The Ascension of our Lord. May 10, 2018. Mark 16:14-20

Ascension 2018. Holy Communion.

7 PM Central Daylight Time, May 10th

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM, Central Daylight Time

The melody is linked under the name of the hymn.
The lyrics are linked under the number of the hymn.

The Hymn #221    Hark Ten Thousand Harps  

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 #199  Jesus Christ Is Risen Today 

Ascended into Heaven

The Hymn #341                   Crown Him with Many Crowns       

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 #294               O Word of God             

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.

 Norma A. Boeckler

Ascended 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. 

The opening of this lesson shows Jesus doing what He said the Holy Spirit would do - convict the world of sin. He upbraided them for their lack of faith. They heard from various witnesses before they believed in the resurrection of Jesus. 

Luther:

2. First, Christ upbraids his disciples with their unbelief and hardness of heart, and reproves them for it, and shows them their faults. He does not reject them, nor deal too severely with them, but reproves them; just as we would say to a person: Are you not ashamed that you dared to do such a thing? Meaning thereby to bring him to a knowledge of himself and make him blush with shame, that he may desist from his wicked intent or deed, though we do not reject him, nor turn our love from him.

3. However, it is not an insignificant matter here that the Lord rebuked the disciples; for unbelief is the greatest sin that can be named. Christ tells them the cause of their unbelief when he says that their hearts are hardened, yet he deals mildly and gently with them.

We tend to run all those incidents together, and they were not so far apart. But the women at the tomb knew first. The disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) came to the gathering in the locked room. Thomas missed the first appearance, saw and touched Jesus a week later.

Everyone is a mirror of ourselves. They heard all the Promises, and they had faith in Jesus. However, although they were taught what would happen during His suffering and death and resurrection, their senses, fears, and doubts overcame them. So often, where are we when plagued with doubts, with despair? 

Luther:

6. To sum up all: We should expose and reprove what is wrong, and exercise truth and love toward everybody; we should be plain-spoken, not letting ourselves be silenced, for none of us, since we are flesh and blood, will so live as to be found without blame in all things. I in this, you in that.

We all see, that even the apostles were lacking in the chief things yet they were corner stones, the foundations and the very best part of Christendom.

Hardness of Heart

We can be so skeptical of the truth that we do not believe witnesses who know the truth. Sometimes this is a difficult concept for people to grasp - God's Word hardens and blinds them. The reason is their obstinate rejection of the truth. 2 Thessalonians is very clear. The Age of Apostasy will be so dark that people will favor evil over goodness and delight in doing that evil.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasy) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

How bad are things today? The Pope opposes the most basic articles of faith. He is sponsoring a conference on TM, with Katie Perry speaking as an expert.

Receive is used in the New Testament as a synonym for believing. The Gospel Word is preached and taught - they hear it and do not receive it, that is, act as if it applies to them or is the truth. Many excuses are made up as reasons for the non-reception of the truth. This grows the hardness, not that God is evil and damning. His will is that all be saved, but many fall away, many angrily reject the Word, and many become antagonistic because (as clergy) they are cynical.

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Although He convicted them of the sin of disbelief, Jesus also charged them to go into the world and proclaim the Gospel to everyone. That is why Luther describes this passage as focusing on faith and love. In faith they go out, showing their love of the Savior and their love of their neighbors.

Church work is very much like gardening. Some of it is deliberate and planned, such as having regular duties and services, setting aside time for study and writing. But other aspects are completely random or at least unplanned. Ironically, many plans have one aim and yet they have another ultimate conclusion.

One day Mr. Gardener was dividing up his hosta plants and gave me a bunch of them. They were the smallest individual ones, but I knew they would thrive along the house where I had drip watering. I was trying all kinds of ways to attract hummingbirds without mixing sugar water. I did not see much activity until the hostas bloomed in our yard and next door. Hummingbirds love hosta flowers, I soon learned.

In looking around at various ways to fill in the rose garden, it seemed a good idea to bring them into more sun and give them more attention. The thin little plants turned into masses of plants and roots. I could not separate them with a shovel, so I dropped each hosta mass into a divot in the rose garden. All of a sudden, hosta plus roses seemed logical, especially since my wife loves both.

