7 Easter, Year B                                                                      Acts  1:15-26
May 28, 2006                                                                          Psalm  47
St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church                              1 John 5:9-15
The Rev. Linda McCloud                                                         John 17:11b-19 

Sanctified Waiting 

            Waiting is very hard for us, or at least it is for me.  It’s so un-American to wait.  We live in a world where nanoseconds count – a world where so many things are instantaneous – instant messaging, instant food.  Every few days we hear about new technology that will put all information into real time.  And even though we don’t like to wait, why is it that we so often seem to get in the wrong line at the grocery store, or at the Post Office, and wind up waiting? 

            Waiting can be tough.  It can be tense.  Just imagine, if you will, what it would be like to be a jockey sitting on a thoroughbred race horse, and waiting for the starting gate to fly open on Derby Day.  How well I remember what it was like to wait for the word on whether I had been declared a postulant for holy orders.  I’m glad that’s over. 

            Thursday of last week was Ascension Day, the fortieth day after Easter.  We are now in that ten-day waiting period between Ascension Day and Pentecost.  Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles takes up right after Jesus had told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  If waiting is so hard for us to do, why did Jesus order his disciples to wait?  Why not just get them out there in the field preaching the Gospel?  After all, Jesus had been teaching them during this forty days after his resurrection on Easter.  Surely by now they were so proficient and well-versed in the Kingdom of God that they could take over where Jesus had left off. 

            But Jesus had some big surprises for his disciples, and they needed some further preparation.  The first surprise was that he ascended into Heaven right before their very eyes.  The meek and lowly One who had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey rode out of Jerusalem on the clouds of glory.  And while they were standing there with their mouths gaped open, here came those two men in white robes to give them further instruction.  Were they the same two angels who had been at the tomb when Jesus rose from the dead? 

            And what did the angels mean by saying that Jesus was on a round trip to heaven and would come back to earth?  This was all pretty heady stuff, and they needed time, as we say, to “process” it.   

            If the disciples thought they had been on an emotional roller coaster during the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, they had not seen anything yet.  The second surprise was that the Kingdom of God was going to be much bigger than they had first imagined it to be. 

            Jesus knew the disciples could not turn the world upside down by their own power, so he ordered them to wait for the Holy Spirit – the One who would walk alongside – the Comforter.  Just wait, Jesus had said.  How long?  “not many days” came the reply.  This was a scary, iffy time between the ascension of Jesus into heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  But since the disciples were under orders from Jesus, they waited, and wondered.  What would the Holy Spirit do?  How would they know the Holy Spirit when the time came? 

            But it was productive waiting.  It was holy waiting.  This was also a time for regrouping, reflection, and renewal.  The disciples went on a ten-day prayer retreat.  They stayed together, and were joined by Mary the mother of Jesus, along with other faithful followers of Jesus.  It was during this time that they elected Matthias to take the place of Judas. 

            During their time of reflection, I imagine that the disciples told and retold the stories of Jesus and the stories about Jesus.  Their mouths were probably still dropped open because of seeing Jesus ascend into heaven.  They also needed to reflect on what Jesus meant by what he had told them as he was ascending.  What did Jesus mean when he said they would preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth?  There were Samaritans out there.  And Pagan Gentiles.  And Roman soldiers.  The world was a hostile place.  They might get crucified just as Jesus did.  What was going through their minds? 

            The early Church Fathers give us some insight into what the disciples might have been thinking during this time.  Leo the Great, a Fifth Century Bishop of Rome, said that after the Lord’s passion and resurrection, the disciples had “. . . made such progress through his ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before.  They were able to fix their minds on Christ’s divinity as he sat at the right hand of the Father, since what was presented to their bodily eyes no longer hindered them from turning all their attention to the realization that he had not left his Father when he came down to earth, nor had he abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven.”[1]   

            The ascension of Jesus into heaven is a major milestone in the story of the Church, because it marks the formal ending of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.  It also marks for us the formal beginning of the rule of Christ everywhere and for all time.  So the Church since very early times has celebrated the Feast of the Ascension.   

            It comes at an odd time for us – this fortieth day of Easter.  It comes after we have experienced Holy Week and Easter Sunday, and we have settled into the Great Fifty Days of Easter with some ease.  We have gotten our Alleluia’s back and we have swung back into the rhythm of Sunday Eucharists with nothing special in between.  So, all of a sudden last Thursday, right in the midst of our busy week, we had the Feast of the Ascension.  Sadly, some of our churches pass over this Feast and don’t celebrate it at all.  Maybe this Feast is passed over because it calls for us to wait yet once again.   

            May be we would rather not bother with waiting because we already know what is coming next.  Pentecost is on its way, with red vestments and festivities revolving around the birthday of the church.   

            So why should we keep Ascension Day?  Maybe we too need some time to reflect, regroup, and be refreshed.  The season after Pentecost is long, and we need to prepare for the journey.  Maybe we need to think some more about Jesus’ parting words.  He said we would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.  Maybe we need to think about new ways in which we can preach the Gospel to all nations. 

            This could also mark the beginning of a time of preparation for Pentecost.  Maybe if we fully appreciate the Ascension, the Creed will be more meaningful to us.  Every Sunday we proclaim that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. 

            In remembering Ascension Day we can, metaphorically speaking, saddle up and get into the starting gate, learning once again what it’s like to wait.  God might have some surprises for us just as he did for the first disciples.