Sermon for May 5, 2034: To Receive Power based upon Acts 1:1-11

Acts 1:1-11In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’

So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

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Alright, we’re going to have a Bible quiz! Anyone can answer.

•      Name one of the Gospels! (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
•      Which one was probably written first? (Mark)
•      Which Gospel has the story of turning water into wine? (John)
•      Which Gospel has two donkeys in the Palm Sunday story? (Matthew)
•      Which Gospel has a sequel? (Luke)
•      What is the name of the sequel? (Acts or the Acts of the Apostles)

     Well done. Well done. You all get A’s in Sunday School.

     Today’s reading is from the book of Acts. It’s the very beginning of the book. Did anyone catch the name of the person the book was written to? Theophilus. Yes, very good. Does anyone know what the name Theolophilus means? “Dear to God.” Now, think back to all of what Maryelise read. Can anyone give me a two or three sentence summary of what the reading was about? Good. I like to think of it as a summary of the last part of the Gospel of Luke. Sometimes when you start a sequel to a story that has already been told, you have to remind people of what happened the last time. In the Star Wars movies, you might get text scrolling up the screen so you can read along to understand what’s happening. This time, it has nothing to do with Ewoks though. Instead, it’s “remember that time Jesus came back after Rome killed him and then made sure his followers could continue his work without him?” Specifically, the author mentions Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

     F. Scott Spencer points out in his commentary on this scripture, Luke is the only Gospel to talk about the Ascension. He describes it as a “hinge” between Jesus’ ministry with his disciples and the disciples’ ministry inspired by Jesus’ spirit. Everything that follows in this book is because the disciples will follow Jesus, even when he no longer walks alongside them.

     Has anyone here ever been a part of a relay race? What do you do in a relay race? Yeah. There are multiple people who are on one team. One team member starts the race and runs a portion of it, then, often by passing something called a baton to the next runner. That person running takes the baton and carries it to the next runner. Then, they pass it to the next runner. Carolyn Brown, who worked in children’s ministries, has written before that she thinks that the book of Acts is kind of like a relay race where Jesus is passing the baton, that is his spirit, on to the disciples so they can run the next leg of the race. There’s a song with a line that says “Guide my feet while I run this race. Guide my feet while I run this race. Guide my feet while I run this race, for I don’t want to run this race in vain.” Maybe that could be our theme song for the book of Acts.

     This part of Acts talks about Jesus staying with the disciples for 40 days to continue to teach them and prepare them for the rest of the race. Does anyone else remember any Bible stories that have 40 of something in them? The Israelites were in the desert for forty years. A scholar named Scott Spencer listed a couple more in a commentary he wrote about today’s reading. He talked about, in addition to the 40 years in the wilderness, there are other stories about 40 of something in the wilderness. Moses had two time periods of forty days where he fasted on Mount Sinai when he received the Torah from God (Deut. 9:9-10:10). Also, when Jesus himself was preparing himself for ministry after his baptism, he was in the wilderness for forty days where he was tested, affirmed God’s law, and tended to by God.  In that time, he affirmed that he would use what Spencer called his “Spirit-power” to help other people, not give himself more wealth or earthly authority (Luke 4:1‒13). 

     I think maybe we should think about this forty days as Jesus encouraging his disciples to do the same thing. They will be empowered to do some important things. Any of them who use their power to hurt other people or to build up their own reputations would not be following his example or be doing what God hoped for them. Jesus says that when you have power, you use it to help people. Always.

     One of the trickiest parts of a relay race is when one runner is passing the baton off to another. It’s so easy to miss each other’s hands, drop the baton, or mess up the timing. Runners practice passing the baton so that they can be prepared to pass it along and to receive it. You really have to be ready and paying attention to receive the baton correctly in order to run your portion of the race. Over the next couple Sundays, we’ll be talking some more about what the disciples do to get ready to receive the baton. Jesus says they need to wait in Jerusalem because that is where they received the power to run the next leg. They can’t rush the hand off. If they do, they risk dropping it.

     I imagine you have had a time in your life when something important is clearly over and you are transitioning into the next part of your journey. That is also what is going on in this story. The Ascension is Jesus’ final steps up to the next runners and their time in Jerusalem will be that full moment of hand off. In a time that may have seemed like a breath and also like days, they waited to receive what was coming, and begin what was coming next. We know that they’ll run their race, mostly because we are running ours, having been passed the baton by those who came before use. May you receive the power to do whatever you are called to next. And, may you be inspired by the preparation of the ones who have come before.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Scott Spencer: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ascension-of-our-lord/commentary-on-acts-11-11-9
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Carolyn Brown: https://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2016/04/year-c-ascension-of-lord-thursday-may-5.html