Mystery, Majesty and Mission
Sermon preached in St Salvator's Chapel, St Andrews on 16h May 2010 by The Rev Lily Twist
Readings: 2 Corinthians 5: 16 - 21 & Luke 15: 11-32
King Nebuchadnezzar said to Daniel (Dan 2: 47)
"I see that you worship a God of gos who is Lord of kings, a revealer of mysteries"
The artist Peter Rogers (1963) depicts the ascension scene with Christ at the centre, head thrown back, eyes looking upwards, feet hovering just inches above the ground, encased in a swirling orange light and surrounded by his eleven disciples. I wonder how you picture the scene. Perhaps as in other works of art you see Jesus fully robed in the sky high above the disciples’ heads, or maybe the disciples just glimpsing the soles of Christ’s feet and toes as he disappears into the clouds. Actually all that Luke tells us in his gospel is that Jesus parted from them but in Acts 1 v9 (thought to be a continuation by Luke interrupted by John’s gospel) adds that as they were looking on Jesus was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight.
So how did Jesus go? Some imagine he flew like a bird which gave rise to the custom of eating a pigeon, pheasant or partridge on ascension day. Maybe he was rocketed into space by self propulsion or perhaps hands reached down from the skies to lift him up. As a physicist familiar with projectiles and orbital motion I’d like to know how he reached the escape velocity required to overcome the earth’s force of gravity. However, more important than the question of ‘What happened?’ is ‘What does it mean?’
Mystery: Firstly I think the ascension indicates that faith involves mystery. This period in the liturgical calendar is a season of mystery as we celebrate Jesus not prophet/ teacher/ holy man/dead hero but Jesus God’s son, Messiah, crucified, risen and ascended Lord. The message is that Christ is risen and alive, free to be everywhere and so to affirm ‘I am with you always’.
Relics and sacred sites have played an important part in church history bringing income as well as inspiration but invoking scorn as well. I have seen many during my travels including a silver encased skull of John the Baptist in Amiens Cathedral and pieces of Christ’s cross in a number of locations. In 1996 when what were considered to be the bones of St Chad were dug up in Birmingham Cathedral three leg bones instead of two were found and the archbishop authorised devotions to continue as long as they were directed to each bone equally.
To emphasise Christ’s resurrected life it was important there would be no relics or shrine and so the ascension is the last appearance through which his bodily absence becomes his universal spiritual presence. Jesus went from their sight to where they could not follow, up into the clouds and beyond where they imagined heaven to be. Now space exploration causes us to imagine heaven differently but still to confirm that there is the mystery of much more beyond our human existence and powers of reason.
I recall wrestling with my personal faith as a student long ago and coming to realise that it does not require intellectual suicide /to leave the mind disengaged in order to believe. John Wesley through whom the Methodist movement began in the 18th century advocated that there were four bases for our faith: scripture, tradition, experience and reason. He emphasised the centrality of scripture, the influence of historical tradition, the essential validity through experience and the importance of engaging powers of reason. Whilst lacking gender political correctness St John of Damascus’s conclusion (676-754) that ‘The only thing we can understand about God is that He cannot be understood’ rings true for me. Likewise these lines in Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Ancient Sage’:
‘For nothing worth proving can be proven,
Nor yet disproven. Wherefore thou be wise,
Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt
And cling to faith beyond the forms of faith!’
Our minds are to be used to seek understanding for intellect is God-given but not everything can be explained. In Luke 24 v 45 we read that before he ascended Jesus ‘opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ and so to engage in the mystery that he would now be unseen but with them always.
Majesty: In the realm of television and paperback books usually mystery is associated with murder and the quest to discover who is responsible for death. Forces of evil and destruction are in evidence. In contrast the ascension speaks of God by whose good and creative power Jesus was brought from death to life to reign eternally with him. It is about the majesty of God - not just a title as in ‘Your Majesty’ but an indication of unequalled power in the light of which all earthly powers pale into insignificance.
