Acts 1:1-11

We are a storied people, and the stories we most often remember and retell revolve around significant events that have shaped our lives or others, both positively and negatively. Likewise, when Christians rehearse Jesus’s story, they go to the highlight reel—his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and even his second coming. These are all important, world-shaping events. But what about Jesus’s ascension? While it is clearly found in Scripture and in our earliest Creeds, it is so often, at best, relegated to a second-tier event, or at worst, forgotten all together.

Nevertheless, there are many reasons for us to remember and celebrate the ascension of Christ. Here, are just a few. First, the ascension marks Jesus’s return to his rightful place at the Father’s side—a place of honor, exaltation, worship, authority, and judgement (Phil 2:9-11; Eph 1:20-23; Heb 2:9). It is confirmation that Jesus is God, and therefore, that his salvation is real, God’s love for creation is genuine, and God’s unfulfilled promises are certain. Second, the ascension makes possible Jesus’s continued intercession on our behalf. He is a priest forever, “able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them”[1]; “a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens . . . made perfect forever” (Heb 7:23-28; cf. 1 John 2:1). Third, Jesus’s ascension makes possible the coming of the Holy Spirt. As Jesus reminded his disciples: “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send [the Holy Spirit] to you” (John 16:7).

This last point is made clear and extended in Acts 1:1-11. However, we must first highlight an important connection between the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, which were both written by the same person (Luke). Luke goes to great lengths to align Jesus’s life and ministry to that of the disciples. Like Jesus (Luke 4:1-2) the disciples had to undergo a 40-day period of preparation (Acts 1:3) and receive (or be baptized with) the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; cf. Luke 3:21-22) prior to beginning their mission (Acts 1:8; cf. Luke 4:14ff). Like the first disciples and the early church believers, we must also recognize the connection between Christ and us and between Christ’s mission and ours.

Jesus knew this would be a hard pill for us to swallow. It is difficult because we know our deficiencies, and we live with the felt shame of our failures and sin. When these things are compared to the person of Jesus and all that he accomplished, we feel incredibly inadequate. This is why he provided us with the Holy Spirit to deepen our faith and empower us to “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). Furthermore, this mission is not given to an individual; it is given to the Church. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is not divided amongst believers. The one Spirit is given to all followers uniting us as the Body under the headship of Christ and enabling us to grow in maturity and build each other up in love (Eph 4:11-16).

The ascension is proof that Jesus believes in us and sees us as the extension of his earthly ministry. This is why he could confidently proclaim, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). While many hear Jesus’s words and immediately think of his miracles (“signs” in John’s gospel), the main work of Christ was the mission and not the miracles!

This point becomes clear in Acts 1:8—“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.” They, like us, are given this great power to bear witness to what Jesus has done. Too often we want to perform spectacular signs to point people to us, but Jesus calls us to point people to him, and it doesn’t matter who they are or where they are. Near or far, enemy or friend, our calling doesn’t change; it is to lift Christ before others through our words and actions.  

This mission, given to the disciples, is highlighted throughout the rest of the book of Acts. Over and over, we see the obedience of the disciples to bear witness to Christ, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon everyone who believes, and the faithfulness of God to save and call thousands to himself, even the most unlikely of people like Saul (Paul), the Ethiopian eunuch, and the Gentiles. The disciples weren’t perfect; many of the things God was doing stretched their way of thinking and challenged long held beliefs and traditions as they eventually embraced the ever-increasing grace of God.

The Acts 1:1-11 passage foreshadows the disciples struggles. In verse 6, even after 40 days of preparation, they still misunderstood what Jesus was doing: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” One last time, the earthly Jesus had to refocus them. Then in verse 11, after Jesus’s ascension, the disciples stood gazing up toward heaven, needing to be told by two angels to stop wasting time. There story is not unlike ours. We too can get so caught up in trying to understand everything about God’s plans, or trying to predict when he will come again, or even spending all our time in the church worshiping with other Christians, that we lose sight of the mission.

May we never forget that God believes in us and has called us to bear witness to him in the world. And may this belief move us from our places of comfort to wrestle with what it means to love God and love our neighbors—especially the stranger, the outcast, the downtrodden, and those discriminated against.  

[1] All Scripture quotations are taken from the NRSVUE.