And the Winner is … Joy!

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God [Luke 24:50-53].

Our Faith teaches us that our risen Lord appeared to various groups of His disciples for a period of 40 days following that first Easter morning, when Mary, questioning a man whom she thought was a gardener, heard the voice of her “Rabbouni!” [John 20:16] and realized that Jesus indeed had risen from His tomb. Later that day, the risen Jesus appeared to Cleopas and his unnamed companion as they made their seven-mile walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus.

Jesus appeared that first Easter evening to most of the disciples who had fearfully huddled together behind locked doors. He visited the group again a week later, when Thomas had returned to the fold. Still later, perhaps three weeks after Easter, the risen Jesus fed the disciples breakfast on the beach [John 21:1-14]. Indeed, depending upon which of the Gospels one reads, and how carefully one counts, the risen Lord makes at least half a dozen appearances to one or more of His followers in the days after His resurrection.

Holy scripture teaches us that there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” [Ecclesiastes 3]. In keeping with that notion of kairos time — that there arises a particular moment within which it is fitting and appropriate to take an important action, the risen Jesus tells His followers that He must now depart from them. He must leave them in order that He might reign in glory, but He will pour out on them “what my Father promised” [Luke 24:49, part of the Gospel reading for Ascension Day—Luke 24:44-53—RCL, Year B]. As recorded in John’s Gospel, Christ will equip them with an Advocate, a Comforter—the Holy Spirit [John 14:16].

I’m left with a guilty feeling when I consider just how strong is the image of forgiveness within the various “appearance” stories that follow our Lord’s resurrection. When the risen Lord appears to those who fled the scene on Good Friday, when He encounters the “rock” who denied Him three times, Christ doesn’t chide His followers for their failures. He doesn’t tell them that they have disappointed him. Instead, His initial words to the bewildered bunch are those of love—“Peace be with you” [Luke 24:36].

Moreover, if we look at the Gospel lesson for Ascension Day—by the way, this year, Ascension Day is tomorrow, May 13th—we see that the risen Christ’s message of love and forgiveness isn’t reserved just for those that had assembled in fear that first Easter Sunday evening or who encountered him on the road outside Jerusalem. Christ’s message of forgiveness and reconciliation is to be proclaimed as well to countless scores of folks like you and me who follow.

… and he said to them, “Thus it is written, …, that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [the Messiah’s] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things [Luke 24:46-48].

Christ’s message of assurance, forgiveness, and mercy is powerfully presented in His final scene with His beloved ones just before His Ascension, for, according to Luke, He leads the disciples out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He blesses them [Luke 24:50] As the disciples (including Luke) gazed at Christ’s uplifted hands, each of the disciples would have seen the conspicuous nail marks in His hands. Each would have been reminded that they all had been complicit, at least in part, in His murder in Jerusalem. Each would have been reminded of Jesus’ sacrificial love for them and others. They also would have recalled the New Commandment that He had given them: that they love one another as He had loved them [John 13:34].

Luke carefully records the disciples’ first action following Christ’s Ascension: they worshiped Him [Luke 24:52a]. And then, they returned to Jerusalem “with great joy” [Luke 24:52b]. In this new and enthusiastic worship, New Testament scholars have observed an underlying Trinitarian theme. You see, Christ’s disciples would have known and recited the Shema daily: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One [Deuteronomy 6:4]. Indeed, The LORD [YHWH] alone is to be worshiped.

In order for worship of the ascended Lord to be proper for the disciples, or anyone else, some joinder between Christ and YHWH—some union with YHWH—had to have been accomplished through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. One of Luke’s strong points here is the understanding, long before the full-blown concept of Trinity would be formulated by the church, that, after Christ’s ascension, it is no longer possible to contemplate YHWH without the lens provided by Jesus. God “thought”—as well as worship—would now always need to include the risen Lord. The picture of the Deity is changed in as much as it is painted with brush strokes crafted not only through God the Father, but also God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The ascended Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, reveals a God who can be approached, a God who identifies with and understands our pain, our sorrow, our temptations, and our longing for oneness with our Creator. The risen and ascended Lord who suffered and died upon the Cross is fully capable—and willing—to comfort us in our times of trial, to offer us continuing mercy and peace, to mend the harm that is done through our own sin. The One who knew no sin has taken our sin upon his shoulders and, in its place, has given us forgiveness. Moreover, He intercedes for us and mediates God’s love for us in unimaginable ways.

The disciples were not dejected by Christ’s departure; they were joyous! As Luke’s Gospel ends, we see them heading not back to Galilee and the life they had known before Jesus burst upon the scene. Instead, we see them heading instead toward Jerusalem and to the temple, full of joy and promise. They await the full power that will be provided on Pentecost through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God is at work through them and something marvelous is getting ready to happen. As the Reverend Dr. Sam Wells has so aptly said in an Easter sermon some years back, “Through the Easter story of Christ, Joy wins.” Thanks be to God!