THE KING WHO REIGNS

Jesus clearly is the King. But if Easter tells us the King has won, then Ascension tells us the King is reigning. Not gone and not forgotten. At Jesus Ascension he appears to go away, but Jesus has not forgotten us. Dr. Jason Brogy explains today on the Lutheran Hour. I'm Mark Eicher. Today's message is titled, The King Who Reigns, and we'll hear that in just a moment. But first, here's Lutheran Hour speaker Michael Ziegler with a special invitation. Thank you for your prayers and your generous financial support. It's the last week of the Lutheran Hour spring giving campaign. A final chance to have your gift doubled, dollar for dollar, by a $75,000 matching grant. If you haven't taken that step, I hope you'll consider it today. You'll help bring the Lutheran Hour to this radio station, to listeners nationwide, including those who stream it online. Please consider donating online at lutheranhour.org slash give, or call us toll-free Monday through Friday at 800-876-9880. The number again, 800-876-9880, and the web address is lutheranhour.org slash give. Thank you for your generosity and please keep us in your prayers. Our guest speaker today is the Reverend Dr. Jason Broge, Vice President of Global Research for Lutheran Hour Ministries. Now here is Dr. Broge. This week marks an oft-overlooked holiday in the modern church calendar, Ascension Day, or as some might call it, the Feast of Ascension. I call it an oft-overlooked holiday for the simple reason that the majority of Christians in America do not have a special service on Thursday, 40 days after Easter. And of those that do, fewer still attend a church with a giant feast and festival after the service. I have been a Christian my entire life and no one has ever offered me an Ascension Day gift or cookie. I don't know what an Ascension Day cookie would taste like, but if it were left up to me, it would be something surprisingly flavorful and yet light and airy. To be sure, there are many churches in America that still follow a liturgical calendar and many of them will designate the Sunday before Ascension Day, Ascension Sunday, mostly so they can acknowledge it before Pentecost the following Sunday. And I strongly suspect that if I asked the

average regular church attender what the holiday was referring to, they would correctly tell me about Jesus' Ascension into heaven after Easter and just before Pentecost. If, however, I were to go on to ask about how significant a story it was, perhaps get them to sort a bunch of miracles and threw that one in, I do not get the impression that many American Christians would rank it very high on the list. It is, after all, no Christmas or Easter, not even a Pentecost or Epiphany. And this is where things get interesting. Because while many of us in the modern church may seem to think, even if just to ourselves, that Ascension is perhaps not quite as significant as some of the other major church holidays, the early church seems to be in significant disagreement with us. In fact, it does not take much of a survey of church history to find that throughout history, Ascension was one of the major holidays. We have records of it being celebrated as far back as the 4th century, and in some countries like Germany and France, Ascension Day is still a national holiday to this very day. Which, when you think about it, is really interesting. France and Germany are not countries most Americans think of today as especially church-going or religiously vibrant. Both have seen deep secularization in modern life. And yet, Ascension Day still remains a public holiday there. And this makes me wonder. What is it about Ascension Day that could be so important, that could have been so foundational to the early church, that the celebration of it has left an indelible impression on countries to this very day? What do they know that we are missing? On the surface, Ascension Day may seem like just another impressive miracle performed by Jesus. His last one. that modern-day movie viewing has made seem like a minor trick in superhero summer blockbuster films. Jesus, like Superman or Neo and the Matrix, takes off into the clouds. If anything, Jesus' version seems a bit slower and less impressive, although it does end with him disappearing in the end. And in a world that is in the midst of tearing itself apart, frankly, Jesus leaving doesn't seem nearly as important as his coming or his coming again. If anything, it feels disheartening, empty, shallow. Even the disciples were hoping for something more than this.