Throughout history there have been earthly rulers who have exercised power over people and ascribed to themselves ultimate authority. This was so with Nebuchadnezzar, the king who overthrew the Jews and took many captive to Babylon among them Daniel and his friends, chosen as “youths of royalty and nobility, handsome, skilful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning & competent”. They were unwilling to relinquish their allegiance to God even in the face of death threats from the king who decreed that they must worship his image when they “hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre and BAGPIPE” (an interesting reference to our native instrument!). But they didn’t, and when three are thrown into the fiery furnace a fourth is seen, an indicator of the presence of God who saved them. So Nebuchadnezzar has to confess to Daniel
“I see that you worship a God of gods who is Lord of kings, a revealer of mysteries” (Dan 2 v 47)
The portion of Daniel’s story read today follows a terrifying vision of four beasts, one crushing and devouring its victims, reminiscent of cinemascope images from ‘Lord of the Rings’ – dark, menacing, frightening, a depiction of the plight of the exilic Jews under Nebuchadnezzar’s iron rule. Next he sees the Ancient of Days, white clothed and white haired, seated on a throne on the clouds. Then comes a likeness of a son of man who was given all power and authority for all people and all time. The parallel with the ascension scene is obvious as is the message for our politicians and ruler today – that ultimate power and authority belong to God alone.
Some scholars judge the book of Daniel as a mythical writing to inspire exilic Jews. However there are modern testimonies of real experiences by those such as Richard Wurmbrand, a Christian imprisoned for his faith in Russia and horribly tortured some fifty years ago yet remained true to God. Also Maurice Salama Sharawy, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, whose story O read only last week. His father had suffered a stroke and he asked his priest to his home to pray with them. State Security officials broke in and arrested him because it is against the law to pray other than in church. For Richard and Maurice it was more important to honour God than to submit to earthly rulers.
The dispute as to whether the book of Daniel is factual or not may continue but regardless of that it’s value and purpose are undeniable. The strong message is of hope and encouragement to a captive people far from home and suffering under a dictator. God is with them to strengthen them and good will triumph over evil. So he is with us and we must submit to his majesty alone.
Mission: Along with the mystery and majesty of God at the heart of the ascension is Jesus mission command to the disciples to preach repentance and baptise all nations. A daunting assignment, but he commands them to wait in Jerusalem and promises they will receive the power to accomplish it. He promises the Holy Spirit.
On the day of the official opening of the secondary school where I taught men were out on the far side of the games field painting the railings just shortly before the arrival of Margaret Thatcher who was then Secretary of State for Education. Although no-one noticed their work then, we were glad they had done the job as it was another seventeen years before any more paint was seen in the school. We were naturally very keen to maintain the new décor. I was reminded of this when listening to a story in the radio news recently. In their efforts to keep the surroundings in good order a primary school has installed CCTV cameras. This on its own is not controversial but the fact some were in the toilets is, - raising questions as to whether we should bring children up to behave only for fear of being found out. The same applies to adults when we now have increasing numbers of surveillance cameras watching over us wherever we go.
My childhood picture of God was like that in Daniel, an old man dressed in white clothes with white hair somewhere beyond the clouds and looking down to see what I was doing wrong. Thankfully in later years I came to know that with unconditional, ever-forgiving love he seeks to enable us to live righteously by the Holy Spirit, the ‘Helper’, living within us. God is into power-sharing not manipulation, wanting to rule through his people not exert power over them.
Whilst in Amsterdam recently I visited the home of Ann Frank, the Jewish girl who with her family was forced into hiding during the Second World War. The windows of the rooms above her father’s offices were heavily shuttered to block out the daylight for fear of discovery. Ascending the ladder into the contrasting brightness of the attic I sensed Ann’s exhiliaration as she looked through the skylight at the church spire, tree tops and sky above. An extract from her diary expressed her thoughts as she looked upwards:
‘It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet still I keep them because in spite of everything I believe that people are really good at heart.I simply cannot build my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness. I hear the ever approaching thunder which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet when I look up into the heavens I think that it will come right; that the cruelty will end and that peace and tranquillity will return again’
Sadly she and her family were eventually confined to the concentration camps and all except her father Otto died very near to the end of the war.
Anna said: ‘When I look up into the heavens I think that it will come right’ and in a sense they did as peace returned then but we still live in a world where there is abuse of power, poverty and injustice. We have an assignment – a mission to enable others to experience God’s love and fulfil his purposes for his world today.
As we look up to the sky may we remember our ascended Lord Jesus his promises that
“I am with you always” and “You will receive power through the Holy Spirit” as we seek to fulfil the mission of our God who is “God of gods and lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries”