Ascension Day - 2013. Mark 16:14-20By

By Norma Boeckler.

Ascension, Holy Communion Service, 2013

7 PM Central

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time

The Hymn #221  Hark Ten Thousand Harps  3:33

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual    Acts 1:1-11

The Gospel            Mark 16:14-20

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 216  On Christ’s Ascension            3:41

The Son of God Ascends

The Hymn #316   O Living Bread            3:45

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 218     See the Conquerer                  3:91

KJV Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

[The ending of Luke fits with the opening of Acts, which Luke also wrote.]

KJV Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

KJV Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Ascension

O Jesus Christ, Thou almighty Son of God, who art no longer in humiliation here on earth, but sittest at the right hand of Thy Father, Lord over all things: We beseech Thee, send us Thy Holy Spirit; give Thy Church pious pastors, preserve Thy word, control and restrain the devil and all who would oppress us: mightily uphold Thy kingdom, until all Thine enemies shall have been put under Thy feet, that we may hold the victory over sin, death, and the devil, through Thee, who livest and reignest with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

The Son of God Ascends

KJV Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Luther’s Three Sermons on the Ascension

I wanted to know about ELCA’s celebration of Ascension Day. They usually connect some Left-wing political statement with a religious holiday. Instead, they wrote up the election of several new bishops.

I went to the Roman Catholic site, because the Lutherans consider them the real experts on worship. We should follow everything Rome does – so I do not. The papal three- year lectionary is the Lutheran standard now, and I use the historic one that Luther used, year after year.

Rome says that many parishes have moved Ascension Day to Sunday. That is like moving Christmas to spring because the weather is better than in December.

Ascension Day is the ultimate miracle, the defining miracle of the public ministry of Christ.

Jesus, especially in John’s Gospel, connected His miracles with the Word. They were visible signs (literally signs) of God’s power in Him. God performs many miracles and interventions on our behalf all the time. The miracles of Jesus’ minister were spectacular and impossible to deny. Although some rabbis might be known for healing, no one accomplished what Jesus did, and He added such things as calming the storm, walking on water, changing water into wine, and raising the dead.

Ascension Day is the final confirmation—with His resurrection—of the divinity of Christ. Those who ignore it or downplay it are simply saying, “The Ascension is not a part of my beliefs, or it is not an important part.”

Today, when I copied the three Luther sermons about the Ascension of Christ, I thought, “What a great opportunity to talk about the Gospel and see its effect.” A few minutes later, someone wrote, “Why didn’t you highlight this paragraph of the third sermon.” So I did.

Luther made several good points about this opening. One is that Mark is summarizing the post-Resurrection accounts, which is the style of the second Gospel. It is a combination and Reader’s Digest version of Matthew and Luke. I happen to think Mark was the third one written, but that does not matter. All four Gospels agree and harmonize better than a barbershop quartet. So, in a few verses, Mark tells us about the period from the empty tomb to the Ascension.

The other point is about the faith of the disciples and Jesus upbraiding them. They had faith but they did not have a complete faith. For that reason they did not grasp the meaning of the crucifixion as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Nor did they realize they would see the risen Lord soon, even though He told them in advance.

This is a consolation to all Christians, to observe that the great apostles were also weakened by grief, confused, and in a paralysis because they knew but did not know. Faith is always growing. In the right conditions, faith grows stronger because the Holy Spirit nurtures faith through the Means of Grace.

In the wrong conditions, faith grows weaker because the Word of God is weakened and mocked by false teachers. Also, people lose faith by associating with destructive people who lead them astray. I can teach in a college classroom where everyone is a believer or another one where hardly anyone is. That is the result, in both cases, of upbringing.

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The only work of the Church is to preach the Gospel. Therefore, the Holy Spirit does all the work through the Word. However, people do not believe the Word of God has an effect unless they help. What belongs to God is too weak, they think.

These people have to include, “My word and actions are powerful and effective, but God’s Word is not.”

As Luther said, the Gospel is literally the resurrection, since that shows the world that the man who died was and is the Son of God. This Jesus verified by ascending to heaven before His disciples. They could preach the resurrection Gospel without faltering because they were so certain of its truth.

Looking back we fail to see the effect of Jesus completing His teaching ministry with the disciples by appearing before them, risen, giving them additional instruction, and rising to God the Father before their eyes.

We cannot judge who is going to believe when we teach the Word, nor can we judge the results. At any given point the disciples could have been given an F in discipleship, but the vast experiences of hope and terror, joy and fear were capped with the empty tomb and the angel saying, “Why are looking into heaven?”

Faith means complete trust in God’s Word and therefore in forgiveness through faith. We can realize how angry the world is when told they are condemned for their unbelief.

I know all about these ordained disciples of unbelief. Many are mainline Leftists who mock faith in anything except their ever-changing agenda. Others are “conservative” Lutherans who are deeply offended by the thought of people receiving forgiveness of sin and salvation through faith in the Gospel of Christ. The idea! They have their books, essays, and papers, which all trump the Bible, Luther, the Book of Concord, and the orthodox Lutherans. When the WELS seminary prints the justification quotations of the orthodox Lutherans (just after the Book of Concord), they stamp them as MISLEADING!

If someone persists with justification by faith, he is silenced, abused, and ejected.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Many miracles have accompanied the teaching of the Gospel, and Holy Communion is not the least. How can wine also be the Blood of Christ? That is answered by “How did Christ turn ordinary wine into extraordinary wine?” Answer – He did it with the Word of God. As the children explain to me, “He is God. God can do anything.”

19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

This is short, perhaps because Mark was carrying out the style of his Gospel, summarizing in a few words.

The end of the earthly, local ministry began the world-wide Spirit/Word ministry, as Jesus promised.

Before, all the Gospel preaching was done through the travels of Jesus, with the disciples learning from Him as He discussed such things as the parables with them in private. Even with the disciples doing some work, it was local, in one small area of a very large Roman Empire.

The local guidance of a man, Jesus, was to become the global guidance of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son.

I think of the Ascension this way – it was not needed. Jesus rose from the dead and spent time with His followers for many days. He gathered and strengthened them. He did not show them exactly how He rose from the dead. He did not need to show them the Ascension.

But He did. He confirmed His claims as the Son of God. Those rationalists and unbelievers, who cannot accept Jesus as the Son of God who died and rose again, cannot grasp the Gospel no matter what they claim about loving Jesus, amazing grace, and singing Kumbaya around the campfire.

Can God do such great things in our own lives, and make sense out of the problems and challenges of this age? The Ascension says  this is God’s work and God’s world.

When I speak the Creeds, I always think of all the millions speaking those phrases and meaning them – at the same time – those millions over the centuries and around the world.

Does the Gospel alone have power? There are more Black Episcopalians in Angola than in all of North America. I think the figures are high multiples. And there they actually believe what the Word says. I recall getting their Episcopalian tabloid newspaper years ago. Two handsome clerics, American, debated, “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?” One said it mattered; the other said it did not.

The disciples went through many stages of faith as they faced many trials by fire.

Luther:

3. But it is all in vain to hear the Gospel, if you do not believe it. Therefore all must be taught by God.

4. Unless you are constantly baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit until the end of your life, you will fall back again into unbelief.

For this reason, we worship together and remain with the Means of Grace, which strengthen our faith in the One who designed them for us.