THE ASCENDED CHRIST RULES OVER ALL THINGS
Is there any chance anyone here feels like the world is kind of an unsteady place lately? That’s what I thought. You scroll through headlines and stories or watch the news and it’s just one strange or troubling or disappointing thing after another. Nobody likes to hear that gas prices are high. I don’t appreciate being told that it’s going to cost even more to throw slabs of beef on my grill.
Morality seems only to decline. Tragedies seem more prevalent. Politicians argue and call names like middle-schoolers on a playground (sorry middle-schoolers!). Countries threaten each other and go to war. Technology keeps changing so fast that I keep pushing the wrong buttons on all the things. Yesterday coffee was good for you; today it’s killing you.
Confusing and unsteady—that’s the world we live in.
And don’t even get us started on our personal chaos, right? We’re worried about our kids. We can’t imagine the world our grandchildren are inheriting. Our parents aren’t doing well. Can I find a summer job? Is my money going to outlive me or will it be the other way around? Test results, marriages, jobs, loneliness, guilt…
It’s all enough to make even a Christian wonder, Is somebody actually in control of all this mess? If the pastor asks you that in church on a Sunday, you know you’re supposed to tell him, God’s in control.
But on a lot of days, life really doesn’t feel like there is this strategic plan being faithfully carried out. It feels more like you’re sitting in one of those Target shopping carts with the bad wheel and riding it down a rocky hill…slick with rain!
Would you believe that this is exactly why Ascension is such an important festival? Ascension is not the celebration of Jesus disappearing or the celebration of Jesus’ much-deserved time off until Judgment Day. Ascension is the celebration of Jesus ruling over all things.
Forty days after rising from the dead, Jesus visibly ascended into heaven. What happened next? We’re told that God the Father seated Christ far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion. Then we hear this beautiful comfort for us this morning the thing that has the power to put away our worries and calm our fears and give us confidence and hope: God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church. That is, for you!
For the Benefit of His Church
In the gospel reading, we heard that the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy, worshiping Jesus and praising God continually in the temple. Why don’t the disciples feel abandoned and grieve the loss of their friend and Savior the way we often do when someone we know goes to heaven? Because they understood something important: Jesus had not stopped caring for them. He had not stopped leading them. He had not stopped ruling for them. In fact, now he would rule all things for them in an even greater way.
Paul says that God seated Christ at his right hand in the heavenly places. I won’t bore you with the details of my reading about the origin of the phrase “right hand man/person” from this week; the way it originated is kinda’ hard to pin down. But it has always expressed a certain trust and power and authority that a person has.
This is Jesus. When he rose from this world to heaven, he took the position of power and authority that was his as the crucified, risen, and now ascended Lord. He is Far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, and above every name that is given.
That means Jesus rules over every president and king, every shah and sheikh, every congress and court, all militaries and financial markets and Satan himself. There is absolutely nothing that operates outside his authority…and this is our Sunday morning stance when the pastor asks.
But it really doesn’t look like it a lot of the time, does it? War—or the threat of war— continues. Violence erupts in our streets. Government decisions support godless ways. Christianity is mocked. Churches struggle. Christians pray for certain things and wonder why the answers seem delayed—or we can’t figure out why God said no to us.
And because we see all of that, we can begin to think: Is anyone actually in control? In the midst of all the drama and chaos and trouble, the Ascension of Jesus gives us the happy answer yes! Our risen Savior rules over everything. And there’s something even better more fear-crushing and comforting he reigns for the church! That’s even better, isn’t it?!
This means that you are watched over by him as all these things seem to spin out of control. The distressing happenings from around the world and in our country that you saw online or TV were not random. The way your week went was not unseen or uncared about by God. The challenges our church may face are not hidden in a dark corner where Christ does not see them…or is not concerned about them…or has no idea what to do with them.