I see the same things going on in church. I planned on blogging just to express myself on Lutheran topics to a few dozen friends. From that has grown many different activities, from the broadcasts to books to classes. The Gospel itself promotes those actions and conclusions, which never really have an end.

We can look backwards 100 years and see all the ways in which the denominations abandoned the Scriptures. What began even earlier in secret is now dominant. But that is not a problem for the Word of God. If everyone hears the Word of God from a faithful source, God will accomplish His purpose, and prosper His purpose.

Someone wrote to me yesterday and said I saved his life, because I wrote about religious abuse.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 

Luther:
20. The preaching of this message may be likened to a stone thrown into the water, producing ripples which circle outward from it, the waves rolling always on and on, one driving the other, till they come to the shore. 

Although the center becomes quiet, the waves do not rest, but move forward. So it is with the preaching of the Word. It was begun by the apostles, and it constantly goes forward, is pushed on farther and farther by the preachers, driven hither and thither into the world, yet always being made known to those who never heard it before, although it be arrested in the midst of its course and is condemned as heresy. 

Here is a simple yet profound teaching. Compare it to the notebooks at church conventions. No, really do that. This one verse is the work of the Holy Spirit/Church/Word. A convention workbook is a lot of chaff.

This verse combines the Word and Sacrament. The earliest converts were adults who were baptized with their children. One reader wrote to me, "I cannot believe you omitted this from your list of UOJ refutations." Of course the whole Bible refutes UOJ, and I was writing the ones I thought up first.

Faith in the Gospel leads to Holy Baptism of the adults because they want the Promises in the Visible Word. The priority belongs to faith, because he who does not believe is damned. In my opinion, that is another reason for the ending of Mark to be dropped into the footnotes (RSV, NIV, etc)

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. 

Signs are miracles, so that does not mean that every single person experienced these miracles. One sect made handling rattlesnakes as their sacrament, but that is clearly tempting God. Fortunately, the sect has not grown at all. Even those taped doing so without harm have bad experiences later.

Exorcism has been a practice of Lutherans, and visiting the sick, shut-in, and hospitalized is an important part of congregational work. Why not believe God will help in healing? Experience shows that prayers are answered in many wonderful ways.

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.

As Luther says, all preaching is really about the resurrection of Christ. Our biggest fear is death, and with that fear - lack of purpose. Christ shows us that He is already the conqueror of death, and that we are victors through faith. That means every single believers has a special, divine purpose. 

It is easy to list obvious sins, which are so apparent today, many of them so shocking one can hardly believe, even with the proof posted. But the foundation of that evil is unbelief. Faith in Christ modifies and fills our being with the effect of the Gospel in all parts of our life. It is like leaven, which works slowly, not like the instant insulation foam of the chemical industry. I used the magic foam in a gap in a new chapel, as I was told. I put in a little, then a little more, then a little more. And it came out of that void like an alien from Alpha Centuri.

God works slowly through the Word, but it is always the Word of the Gospel. We believe and are tested and find it is our Savior not our talents that is our strength. He is the Hero that fought the battle against Satan and death and therefore understands the frailty of our human nature.

Notice that Jesus did not say to the disciples, "You hid! You locked the doors!" Instead, He addressed their lack of faith and hardness - refusal to believe what was openly witnessed. When society is filled with Christian Faith, weaknesses still appear, but they are addressed with contrition and Gospel forgiveness. Lacking that, evil feeds upon evil and there is no hope.

Getting back to the hosta, we can see how God works. I planted a few tiny hostas around the rose garden. Fall came and leaves were raked onto the rose garden. The original plants, so tiny, disappeared under the coverage. I looked for some this cold, dark spring and saw only the name tags. One appeared and then was perhaps eaten. That was my hope. But it came back - or I saw it better. And a dozen others began popping up, all easy to step on, all easily rabbit food. But in time, they will no longer sleep, but leap, and I will have thick clumps flowering and feeding the hummingbirds.

Thus God's Word works, which seems random to us but fits in His plan.

Jesus took His disciples as they were, addressed their lack of faith, and showed them with miracles that He was indeed the Risen Master, the Son of God. He did not disappear into a rain cloud, as scoffers and sceptics would say in mockery. Instead, He rose into the sky and the Shekinah - the Glory of the Lord - masked His transition to the Right Hand of the Father.