The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick. So he called the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper. 'Hello?' 'Is your daddy home?' 'Yes, he's out in the garden,' whispered the small voice. 'May I talk with him?' The child whispered, ‘No.’; so the boss asked, 'Well, is your Mommy there?' 'Yes, she's out in the garden too.' The boss asked, 'May I talk with her?'
Again the small voice whispered, 'No.' Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?' 'Yes,' whispered the child, 'a policeman.' Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?' 'No, he's busy,' whispered the child. 'Busy doing what?'
‘Talking to Daddy & Mommy and the police dog men.'
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?' 'It's a helicopter' answered the whispering voice. 'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive. 'The search team just landed a helicopter' 'A search team?' said the boss. 'What are they searching for?' Still whispering, the young voice
… replied with a muffled giggle ...'ME!'
(Source: unk/M.Pearson)
Actually this amusing story is really what we are celebrating today.
Where is Jesus and what are we to do now?
You see, Ascension Day is not really about the power of Jesus vanishing into heaven. It is about having that power unleashed onto the earth. While on earth, Jesus affected those around him. After he ascended, this powerful Presence was … unleashed on the whole earth, the whole cosmos. One theologian (Walter Wink) once noted that killing Jesus was like trying to destroy a dandelion seed-head by blowing on it (Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 226). Christ was the light of the world all right, but "now that light, as if hitting a prism, would fracture & shoot out in a human spectrum of waves & colors" (Yancey, 228). There is "no place that we can go to flee from his presence" (Psalm 139),
… nowhere we can go to separate ourselves from God's love (Rom. 8).
(Source: esermons.com/Witvliet, Beyond the Blank Blue Sky)
Today we need to hear what Teophilius heard? Jesus was “taken up” but before he left the disciples, he said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and you will be my
2 witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The first command Jesus gave us was "Follow me!"
The greatest commandment Jesus gave us was "Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself." The last commandment Jesus gave before he was taken from our sight was, "Be my witnesses.”
What are we asked to witness?
Today’s readings bring us to the end of Jesus’ time with his disciples. We see the disciples going out & proclaiming the good news to the whole world, even while they are waiting for Jesus to return in glory. What is this good news that they proclaim?
And why do the disciples go out & proclaim it?
What sends them out?
To answer “why”, let us look to Acts of Apostles. We learn that the disciples can proclaim the good news because they have received instructions through the Holy Spirit. From gathering together as a community, from reflecting on the Scriptures, & from encountering the risen
Lord Jesus, each of the disciples has come to know in a very personal way the good news about the life, death, & resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit, stirring in their hearts, sends them out … to proclaim the good news.
What, then, is this good news that the disciples discover & proclaim to everyone? It’s not about domination or any other self-seeking power. It is that God is with us at every moment of our lives-from birth to death, and even after we die. God is always with us.
God loves us all, saints & especially sinners (we need a little extra!).
It has always been about love.
In one of the “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoons, Calvin and his tiger Hobbes come upon an injured raccoon. Calvin tells Hobbes to stand guard while he summons Mom to the rescue. The raccoon is placed in a shoebox with some food & water; but the next morning Calvin is told that the little guy didn’t make it. Calvin cries, saying, “I’m crying because out there he’s gone,
… but he’s not gone inside of me.” (Source: Celebration 5/12)
And Jesus is inside of us!
The Gospel ends with the words: “And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.”
Let us remember, at this Liturgy of Christ’s return to the Father, that as our Easter celebration is coming to an end; the joy of living
… new life in Christ is still just beginning.The two dressed in white were right, don’t look up, look around you & … let the Adventure begin!
(Sources/ideas: Living With Christ, 5/12; esermons.com/McCabe/Sherer, Path of the Phoenix)