The Neglected Festival

A blessed Ascension Day!

Forty days after Easter Jesus ascended bodily into heaven.  Man has gone where no human has gone before.  Jesus, both true God and true man, rules over all things on behalf of His body, the Church.  Where Jesus has gone, there believers shall go also. These lowly, decaying bodies will either be resurrected gloriously or be transformed in the twinkling of an eye.  Heaven is open for you.  Jesus has prepared the way and invites you to live there with Him forever.

No greater gift is possible.  You will not find it in any catalog.  Not even MasterCard with its priceless campaign can secure it.  No amount of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, stocks, bonds or plastic can purchase it.  No parliament, politician, judiciary or military can change it. Trust not in princes they are but mortal, earth born they are and soon decay. Neither the strength of man or beast can obtain it or change it.  The fact of the matter is:  Jesus reigns.  He is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent ruler of all things visible and invisible.

His power is revealed in weakness.  His body, betrayed, battered and beaten hid the splendor of His might.  In His silence the verdict against all unrighteousness was leveled on Him.  He bore the cross for you, that by His wounds you might be healed.  He died that you may live forever.  He rose as proof that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son.  He ascended to assume His rightful place at the right hand of the Father.  Still He cones today.  He calls His church to be stewards of the mysteries of God.  His Word is alive and active.  It kills and makes alive.  It reveals the thoughts and intentions of every heart.  He empowers water and the Word to be the cleansing flood for a fallen creation.  Those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death and join in His resurrection.  The Savior calls them His own.  He feeds them with His body and blood that are received in bread and wine in the Supper He instituted.  Here He joins Himself  to you in time that you may be His eternally.  He gives you His Spirit as the down payment of what is to be yours forever.

When Jesus returns what is hidden now will be disclosed in all of its divine majesty and glory.  There will be no mistaking what is happening at His Second Coming.  Every eye will cry on account of Him.  Believers surprise will give way to everlasting joy.  Unbelievers will cry out for the crumbling mountains to hide them from the One who is returning.  The Ascension of our Lord is an integral part of the Divine Drama for your salvation.  Take heart!  No matter how bad it gets, Jesus promises never to let you go.  Multitudes have gone before your in the Faith. Some lost their earthly lives only to gain entrance into that city whose architect and builder is God. Imitate their faith.

Why then is this day so neglected?  Is it disbelief that these things are true?  Is it love for this present order of things?  Since it is out of sight is it also out of mind?  For many the answer is yes, yes and yes.  Why among believers does this day go by as just another Thursday?  The above may fit.  Perhaps it is something deeper, even sinister.  Could it be that an ascended Jesus doesn't fit the image people want of Him?  Any potentate, particularly a divine one, creates fear and awe in sinful mortals.  Better not to be noticed by the King; better to live in quiet obscurity trying to make the most of life now.  Maybe none of what the Scriptures claim about the ascended Lord is true?  If it isn't true then one trusts solely what they feel, think and experience.  Faith becomes a faint hope that if you just mind your own business, keep to yourself, make no gigantic waves and go along with the status quo everything will be okay. Others look for that proverbial fifteen minutes of fame as being the best one can attain.  How tragic. How sad that people believe the devil's lies.

The incarnate, crucified, resurrected and ascended Lord is not distant and far away. He is closer than you think.  He is with you all day, every day, even to the close of the age.  He invites you to remain in His Word, to taste and see that He is good in the Holy Supper, to rejoice in the new birth from above that is yours in Baptism.  These gifts are located specifically in the Holy Christian Church and set in the Divine Service.  Here heaven meets earth.  With Jesus are the host of heaven.  In Him we are united.  What we have now in faith we shall have by sight eternally.

Why is this day so neglected?  Could it be as simple as we do not recognize the Giver and the gifts He brings because He is the incarnate, crucified, resurrected and ascended One?