I Go, You Stay; I Stay, You Go
I Go, You Stay; I Stay, You Go by Rev. L. John Gable
May 5, 2019
Those of you who follow the liturgical calendar are probably wondering why we are talking about the ascension today when today is not the Ascension Day. (Those of you who aren’t even sure what the liturgical calendar is needn’t concern yourself at this point at all.) The ascension of our Lord took place 40 days after the resurrection which this year will be celebrated on Thursday, May 30th. So why are we talking about it today? Because after “on the third day He rose again from the dead” in our recitation of the Apostles’ Creed, we say, “He ascended in to heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty”.
This obscure little phrase, and perhaps even more obscure and less frequently observed day on the liturgical calendar, marks a very important turning point, a line of demarcation, a radical change really, in the story of salvation history. The ascension of the Lord marks the ending of one era and the beginning of yet another.
The old era, and it seems strange even to refer to it in that way, refers to the time of the earthly ministry of Jesus, the era of the incarnation, from the day of His birth to the day of His glorious resurrection. That too was a distinctive time period in the narrative of salvation history, when God actually “took on flesh and lived among us”, but that era ends in our lesson from Acts when His earthly ministry is completed and His heavenly reign begins.
In order to help us understand the importance and the meaning of this radical change I have divided it in to two phrases, two separate steps or emphases, both using my words, but spoken from the perspective of Jesus.
The first is “I go, you stay.”
In the ascension, Jesus, a full member of the Trinity, abandons the flesh, His time of being “fully human”, and returns to His heavenly post, reassuming His nature of being “fully divine”. As Paul writes in Philippians, in the incarnation, Jesus “emptied Himself” and left the glories of heaven in order to do the work of our salvation, namely the work of the cross. So, “being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” In this way, Paul describes the completion of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but then transitions from His humiliation to His glorification as he writes, “Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
So, in His resurrection and ascension, Jesus re-assumes His rightful place of honor and glory. At His ascension Jesus in effect goes back home. As He says in John’s Gospel, “I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” So in the ascension, the disciples watch as Jesus transitions from being “fully human” to being “fully divine” once again, and surely they must have been both grief-stricken and confused by what they saw happening. “How are we going to get along, and what are we supposed to do now?” To which Jesus in effect answers, and again these are my words, not Jesus’, “I go, you stay.”
Prior to this, in what proved to be their last conversation with Him, the disciples ask, “Lord, is this the time when You will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” This is after the resurrection, so they knew a change was coming; they just didn’t know what or when. So they ask, “Is this the time?” and Jesus answers, “That is not for you to know.” One of the lessons Jesus teaches us, and this is admittedly one of the difficult parts of learning to follow Jesus, is learning to watch and wait, the art or discipline of patience as we wait on God’s timing rather than our own, and most of us aren’t very good at that, are we? So, in part learning the way of Jesus is learning to trust God to work His purposes out, in His timing, in ways often beyond our understanding or doing; which is in good part a reminder to us that there are things which need doing in this world that are beyond our power or ability to do them; so while we have our part to play, we are also utterly and ultimately dependent on God to act, so we must also learn to watch and wait.
So,the first aspect of this radical change brought on by the ascension is “I go” (Jesus returns home); “you stay” (we watch and wait and pray).
The second aspect of the ascension, and the joining phrase in the Apostles’ Creed, is “and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty” which I interpret as “I stay, you go.”
Jesus ascends to heaven (back home, fully divine) and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Don’t miss the point of the teaching by getting too tied up in trying to figure out the placement or location (where is God that Jesus has gone to be with Him?) or by wondering if God really does have a right hand? This is a statement both of Jesus’ glorification and His authority! The Creed is portraying Jesus as King, as Ruler, as Judge…and we will talk more about that next week. The Jesus we knew in His incarnation, preaching and teaching and healing and performing miracles; the Jesus who was crucified, dead and buried, is now the Jesus raised again and established as the King of kings and Lord of Lords! And, now He is seated – signifying that His work is done, completed, and He is staying, in power and glory and authority, eternally!
That is what He is doing, staying; so what are we to do? We are to go! “I stay, you go!” In His ascension we hear Him say, “Go and be My witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth!” Earlier we heard Him commission the disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations!”
Now that Jesus is rightly seated, rightly honored, as Savior and Lord by His death and resurrection and ascension, we have work to do! Now is not a time for idleness but for activity, for the doing of Kingdom work, so begins the era of the Church.
I always chuckle when I read this section of Acts 1 when the disciples are standing and staring as Jesus ascends in to heaven. Luke writes, “Suddenly two men in white robes stand by them and say, “What are you doing? Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way you saw Him go into heaven.” Almost as if they are saying, “Chop, chop, let’s get with it. The clock is running and there is work to be done.” And what is that work we, the Church, have been given to do?
It is the work of evangelism – of telling others the Good News of who Jesus is and what He has done for us and our salvation and inviting them into a right and saving relationship with God. And, it is the work of disciple-making – of our becoming more and more like Jesus and committing ourselves to living for His Kingdom purposes.
Why is it important that we do this work? Because one day we are going to be living with Him, eternally, in that place He has gone to prepare for us, so now is the time for us to ready and prepare ourselves for life as it will one day be in the Kingdom of God, in the “new heaven and the new earth”, when He comes again. That is the next big change that is coming, one day; the ending of this era and the beginning of yet another new era, when Jesus returns again and the Kingdom of God is established in its fullness.
So, with that end in mind and in anticipation of that new era, Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, “So, you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4).
This is what we are instructed and commissioned to do, in the “meantime”, between His going away until He comes again. We are to “seek the things that are above” and “set our minds on the things of Christ.” This life is temporal and temporary; our life in Christ is eternal; so we are to ready ourselves in this life for the life yet to come. We are to live with the sure and confident hope that, one day, where Jesus is we will be also, so let us set our minds on things that are above. Let us commit ourselves to learning the lessons of faith and discipleship which Jesus gives us in His life, His death, His resurrection and ascension.
In His going and our staying, we are to learn the lessons of patience and trust, of waiting and watching and praying. In His staying and our going, we are to learn the ways of Jesus and do the work He has given us to do. Amen.