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Ascension 2008
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 4th May 2008
Revd. Matthew Vernon
It's nearly a year since I went to Israel on a clergy study tour.
The memories are still vivid,
including the Mount of Olives - the site of Jesus' Ascension.
The Mount of Olives is a large and long hill –
like a ridge,
and steep on each side.
On it is the small Mosque of the Ascension.
It became a Mosque when Saladin took Jerusalem in 1198.
Before that it had been the Chapel of the Ascension – the Crusaders had rebuilt it
It's the place Christians associated with Jesus' ascension.
The ascension of Jesus is recognised in Islam, though in a different form to Christian belief.
In the middle of the Mosque, there's a piece of bedrock with an imprint that might be a footprint.
Ancient pilgrims took it to be the footprint of Jesus and pilgrims used to take bits of the rock away –
which may explain why it's less than convincing appearance today.
You may have heard of the scientist who has calculated where in space Jesus would be now,
after he roared into the sky at the ascension.
Jesus would have needed to lift off at a certain speed in order to escape gravity.
We know what that speed is,
so the scientist calculated how many miles from Earth Jesus would be now,
boldly going…
That's what happens when you read 1st Century, Jewish stories with a modern, scientific mind.
Perhaps you've shared the scepticism when looking at stained glass or paintings of the ascension,
or the wonderful boss in the roof of Norwich Cathedral.
It shows some cloud with two feet sticking out.
1st Century Christians believed in a 3 tier Universe:
the earth; the sky above; and heaven above that.
So for Jesus to go back to heaven he had to go up.
The Gospels stories were also written with a Jewish view of the world and with Jewish stories in mind.
Remember that Elijah was taken up into heaven.
Remember too that in the Bible a cloud can represent God's presence.
So the Acts story says "a cloud hide him from their sight" -
another symbol that Jesus was going to God.
The Ascension is a bizarre to modern ears.
People don't just fly up into the sky.
But much of the Gospels are bizarre to modern ears.
What's moving and powerful about the stories is their meaning and significance.
The Ascension tells us about human dignity and destiny.
It completes the story of Jesus' earthly existence.
The whole of Jesus' story teaches us about the value of being human.
At his birth, God becomes a human being – the Incarnation –
and shows us that being human matters infinitely.
Jesus takes our humanity back to God in the Ascension,
and shows us that every person has an infinite and changeless dignity.
This is a vital truth that should guide the way we approach other people and interact with them.
It's a truth that is so often forgotten in the ways people treat each other.
The Ascension invites us to see God's image in all humankind.
And the Ascension teaches us that all people are invited to be God's friends.
Just as Jesus went to God, it is the destiny of all people to be with God.
Our dignity and our destiny then are closely linked.
We are all made in the image of God and we are all destined to be with God.
We can fulfil our destiny by opposing anything that denies our dignity.
anything that denies that all people are made in God's image.
As you know, there is much in our lives and our world that denies that image.
In a few minutes time the altar will be prepared for the Eucharist.
The bread and wine will be put on the altar.
Some water will be added to the wine.
There's a prayer that priests use at that point:
"by the mixing of this water and this wine, may we come to share in Christ's divinity as he shared in our humanity."
May we come to share in Christ's divinity as he shared in our humanity.
Amen.
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