June 5 2011    Reading:  Luke 24.36-53

Theme: The Ascension

Recently, archaeologists in Spain reported that they have discovered what seems to be the earliest map ever found. It’s a stone tablet and it dates from almost 14,000 years ago. The stone tablet, covered in tiny lines made with some kind of sharp tool. measures about seven inches by five inches, and was found in a cave in Abauntz in the Navarra region of northern Spain in 1993. A team from the University of Zaragoza has just spent 15 years making sense of the etched lines and marks on the stone. The big breakthrough, however, came when one of the team realised that the lines and markings were a picture of the landscape round the cave. On the stone there is a drawing of a mountain and a river running along the mountainside away to the left. In the centre and of to the right on the stone, there is a forest and rocky ground. This is exactly the view from just outside the cave. "We can say now with certainty that it is a sketch, a kind of plan or map of the surrounding area," said Pilar Utrilla, who led the research team. "Whoever made it has sketched out the course of the river, the mountain outside the cave and the animals found in the area - The sketch on the stone corresponds exactly to the landscape round about" she said. Nothing like this has been discovered elsewhere in western Europe," she said. A stone, sketching out the landscape, maybe for a journey into the mountains, or to mark the places where wild fruit grew, or where to find flint for tools. Someone took care to pass on to others the information to find their way that day, or over the next few days, over the mountains, across the rivers, to find food, or whatever it was they needed. A sketch, a plan, a map, corresponding exactly to the surroundings.

To speak in deep reverence, here in the last verses of Luke 24, we have the brief words of Jesus spoken to the disciples gathered once again in the Upper Room, here in the words of Jesus a sketch, a map, a plan laying out to the disciples what would happen in the future through God’s purposes.......

In these moments together in the Upper Room, Jesus speaks briefly, but concisely to the disciples about the past, the present and the future and what all this will mean for them..........

First...... the present

Once again, there in the Upper Room, in moments of the deepest, most intense holiness, Jesus says to the disciples look at my hands, and my feet. And the disciples look, we are told, in joy and amazement and see the marks His hands and feet. In joy and amazement because now the disciples see and know that this indeed is Jesus, risen.

The risen Jesus, who still bears the marks of the Cross.

Those marks in His hands and His feet, still there, not removed but still visible.........

marks which will remain throughout eternity.

These are the marks which will show forever that, at the Cross, Jesus took all the sin of all the world, ours included, upon Himself. Those marks show that Jesus took our place, our sin, our condemnation on Himself, and so He bore our sins, carried them away........ and so your sin and guilt and mine, a whole life’s worth of sin and guilt has been taken away, and dealt with once and for all..... these verses, those marks seen in Luke 24 are witness to that.........

Jesus with the disciples in the Upper Room......the present.........

Now, the past.

Jesus tells the disciples that all of this can be found already in the Old Testament........ in the books of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. The message of the Cross and the resurrection had already been foretold in the Old Testament,

What does that mean ? it means this, that the Cross and resurrection of Jesus had been in God’s age long loving purpose for the world..............from the very beginning.

God’s age long loving purpose for the world, which still flows through the world today,

and includes us........ the whole earth, the whole Church, today........

it is already there in the Old Testament........ in the books of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. The message we hear today of God’s love shown in the Cross and the resurrection of Jesus runs right back into, and is already spoken of in the Old Testament.

And, in the days and months and years ahead, says Jesus, beginning in Jerusalem, that message of the Cross and resurrection will spread across the world, .........

Jesus speaks of the past, the present and the future...... of the world.........

Now the turning point

Now comes a turning point.......for the Church ..........

a turning point. Some historians have picked out turning points for the Church down through history......... one famous turning point is when Constantine became the emperor of the whole Roman empire........ born in 272 or 273 AD Constantine was a great general

his campaigns took him all over the Roman Empire, from Palestine to Asia Minor , from the British Isles to Spain, and Gaul. One day, while crossing the Alps with his army, Constantine had a vision of the cross shining in front of the sun and he heard the words: In this sign conquer. He continued on across the Alps and defeated the opposing army, captured Rome, and became the new emperor. In the year 313 Constantine announced that Christianity would be the new religion of the Roman Empire. A turning point in history.

For the New Testament, however, the real turning point........... is when Jesus ascended into heaven............

In those last days before He returned to God’s presence in heaven, Jesus tells the disciples about the future, and the way God’s plan and purpose will unfold........ Jesus speaks of that great dynamic movement, when He will be taken up from the narrow limitations of this world into the Father’s eternal presence……..

In Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1 we read how this happened........ outside the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem, the disciples met together with the risen Lord Jesus, and they talked together.

Jesus told them .. once again, what would happen in the near future........ that the Holy Spirit would come........ and that soon they would tell the good news of the gospel throughout the known world, near and far. The Book of Acts tells us what happened next in just a few words in verse 9, very sparing in their description, We read that Jesus was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

Very simple words....He was taken up before their very eyes, but for the New Testament, however, that moment when Jesus ascended into heaven is a great turning point ........... on a vast, incomprehensible scale.........

Here’s Paul in his letter to the Ephesians speaking about it: The Father raised Jesus from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion… and placed all things under His feet.

Again in Philippians: God has exalted Jesus to the highest place and has given Him the name that is above every name………at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow.

Why is this is such a great turning point ?

Well, despite the opposition of the world, its hostility, its violence…….. despite its indifference, there is a yet greater reality, which is this: that God has exalted Jesus Christ to the highest place and has given Him the name that is above every name………

And if you look, you will find that the Church in the New Testament found its life, its strength in knowing that all power and authority belonged to Jesus in heaven.......………

Yes, sometimes, down through history there were turning points in the life of the Church, for the worse, when the future was shrouded in darkness. But for the Church of the New Testament and the early years, their hope was anchored in the fact that Jesus had ascended into heaven.

And why is this is such a great turning point ?

Because He is still there, He is the same yesterday, today and forever...... The Scriptures tells us that Jesus, who has gone into God’s presence, is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Lord Jesus, as He was in the gospels, the Lord Jesus who cared for the lost, the outcast, the sinners is still the same today, and He cares for you.

All that He was yesterday, He is today. If we sometimes look back to yesterday, to days gone by and wonder if our faith was stronger, our hope more sure, our love for Jesus deeper in days gone by then here is a word for us: All that He was then, He is still now. All that Jesus was yesterday, He still is today. For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has not changed. And because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever today and forever, in heaven, this also means that He will be tomorrow, what He is today. The Lord Jesus we know now, who is near, who gives us strength when we are utterly exhausted, when we do not know which way to choose, will still be tomorrow, what He is today for us. When we are in those situations, where we do not know which way to turn, when fear grips the heart, when the burden seems too great, He, He will be tomorrow what He is for us today..............

Through all the changes in our circumstances, or in the Church, or in our hearts

Jesus, now in heaven, is the same yesterday and to-day and for ever.

and all things are still in His care..............

AMEN.