Ascension!

So, I had a schedule change at work, and I pretty much have to work Sundays for a month and a half. Inevitably, I missed out on one of my favourite themes in the Church calendar, Ascension Day. It's celebrated (in the Lutheran Church) 40 days after Easter, a week before Pentecost. It's one of my favourites for several reasons:

1. It shows that Christ has been honoured above all names, that God has accepted his victory over death.

2. Jesus glorifies our humanity at the right hand of the Father.

3. Jesus fills all things.

4. It makes us think about what Jesus has accomplished on earth, in his flesh on the cross, how he wishes to be known. (Whereas, we often think and question God, why couldn't Jesus stay here a little longer.)

5. Jesus intercedes for us as our high priest.

6. Predestination.

So that's a few of the things I hope to cover, as I am pressed for time, and am writing of the cuff. I've already been putting this off for a week or so.

It's always good start out with scriptures:

Ephesians 1:3-23; 2:1-9; 4:7-16; Romans 8:29,30,34; I Peter 3:21,22; Hebrews 8:1-7; Colossians 3:1-3; Daniel 7:13,14;

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.

There is so much you can talk about ascension: Jesus, Christology, Soteriology, Eschatology, Predestination, Justification, Pentecost, the cosmos, the right hand of God, Baptism- it doesn't end. And so that is my first impression. We often think of doctrines in isolation like beads on a string, but really it's more like a cake with different layers baked into each other, and if you have just a piece you have the whole. So while we might talk of "doctrines" in the plural there is only "one" doctrine, "Christ" and that is why doctrine is important!

But how does the ascension bring this all out? I do not mean to exhaust everything, because I do not think that is possible. But it starts with Christology. All doctrine starts with Christ.

We usually tend to think of Christ in two ways, his humanity and his divinity. In Reformed christology the "sovereignty" of God is the material principal, the axel of theology through which everything revolves. God is sovereign and that belongs to his divinity alone. The essence of God is sovereignty. In other words, to be sovereign is not to be man. And so you have a hard line, even within Jesus himself, that separates and compartmentalizes sovereignty. This christology somewhat abstracts Jesus into "attributes" which belong to his nature and not necessarily his "person". This teaching lends itself to the Nestorian heresy that views humanity and divinity in Christ like two separate boards glued together as if he were two different persons. To give you a taste of the flavour, some Calvinists will insist that when Christ appeared in the house after his resurrection, he didn't walk through walls as we would be led to think, but he must have sneaked in by picking the locks.

Orthodox christology views Christ receiving all power and dominion according to his humanity, since his divinity already had it. And that is how we view Daniel 7. Jesus ascended before the Ancient of Days and was given all glory and dominion, and now rules all things in his flesh - because of who he is (the Son of God) and what he has done (suffered and died), according to the will of the Father, and has then been seated at the right hand of Majesty.

Secondly, the ascension of Jesus with his humanity, shows that Christ has already accomplished our salvation for us. He has obeyed God's law, humbled himself even under Roman law, embodies all of humanity, takes our humanity into death for us, raises our humanity for us, and brings our humanity to the throne of God, and glorifies our humanity for us - and that is God's plan and purpose for us now in Christ.

So Jesus isn't a little savior who throws out a life jacket to keep us from drowning in 2 feet of water. Our humanity is in complete and utter peril and Jesus does all the major actions for us to save us. He gives us his own judgment received by the Father, and gives us his own glorification at the right hand of the father. Jesus leads the way, and as his disciples, we follow this destiny, his destiny, instead of the fate we otherwise would receive.

Oddly enough, I like to think of Jesus in a similar way as John the Baptizer. John not only prepared the way for Israel, but he also prepared the way for Jesus. John preceded Jesus in his ministry, teaching, and in his death. Now Jesus would follow suit in a new way. But Jesus still prepares the way for us. He is the way. He has done everything for us: He died and rose and lives in power. This is what it means to be predestined! It is not so much looking back into eternity, but us looking forward in Christ into eternity.

What does that mean? There is a now-and-not-yet dimension in our lives. Even as we have this militant struggle against sin in our lives here on earth, we are already seated and glorified in Christ in his flesh. We are forensically declared to be righteous, because we are now not yet righteous in ourselves - we are not only declared to be "right" with God, but we are declared to be "innocent" as if we have never done wrong. Though in heaven we will definitely be righteous in experience, our righteousness will still always come from Christ.

Or think of predestination like a cat. If a cat's head cannot get in, the body will not follow. But if the head squeezes through, the body will follow. Christ is the head of the Church, and the body is already glorified in him and is sure to follow. Consider it already done because you are in Christ and he has already done it all. This is not to say, predestination doesn't come from God's foreknowledge either. However, it gives us hope and assurance, not that God is abstractly sovereign from all eternity past, but that he is actively sovereign in the Son who is at his right hand.

So, why did our Head leave us here in this way? I can only assume Christ has already suffered enough in his flesh. It is not his will to go through his experience on earth all over again with us murderous sinners. Rather he is glorified in heaven, and we know this by faith. God hides his glory to reveal his power in a way that completely mystifies us. He wishes to be remembered and known as our Savior through his opposite sign. Not his strength, but in his true glory, absolute weakness: God becoming man and rescuing us in humble suffering servitude and dying. And he did not leave us here alone, but gives us the Spirit who is our strength in our weakness. Further, because the head suffers, the body will also suffer. And that is why the book of Revelation is written the way it is, and why Paul speaks of Christ (who walked this earth a few years in ministry in Palestine) as this super heroic cosmic Jesus. The Christian life looks like tragic defeat. So the Revelation is for those who cling to this sorry Gospel in adversity, revealing that our weakness is really glory, might, power and the like, and this foolishness of the Gospel must be trusted and believed, placed above all things, and gives us hope in this now-not-yet dimension.