In Acts, right before the Ascension, they come together and Luke tells us they ask him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or the season that the Father has fixed by his own authority. It's as though they are saying, okay, we finally get it. We marched in on Palm Sunday with the crowds expecting you to finally be the king, and we didn't get it. You spoke to us the night before they crucified you, and we didn't get it. But now you've risen from the dead. You have defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil. You have proved without a shadow of a doubt that you are the promised king, the son of David, the Messiah. Now, now it must be time for you to start reigning, right? Now it must be time to kick out all the evil of this world and bring in justice, mercy, and your righteousness, right? And in response, it's a little like Jesus is saying, yeah, you still don't get it. And then he leaves, and the disciples, they do as they're told. They head back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. And it's only then that the age of the church really seems to kick off. So is this just some going away party for Jesus so he can send the Holy Spirit? If so, why the big fuss? Why the festivals? Why the pilgrimages? Why the big feasts? Because there's a lot more going on. The disciples had the right idea. Jesus clearly is the king. From the moment he came, the kingdom of God came in and with him. And Easter definitely declares that the king has won. But if Easter tells us the king has won, then Ascension tells us the king is reigning. And his reign is good. This truth surprises many.

While many Christians are used to confessing on a weekly basis that Jesus ascended to heaven and there he sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead, this picture seems to them more like a distant king than an active king reigning in our lives. But let us look a little more closely at the Ascension with a slightly different lens, and we may just walk away with a clearer picture. The story of Jesus' Ascension is unique. It occurs twice in the New Testament from the same author. Luke ends his gospel with the Ascension, and begins his second book, the Acts of the Apostles, with the story again. Almost like a TV show, previously on the New Testament. We heard a little from Acts moments ago. Hear now the account from the closing of the gospel according to Luke. Since rising on Easter, Jesus has been busy. Luke records that after the women found an empty tomb and encountered two angels, Jesus then appeared to two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They are kept from recognizing Jesus, and after telling him their woes, he proceeds to open scripture to them, revealing, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interprets to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. It is only with the breaking of bread over dinner and the vanishing before their eyes that the disciples realize it is the risen Jesus they have been with all along. As they run back to tell their tale to the rest of the disciples, they find that Peter has now encountered him too. Luke then concludes his gospel writing, As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are my witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God. This is the word of the Lord. Notice what Luke does not do here. This is not the flannel graph Sunday school pictures I remember from my childhood. It is not a vivid description of Jesus flying through the air replete with clouds and angels and full of special effects. Instead, it is simple, almost understated. Luke does not dwell on the mechanics of Jesus rising into the sky. Instead, he draws our attention away from where he is going and towards what he is doing. Jesus leaves, teaching, promising, sending, blessing. Ascension Day is often thought of as a moment Jesus exits the stage.

But that is not what is happening at all. Jesus is ascending to his throne. But it turns out his reign looks different from what the disciples, or we, expect. If I close my eyes and try to picture a king ascending to the throne on Coronation Day, I see the pomp and circumstance. I see the attendance. I see the king's stately robes and ceremonial garments. But I do not see the king. I do not actually see his face. He is turned away, facing his throne, walking towards it. But that is not the picture Luke leaves us with. Here, in our king, we have Jesus facing the disciples, hands raised, blessing them. Even as he rises into the air, even as he disappears from view, he continues to face the disciples and offer a blessing. Indeed, this seems to be the hallmark of his reign. Jesus comes to bless his people, to redeem them, to bring them into his kingdom. To call them members of his family and make them a part of his mission. So what does the reign of Jesus actually look like? It looks like this. He teaches. He opens scriptures. He makes sense of what once seemed confusing. He promises power for frightened disciples. He sends out witnesses with a message of repentance and forgiveness. And over all of it, he blesses. That is what his reign looks like. Not distance. Not indifference. Not a king who has gone missing, but a living Lord who reigns for the sake of his people. For many, this may sound like a cold comfort. There are real evils in this world. Real evils that have not magically disappeared since Jesus ascended to his throne.

Cancer is real. War is real. Injustice is real. Grief is real. Ascension does not ask us to pretend otherwise. It does not tell the suffering person that pain is an illusion or that everything is secretly fine. Instead, it proclaims that the world is not in godless territory. Evil is real, but it is not ultimate. Death is terrible, but it is not sovereign. History is frightening, but it is not ownerless. And we know this not because the world looks safe, but because the king bears wounds. The one who reigns over cancer and war and injustice and grief is not untouched by them. He is the crucified and risen Jesus. He has entered our suffering, carried our sin, passed through death, and risen on the other side of it. So when we say that Christ reigns, we are not saying that he is not. saying that pain does not matter, we are saying that pain does not get the throne. Ascension Day is a reminder that we need not look for earthly kings to save us or solve our every problem. We serve the King of all creation, He who died and rose again, He who reigns at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, He who will transform all of creation upon His return, He who even now is calling others into His kingdom, He who even now works through us, His children, His ambassadors, to announce His forgiveness, mercy, and righteousness to this broken world, until the day of His glorious return, Amen. For listening to the Lutheran Hour, for free online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and more, go to LutheranHour.org. Next a hymn for Ascension, text by Jaroslav Vajda, music by Henry Gehrke. All through endless ranks of angels, cries of triumph in His ears, to His heav'nly throne ascending, having vanquished all their fears, Christ was down upon His faithful, leaving them in happy tears. Death-destroying, life-restoring, proven equal to our need, now for us before the Father

