THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CANTON
Sermon: “Present in Absence” (Acts 1:1-11)
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
Sunday, May 16, 2021 ~ Ascension of Jesus
© 2021, Dr. Tamilio
If you want to get technical, May 13 is Ascension Day, which means it was last Thursday. Seeing as most churches (including ours) do not hold Thursday services (Maundy Thursday being the only exception), we focus on the Ascension of Jesus on the Sunday closest to Ascension Day. What is the Ascension? We just read about it. Acts opens with the resurrected Jesus leaving the remaining eleven disciples. He made it very clear in the Gospels — he would ascend into heaven and send the Holy Spirit to his followers.
It must have been an incredible sight. Think about this for a moment: no one actually saw the resurrection. They saw Jesus after he rose from the dead, but no one saw him coming back to life. They witnessed the Ascension firsthand though. The Book of Acts is very clear about this: “as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (1:9).
Here is the problem with this. Many readers see this as the end of the first part of the New Testament. In other words, you open the text and read the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Book of Acts, which comes next, is technically called The Acts of the Apostles. Even though it is the continuation of the Gospel of Luke, many see it as ushering in the second part of the New Testament. The focus has now shifted to the Apostles and the work that they are going to do — the ministry they will perform in Jesus’ name. The problem is by saying that this is the second part of the New Testament is wrong. It is a continuation of the first.
Let me put it this way… Jesus ascending into heaven seems (from a pure literary perspective) like the end of part one. He was here, he was executed, he rose from the dead, and now he is gone. Time for the second part of the story, right? No. Jesus is not absent in the second part of the story, which is what the Ascension leads some people to think. In the book Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper writes, “If we’re not careful, we might mistake the meaning of Jesus’s ascension. It sounds kind of like a retirement send-off — like Jesus finishes his work and sits down to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but that isn’t what happens at all. Jesus ascends to heaven to complete his work in transforming worship, standing in the presence of God as our perfect Priest.”[1]
Here is another way to think about all this. I was having a conversation with someone not too long ago. No one from this church, mind you. Footnote: when people find out that you are a pastor, they either keep their distance (why, I don’t know) or they talk your ear off. They want to tell you why they do not do to church, or they want to ask your questions to figure out what you believe, or, better yet, they want to tell you their theology so that you (as a pastor) can affirm it. Happens all the time. All. The. Time. Anyway, someone recently said something like this: “Do you preach about the Second Coming of Christ and how the members of your flock need to be ready for it?” This is a paraphrase, but this is basically what I was asked. I also knew where this was heading — the person was basically saying that Jesus is going to return when we least expect it (just as he said) and those who are prepared will be saved.
Here’s the problem: it isn’t that I agree or disagree with this theology. That’s not it. But to focus on Jesus’ return at the end of time, suggests (actually, it more than suggests — it claims)…focusing on Jesus’ return at the end of time is to claim that he is absent, that he is not here right now. The Ascension seems to support this thinking in some way.
I don’t buy it. Jesus is not absent. The Ascension ushered in a continuation of his earthly ministry, not the end of it. He is still present through the gift of the Holy Spirit that he gave the church at Pentecost. (We will talk about that next Sunday.) Andrew Purves would agree. He writes,
The ministry of Jesus does not end with his resurrection. In his ascension he does not abandon his humanity. He is not the ascended Lord apart from everything that has happened between his incarnation and resurrection. Borrowing an insight from Gerrit Dawson of First Presbyterian Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we can say that by his ascension the past incarnate ministry of the Jesus who was raised from the dead becomes through his Spirit present to every age and person. The earthly ministry of Jesus that was past and particular now becomes present and universal.[2]
The Holy Spirit is how Jesus is present now. Yes, he will return, but we can also say that he never really left. It is one of those mysteries of God: being present in absence and absent in presence.
Jesus is also present through his church. We are the arms, legs, hands, and feet of Christ. We are the body of Christ. Jesus charged us to continue to minister in his name: to be his presence to those who feel that they have been abandoned by everyone, even God. On one hand we can say that Jesus is present in the Church. On another we can say that Jesus is present as the Church.
But it goes beyond that. It isn’t just the work we do. It is the feeling that fills us. It’s there — and sometimes the feeling is stronger than it is at other times. For me, I feel it in my chest. I can’t explain it. You may feel it in your heart, your mind, or the deepest recesses of your being. It is a feeling that swells, as if I have been filled with something I cannot contain. That, to me, is the Spirit, the presence of the Living Christ at work in my life. There is no denying it. It is a presence closer to me than my breath. It is Jesus. Here is here [pointing to my chest]. And he is here [pointing to the congregation]. Jesus may have ascended to heaven to be at the right hand of the Father, but he never really “left” us.
Hold fast to the Living Christ. Look up to the heavens, look around you, and look within you. The One who defeated the powers of sin and death is here with us now, and he always will be. Amen.
[1] Mike Cosper, Rhythms of Grace (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 64.
[2] Andrew Purves, The Crucifixion Ministry (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007),
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor & Professor 