Leader Post
Acts 1: 6-26

June 1, 2003

35 years ago I read a book and I have not reread it, though I should to see where I have journeyed. In a way, I don’t need to because I still remember vividly a whole series of important passages. What kind of book can impress itself upon you that way?

Nikos Kazantsakis’ The Last Temptation of Christ, written in 1953, created a firestorm in the late 1980’s when a movie version was created and the evangelical thought police came out in force to suppress it. The thought of Jesus having sex with Mary Magdalene was intolerable. Although no one had read the book or had seen the movie, the Christian coalition in my town effectively banned the movie being shown in the local cinema and eventually being distributed to the video stores.

Too bad, because no author has been able to describe and amplify upon the Gospel the way Kazantsakis does. He paints an almost horrid scene of the bringing back to life of Lazarus, four days dead in the stone tomb. Lazarus was resurrected, but it wasn’t pretty and he looked at least half dead, a brittle, dried out, totally amazed and confused man who didn’t really know if he should be here.

In the real world, however, every act of resurrection is an insurrection and someone is not happy about it. Jesus’ act was intolerable to the powers-that-were and inevitably a goon squad was sent out to Bethany to take care of the problem that remained in the fragile body of Lazarus. They grabbed poor Lazarus from behind, broke off his dried out arm, and stuck a blade in his stomach.

In the Gospel we don’t hear all this about Lazarus. We assume that though he died and was raised from death, he died again for good at some point. His resurrection was intended to demonstrate Jesus’ power, not Lazarus’ own virtues. Lazarus was apparently a nice guy, Jesus loved him dearly, but he simply was dead at the right time.

It is different with Jesus. To see Jesus die in the normal human fashion some time after his resurrection would not make sense theologically. It is only logical that Jesus’ earthly existence is concluded not with a normal death, but like Elijah he ascends, is lifted up, into the heavenly realm, however that may be imagined. For most people it is hard to imagine, but for Christians these past two millennia, not as hard to imagine as seeing God die.

The ascension in the Gospel of Luke is the final word, the fitting close to the Good News. Yet, Luke the author wasn’t finished as he continued the story in the Acts of the Apostles. A little bit of a recap at the start of this Part Two retells the occasion of the Ascension with a few extra details. Luke then continues the story that is largely a parallel version of the Gospel - whatever Jesus accomplished, the apostles mimicked with the help of the Spirit in the best way they could.

The Ascension in Acts is not a fitting conclusion, but the beginning of all possibilities. As Jesus was being “taken up” and drawn out of their vision by a cloud, while they stood and stared upward, two men in white robes stood beside them. For certain, these guys had to be the same two who stood in Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter morning. Got to do more than one job these days. On Easter they answered the women’s queries, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen.”

Now these two guys from Harrison echo pretty much the same sentiment, “What are you gappers doing here, gawking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly - and mysteriously - as he left.”

This is no fading into the sunset, no end of the western story. This is the beginning of The Story, and you as well better get on with it. What are you going to do with a resurrection? What insurrection are you going to be about?

The first insurrection the disciples and apostles decided upon was to stop living in limbo, to put the past in perspective and let it go, and to start living by what they had learned.

They review the whole Judas betrayal and tragedy, but with no bitterness or paralysis. It happened, regretfully, but it was part of God’s overall working and economy, so let it go.

The church by then had grown to 120. Still there was something significant about the leadership of the Twelve, and that seemed to compel them to fill the leader post for two reasons. One, to make it known that their ministry happens in human institutions. No longer could they be spectators to miraculous events; for Jesus had ascended and was gone from their stage. Second, when you feel betrayed by a human being, the best response is to answer back with choosing another good person. Don’t allow one failed person to destroy your faith and love in many good people.

The best good is not something, but someone. There were two candidates who are blips on our historical screen for these verses. Joseph Barsabbas (aka Justus) and Matthias - that’s all we know, no qualifications, no CVs. They were considered worthy and just the fact that their names have survived is remarkable and amazing. Yet there was one thing Peter and the other ten were looking for in the new Number Twelve - “a witness to the resurrection.”

Let’s get it straight - no one saw the resurrection itself. It’s a witness to how a life have been radically changed, how the shape of the world has been altered, how death has been thwarted. As a human being, you can’t believe unless you’ve seen it.

Two collections or gaggles characterize us: those who have seen the resurrection with their own eyes; and those who have come here hoping to see and hear it, to feel the power of the resurrection.

That second gaggle can’t see it if the first gaggle just stand gawking at the empty sky, marveling about the nice clouds. You who have seen are the leaders, the apostles, and have been sent to talk - it’s in you now and it’s got to come out. As leaders you’ve got to to be witnesses, understanding that like Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias you won’t be especially remembered and ballyhooed. The people close to you will remember you for your love and what you reported, and how you lived after the resurrection.

Jesus has been taken up in the ascension. No longer time to gawk. We have to tell people what we’ve seen as we try to live in the wake of the resurrection.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan