Why Celebrate Ascension? (Part I)

Does anyone celebrate Ascension anymore?

I pray you can answer “yes” to that question. But isn’t it true that the Festival of the Ascension of our Lord is one of the most neglected, if not forgotten festivals in the Christian church year? We get so excited about Easter and loudly celebrate Pentecost, but Ascension often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. In fact, every year it seems to lose a little more from its high regard as one of the oldest and greatest festivals in the Christian church year.

Years ago it was quite common to find special Ascension worship services celebrated on the Thursday evening forty days after Easter. For me, personally, that was always our custom in the churches where I grew up. As time passed, however, attendance has dwindled and more congregations now have joint worship services on Ascension evening, if at all. Now in my own parish ministry, it’s not uncommon to hear surprise in the voice of other brothers in the ministry when they hear we still celebrate Ascension on Thursday evening. It’s not that they don’t celebrate Ascension, since their celebration is often moved to the following Sunday, but isn’t it sad that the lives of our congregations have become too busy to celebrate this ancient festival on the actual festival day?

In spite of its neglect, we still have reason to celebrate the Ascension of our Lord! We celebrate our Savior’s victorious return to heaven where he now rules at the right hand of the Father for our good and the good of his kingdom. At the same time, Christ promises to ever be with us, who now go out as his witnesses to the ends of the earth, until he returns on the Last Day!

As you prepare for the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord, I would like to share two selections (one today and one tomorrow) from Prof. John P. Meyer’s discussion of a portion of Augsburg Confession, Article III in his Studies in the Augsburg Confession. Article III states, “[Christ] ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. There He forever reigns and has dominion over all creatures. He sanctifies those who believe in Him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts to rule, comfort, and make them alive. He defends them against the devil and the power of sin.” (CA III:4-5 - Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions [2nd Edition], 2006) Meyer comments on the relationship of the theology of the cross and Christ’s rule at the right hand of the Father. (All the emphasis is his.) May his comments enrich your Ascension preparations!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Do we always realize what it means for us that Jesus is now sitting on the right hand of the Father? The sitting on the right hand is this that he actually does forever reign and have dominion over all creatures. Thus says our Confession. But what does this mean for us?

He who is sitting on the right hand of the Father is our Savior. the Son of God, before he assumed our human nature, did reign and have dominion over all creatures. By him they had been created; they were his property. He had made them what they were, what he wanted them to be. He controlled them. He could change them to suit his purposes. He could destroy them if he saw fit.

But he of whom it is now said that he is sitting on the right hand of the Father is the Son of God, not as he was with the Father from eternity, but as he is after he had assumed human nature, after he had suffered and died for us on the cross in order to redeem us from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. He so loved us, he so desired to see us saved eternally in heaven, that he gave himself for us into death and hell. He it is who now reigns and has dominion over all creatures.

Ponder this truth. Our Savior has been made the Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. Nothing can stir in the wide world without his will, let alone against his will.

Then we can be of good cheer. To be sure, he expects us to take up our cross and follow him. there is no other way that leads to heaven. We must–yes,must– go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God (Ac 14:22). And we can be sure that the enemies who heap tribulation on us seek to destroy us thereby and to drag us into hell. But they cannot do as they please. Jesus, our Savior, forever reigns and has dominion over all creatures. So they can harm us none. All things, even our bitterest sufferings, must work together for our good. He who is sitting on the right hand of the Father as the Supreme Ruler of the universe will see to it. He is our Friend.

Why then not rejoice!

You will say, Who can always rejoice? The cross is heavy and painful. It hurts. Our heart is filled with uneasiness and fear. And in addition to this, our nature is very weak. We are oftentimes so faint that we do not even know what to pray for as we ought.

Does our Jesus not know this? In reigning over all creatures, he takes this very fact into consideration. We cannot by our own reason or strength take up our cross and follow him. We cannot by our own reason and strength even come to him and believe in him.

But mark what our Article says: He does sanctify them that believe in Him, by sending the Holy Ghost into their hearts.

That is what he promised his disciples before he went to his Father. “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). He told his disciples to wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father that they might be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Ac 1:4,5). And on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the apostles, Peter said to the multitude by way of explanation: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (Ac 2:32,33).

If we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, need we fear that the cross might become too burdensome for us or that we might faint under its load? And though we do, we have the assurance that the Spirit helps us in our weakness, yes, that the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Ro 8:26). As our Article says: He will rule, he will comfort, he will defend us against the devil and the power of sin.

Let us not be deceived. The kingdom of our Savior does not yet appear in glory. That will not happen till the end of the present world. Yet, though his reigning may be hidden from the eyes of men, though unbelievers may scoff and sneer, Jesus is actually sitting at the right hand of the Father. All power has been given to him in heaven and on earth. Nothing happens here on earth, neither good or bad, neither great nor small, which he does not control. No matter where we may turn our eyes–whether to the destruction wrought by the hands of man in war and bloodshed, or to the devastation following in the wake of storms and earthquakes, or to famine and diseases stalking the earth, or to the modest violet blooming quietly in some hidden corner–it is our Savior sitting at the right hand of the Father who controls all things and makes all things, yes, all things, serve the purposes of his kingdom.

And in due time our Lord will reveal his kingdom in glory when he shall return on the Last Day.

From Studies in the Augsburg Confession, by J. P. Meyer, pages 60-62
(c) 1995 Northwestern Publishing House. All rights reserved. Used by permission.