But while we are here, we know Christ's sacrifice has made us atonement, ascending like smoke into heaven, interceding for us at the right hand of God, uniting heaven and earth, and filling all things, awaiting his enemies to be made a footstool; meanwhile, we suffer those enemies, not flesh and blood, but the devil, and even in the midst of that, we are already seated in Christ, at rest, at peace, awaiting his return and the completion of our salvation which we have already attained in Christ, having been baptized into his destiny of death and resurrection, and named with the name of his baptism, as the Beloved, declared innocent and glorified.

Infused Herbal Tea, Christian Mission, and Everything Else.

I bought a new box of tea at the grocery store today. Had some lunch. After following the instructions on the box of tea, I read step 5: Contemplate your favourite eternal mysteries. So I did.

I started thinking about the mission of the church and how it seems so individualized these days, and how it hardly has any regard to community and the whole body of Christ. But if we stop and think, you cannot talk about the living body of Christ without saying something about the Church, and you cannot think of the Church without Christ. How is it that people think they can live as a Christian without the Church? The body can still live without the finger, but can the finger live without the body? If you claim to be a member of the invisible Church, you'd be right that the Church has invisible qualities, but it also has visible manifestations too. I think this attitude turns out to be more prideful, and more dangerous, as a super-spiritual gnosticism. And to me, this is one of the mysteries of his kingdom: the height and depth to which Jesus forgives sin, not merely as a mediator between man and God, but also as a mediator between man and man. Jesus forgives my sin so much that he forgives my neighbor's. Therefore, the Church and its mission can exist. That is where mission starts. If I attempt salvation without Christ, it is humanism, an endless toil, lofty goals, and in the end, fruitless. But the power of the gospel produces real effects, here and now, and forever. And that is why the Gospel needs to be central in all Christian conduct. Where some people see peace, love and kindness, as the Gospel, I see it as the cause and effect of the Gospel, but not necessarily the Gospel itself. It isn't about us, but it is about Christ for us, together with him, his gift to us. It all comes through his forgiveness. To be in Christ is to have him in us, to have each other, to be his body. So as the incarnation is a mystical union with God and man, so we also have a mystical union with him and to each other through the Spirit he gave us.

If You Get Christmas Wrong, You Get Everything Else Wrong

Truth be told, I cannot help but like every day of the church year (some favourites include the Ascension, the Baptism of Jesus, Good Friday etc). That said sometimes I want to think that Christmas is the whole Gospel. It certainly is a major part of it. And yet, sometimes it seems like it would almost be fitting if it was the whole thing, although I know it is not.

When the Son of God becomes man he embodies all of humanity. He stands in and with all flesh and every human being. Jesus is the new head of humanity, the new Adam. Everyone can look at the manger and know that God's disposition toward us is grace and unification in Christ. God has brought man and God together in Jesus Christ, and his judgment is not disposed to condemnation. Which is why Calvinism seems to be quite a distortion of the Gospel. To deny a universal atonement seems to not only undercut Jesus' death, but also the incarnation. How can Jesus not die for all of humanity since he bears the same flesh as all humanity?

So, that is one of the ways I celebrated Christmas... by not being a Calvinist.

But I also had a few other thoughts. The incarnation doesn't just mean Jesus' conception and birth, but really the whole person of Jesus. At least that's how Athanasius seemed to use the term - which also seems why Eastern iconography depicts Mary holding the manly-faced baby Jesus. So in a certain sense I also think it is fitting to view Christmas in this way. Not simply the manner in which Jesus was born, but that he was born and that God took on our flesh in a peculiar way. I know some people downplay this because Paul doesn't make much light of Jesus' birth... however the Gospels do mention it, and furthermore, Paul presupposes it. Jesus was made like us in every way and identifies with us in every way also, including, growing up, being submissive to parents, temptation and even death.

And it doesn't end there. He is still our brother in the flesh interceding for us at the right hand of God with our own humanity. Because of this we identify in his resurrection and ascension. He not only embodies us in his life, death and resurrection, but he also embodies us in our glorification at the right hand of the Father. Because he is glorified, we too are glorified in our flesh, and we await the resurrection of our lowly bodies. So Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation which is the whole unification of God and man in Christ. (Paul's apostleship would also be proof of the ascended incarnation. The qualifications of an apostle was to see the resurrected body of our Lord, which is what Paul saw on the road to Damascus, well after the ascension. And it is also said Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.) The incarnation is here to stay.

All that to say, if you get Christology wrong, you're probably going to go wrong elsewhere with the gospel. I think that is why the Church fathers fought so hard for a robust Christology in the creeds and the life of the Church, and all those things like Monophysitism, Nestorianism, Arianism etc are called heresies. If you get Christmas wrong, you get everything else wrong.

1 John 4:2-3 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.

Theology of the Cross Quotes

"A God who is everywhere is as useless as a God who is nowhere. What we need is a God who is somewhere." Dr. Norman Nagel

"God hides himself in order to reveal himself." Rev. Todd Wilken.