as our brother intercede. Flesh had torn, our world was wounded, living for the wounded plead. To our lives of wanton wandering, send your promised spirit guide. Through our lives of fear and failure, with your power and love abide. We welcome us as you were welcomed to endless Eastertide. Alleluia, alleluia, O to breathe the Spirit's grace. Alleluia, alleluia, O to see the Father's face. Alleluia, alleluia, O to feel the Son's embrace. Next week, Lutheran Hour speaker Michael Ziegler talks about small efforts that yield great results. And here's part of what you'll hear. Do not despise small beginnings. The saying comes from the Bible. It's from the Old Testament book of Zechariah, the prophet. When God looks at our small beginnings, He doesn't see what we see. God sees small change compounded into eternity. God sees the baby steps of His children in whom He delights. God sees the mural He's making from our broken mosaics to form the perfect picture of His Son, Jesus. Dr. Michael Ziegler, next week. Our King, all glorious above, O gratefully see His power and His love. Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days. Availed young in splendor and girded with praise. O tell of His might, O sing of His grace. Whose robe is the light, whose candle is the flame. His chariots of wrath, how deep thunderclouds form, And dark is His path on the wings of the storm. The earth, with its store of wonders untold, Almighty, Your power has thundered of old, Established it fast by nonchangeless decree, And grounded it as fast by command of the sea. Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light, It springs from the hills, it descends to the plain, And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. O measureless might, ineffable love, What angels delight to hymn You above? The humble creation, though feeble their lays, With true adoration shall sing to Your praise. You don't know what a day will bring, but God does. Daily devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries send a message to encourage you and strengthen you in your faith each day. Focusing your heart and mind on the hope of Jesus Christ in all circumstances. Subscribe today for daily devotions and share with a friend. Sign up at lhm.org slash subscribe. That's lhm.org forward slash subscribe. Alleluia, sing to Jesus, His the scepter, His the throne. Alleluia, His the triumph, His the victory alone. Hark the songs of peaceful Zion, thunder like a mighty flood. Jesus out of every nation has redeemed us by His blood. Alleluia, not as orphans are we left in sorrow now. Alleluia, He is near us, faith, beliefs, no questions how. Through the dark new sight received Him when the forty days were o'er. Shall our hearts forget His promise, I am with you evermore. Alleluia, bread of heaven, here on earth our food, our stay. Alleluia, hear the sinful plea to you from day to day. Innocence, your friend of sinners, earth's redeemer, hear our plea. Where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea. Alleluia, King eternal, Lord omnipotent, we own.

Alleluia, born of Mary, earth, your footstool, heaven, your throne. As within the veil you enter, lobed in flesh, our great High Priest. Here on earth, both priest and victim, in the Eucharistic feast. Alleluia, sing to Jesus, his the scepter, his the throne. Alleluia, his the triumph, his the victory alone. Hark the songs of peaceful Zion, thunder like a mighty flood. Jesus, out of every nation, has redeemed us by his blood. Music courtesy of the Hymnal Project of the Michigan District of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. Now Dr. Brogy invites you to join him in praying the Lord's Prayer. Trusting in his promises, we are bold to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Receive now the benediction from our Lord. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you with his favor, lift up his countenance upon you, and grant you his peace. Amen. The Lutheran Hour is made possible through the support of faithful listeners like you. To learn how your prayers and gifts can extend the worldwide outreach of the Lutheran Hour, go to LutheranHour.org. I'm Mark Isher. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries. Lutheran Hour Ministries