The truth is, we don’t know what to do with all of this, and we wouldn’t be able to come up with a good plan for it all, but Christ does know. So, while we sit around maybe watching too much Fox News or CNN or MSNBC or any of the three major networks’ 24-hour streaming news services, Christ watches all the events of the world without the biased commentary of others designed to stir up anxiety and hate and distrust and he works through all the things that are happening to accomplish what he wants… where he wants for you…and for all his people, the Holy Christian Church
We watch these things, we experience these things, and our inability to make sense of it all sometimes makes us cry out in distress: Why is all of this happening? Why doesn’t God do something about it? Or we get angry. And we do get angry. You sound like you hate the people on “the other side.” You wish evil on certain rulers and nations. Your language isn’t good. Your heart isn’t right. Your anger isn’t really very close to the righteous anger you think you have. It’s sinful anger.
Why are we like this? Drill down deep and you’ll find that it’s because we think we know better. We know what we would do and are certain it would be better than letting things go on like they are! Or it could be that we get mad at God for letting it go on. That happens too. These things anger the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly loving and perfectly just God. It is disrespectful to the God who tells us that Christ reigns over all things for his people. We should be grateful that he doesn’t swing the sword of righteous judgment down on us for the way we think and talk about all this sometimes.
Instead, he gets our attention somehow maybe it’s something in a devotion we read, maybe it’s a sermon, maybe it’s the words of a friend—and he convicts us of our sin. He also reminds us that Christ paid for these sins too...at the cross. Then he rose. Forgiveness is ours. Heaven is ours. It will be a while before we get there of course a while could be a couple hours from now or it could be 90 years. But heaven is ours. Until then though, here we live, in the middle of all this. But we need to do so understanding and trusting that The Ascended Christ Rules Over All Things for the Benefit of His Church.
So the Church Can Live Without Fear
So, it’s true that things are chaotic. And it’s true that the ascended Christ sees it all and uses it all for the good of his church. Since those things are true, how are we to live? Something Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus might help. He says, I keep praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ… will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing Christ fully. He wants us to be fully aware of the amazing hope our Savior can give, that we would understand just how powerful he is and how he uses that power for the benefit of his people right now even
It’s when our eyes shift away from Christ, fear quickly takes over We start obsessing about all of the bad things going on around the world and in our world. And we get discouraged and depressed and might see only the bad in things. We start living like earthly rulers or the Prince of Darkness are actually in charge.
But, an Ascension celebration like today has this clear message: Jesus reigns right now. Not that he will one day rule over all things. It’s right now. He rules over everything right now. That means that the Church can live without fear.
What does it mean to be comforted and confident children of God living the Ascension truth that Christ rules over everything? Well, it doesn’t mean that we completely disregard everything going on around us, that we completely tune out We’ll want to pray for people and governments and troubles like Christ encourages us to, and to stand up for what is right and true like he urges us to. We’ll share with those who need to hear it that Jesus is in the background where we cannot see, using and directing people and events even the bad ones to carry out his loving and just will.
Paul prayed that his people would know just how surpassingly great (God’s) power is for us who believe. That surpassingly great power of God that raised Christ from death is the power that is working for you, his Church, right now!
Since the time of Christ’s ascension, Christians have gathered together to hear his Word and receive his Sacraments just like we are today. For all that time, Christians have encouraged each other and prayed for each other and shared God’s love in Christ with those who don’t know him—just like we do today. For all that time and through all these things, Christ has ruled by his grace in the hearts of his people, and at the same time ruled with power over everything in this world.
The times we get more worried and fearful about the world and our personal lives often occur when we aren’t as connected to God If our devotional life is kind of hit-andmiss…if our being in church on Sunday isn’t always so consistent…if we go for some long stretches without Holy Communion…our focus isn’t on Christ. That means that we are necessarily focused on worldly things, which, as we’ve been reminded today, are not always pleasant.
We need Christ to rule in us through his Means of Grace the Word and the sacraments. These things enlighten the eyes of our hearts…we see Christ’s love for us…our hope is strengthened…and we are even more confident that the Lord who saved us is ruling over all things for us too. And so, we can live without fear! In an unsteady and often confusing world, Christ rules—and he rules for us. Any time you need to remember that, just think of Jesus’ Ascension! Amen.
Now
the peace of God, which
surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.