fulfilled them all? The odds of that happening are statistically impossible. Especially when you include those things which, humanly speaking, are outside of Jesus’ control like being born of a virgin or coming from King David’s family line. Say there was one small detail left unfulfilled. Wouldn’t that downgrade Jesus’ ascension from a victorious farewell into a sad defeat?

Or perhaps our hesitations come from seeing what Jesus left undone when he ascended into heaven. There was no utopia on Earth where Christians could live out their days in abundant happiness, riches, and safety. If anything, life for the average 1st century believer was harder than normal because they went against the grain of both the Jewish and Gentile cultures. Like the disciples who asked if Jesus was going to restore the kingdom to Israel, we too can misunderstand why Jesus came to this world: to think that Jesus left his home in heaven simply to make the world a better place, to inspire us to be kind to our neighbors, or some other fleeting thought. If we think that Jesus’ victory was about one of these things, then doesn’t that mean that Jesus ascended into heaven too early?

To help us view Jesus’ ascension as proof of his victory, we need to remember what his victory was about. Jesus came to this world to defeat sin and its disastrous effects so that repentance and forgiveness could be preached to all nations. Everything he did while on Earth served this singular purpose. He was born as the Old Testament foretold to be qualified as the Christ. He helped others with miracles and teachings to gain a hearing for the gospel and share it with them.

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Ascension Sunday May 24, 2020 He lived as only the Christ could to assure us that our sins have been paid for and forgiveness is actually ours.

Jesus did what he came to do. And once he was done, he ascended back into heaven. Jesus could have stayed longer if he needed to do something else. But he didn’t. He was done. And that’s why we can be sure that Jesus’ ascension is proof that he achieved the foretold victory over sin.

2) Jesus Blesses Us with His Victory But we have another reason to celebrate on this Ascension Sunday. And that’s because Jesus also blesses us with his victory. I personally find it interesting that Jesus ascended into heaven while still blessing his disciples. It’s very possible he was blessing them in the same way we will close our worship services today with the pastor raising his arms and speaking the same words that the high priest Aaron began speaking around 1450 B.C. What a wonderful way for the disciples to see Jesus one last time until again in heaven!

But Jesus’ blessings are more than good intentions. He continues to bless us even from heaven. One blessing we regularly receive is his forgiveness that comes to us through repentance. Whenever we go to our Lord, confessing our sins with a sorrowful soul and trusting in his promise to forgive, we again receive this blessing as surely as our Lord has ascended into heaven.

Jesus also blesses us from his place at God’s right hand. We heard about this in our 2nd Lesson from Ephesians chapter 1(:16-23). First, we have the promise of the Holy Spirit who creates and strengthens faith in believer’s hearts through God’s Word. We’ll hear more about him next week on Pentecost Sunday.

Secondly, we have Jesus’ promise that he will use his unequaled power to work all things for the good of the church, that is, the body of believers of like you and me.

Think about that: the one who used his unequaled power to fulfill everything the Old Testament foretold continues to use that same power to protect and provide for us as he knows best. This is just a sampling of all the blessings Jesus gives to us from heaven.

Blessings which remind us of the victory we have in Christ because he has ascended. Our trust in Jesus Christ is well-founded because no one else could fulfill this foretold victory. That certainty remains ours in these uncertain times.

Because of what Jesus did while still on Earth, we find joy in repentance. Even

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Ascension Sunday May 24, 2020 though we have sinned and will sadly continue, we are forgiven and washed clean of those wrongs. Repentance renews us in Christ’s victory.

Although Jesus is no longer physically present in this world, he has not abandoned us. He continues to bless us from God’s right hand. He sends the Holy Spirit to accompany and empower us to live as God’s children. He uses his unequaled power to work all things for the good of his children in ways we probably will not understand. That’s a good reminder at times like these. When so much of the world has changed as we know and our brightest minds wonder how life might be forever different, we rest secure in God’s powerful and comforting hands.

And our response to all these blessings is the same as the disciples who returned to the temple and Jerusalem and continually praised God. They knew with certainty that Jesus was the one whom the Old Testament foretold. They were assured of his blessings both current and what was still to come. They received the blessed privilege to be bearers of God’s good news and tell others about their Savior and the victory he shares with them.

The same is true for us. We have the same reasons for joyfully praising God as the disciples did. We have his victory given to us so that sin has no power over us. Therefore, let us rejoice in the words we’ll say and the songs we’ll sing on this Ascension Sunday and every day afterwards. We know who our Savior is and what he blesses us with. We know what is now ours even when so much is in question around us. And whenever we doubt this, let us look to Jesus’ ascension and remember what it teaches us – that Jesus has won the victory and he shares it with all people. Amen.

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