Jesus' Ascension - Pt. 2

 

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village. (Luke 9:51-56 ESV).

 

I am notoriously bad with a sense of direction. That has been exacerbated with the advent of GPS mapping. Even when I have not input a specific direction into my navigation system, I like to have the map on the screen to give me a comfortable sense of not getting lost. And, yes, I have gotten lost on several occasions. Some of these have been epic, though I’ll not take the space today to detail them.

 

Jesus was not directionally challenged at all. Looking back on Jesus’ life, his first followers could see that he was always headed toward heaven. Though Jesus did great things in his ministry here on earth — healing the sick, giving hope to the poor and needy — he remained focused on the heavenward direction of his work. This desire to keep on moving toward his Father, for our sake and for his kingdom, led Jesus resolutely toward Jerusalem, toward the suffering and death that would pay for our sins and give us new life in his kingdom.

 

Unfortunately, many believers today do not share that sense of direction. As individuals and as communities, we can be shortsighted. We respond to opposition with a sense of competition that ultimately leads us to a win or lose positional relationship. We refuse to dialogue with people whose politics differ from ours. We lash out at relatives and friends who upset us. We respond with fear, instead of love, to people who are different from us. In our Bible reading for today, we are not told Jesus’ words of rebuke to his disciples. But from his life we see that God’s plan can use even seasons of struggle and opposition to point us heavenward. The cross, the tomb, and the ascension are all essential parts of Christ’s story.

 

We should take some time to reflect on how we react to others. Are there areas of our lives that could benefit from an understanding of how Jesus’ commitment to eternal things changed the way he acted. God’s big-picture work should lead us through suffering and death to the hope of glory.