Preacher: Rev. Jenn Hosler

Scripture: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

A liminal space – an in-between, transition time. The Latin word ‘limen’ means “threshold.” Liminal spaces are spaces of possibility, uncertainty, uneasiness, and opportunity. When there is a break between the old and new, when the old is no longer valid or functioning and the new has not emerged, then that can be considered a “liminal” space. According to Richard Rohr (2020), this space is “where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. There alone is our old world left behind, while we are not yet sure of the new existence. That’s a good space where genuine newness can begin.” 

Today we are observing the Christian liturgical day of Ascension (which was Thursday), which is a type of liminal space. We have been journeying through the gospels since Easter, in this space following the resurrection where Jesus’ disciples were terrified and amazed. We’ve seen the Mary Magdalene at the tomb mistake Jesus for the gardener. We’ve seen to the disciples huddled in a locked room be startled by the risen Jesus entering. And we’ve seen confused fishermen fish all night, seeking a way forward, only to be surprised again by God’s abundance and by breakfast with Jesus on the beach. Jesus and the disciples are now on the brink of something unlike they have yet encountered. 

Jesus is departing, ascending. The ascension is a liminal space between the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Lifted Up

We have two versions of the Ascension in our readings today, one in Luke and one in Acts. Both are authored by the gospel writer Luke, a doctor who gathered up accounts of Jesus’ ministry to create his book. Scholars note that there are differences between the two ascension accounts, which would have been culturally and literarily appropriate for Luke to do, emphasizing or framing things differently since the gospel of Luke and Acts have different emphases – Luke’s focuses on the kingdom of God and Jesus’ ministry, while Acts focuses on the Spirit-filled new community. Luke writes about the ascension with a different lens in Luke and Acts.

At the start of Jesus’ ministry, after his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days, facing temptation, fasting, and being strengthened by the Spirit. In the book of Acts, Luke states that it has been another 40 days – 40 days since Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus has had 40 days of teaching and appearing in rooms and calling out by the sea and eating fish for breakfast. 

On this 40th day, while Jesus is with the disciples, Jesus gives them what would be his final instructions. Jesus says, “Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. While John baptized with water, in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). 

Even though the disciples had been with Jesus for 40 days and several years before that, they still aren’t always tracking with Jesus. The disciples come closer to Jesus and crowd around him, asking, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” The answer is nope – Jesus redirects, reorients the disciples away from speculation about power and politics. The Kingdom of God is not about restoring political power, but about the power of God at work, healing the world. Jesus responds, saying, “the timing isn’t for you to know. God the Father is working out that end. But you will all receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. When the Holy Spirit comes, you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the world.” The work of God is taking place outside of the political struggle – even though the gospel of Jesus clearly has social and political implications. 

It is interesting that Jesus responds to the question of the restoration of Israel by declaring the disciples’ calling as beyond the confines of the social and theological people of Israel. God is about to do something new.  Jesus is saying, “You will be witnesses in the communities that you know, and in the communities of your enemies, and throughout the known world.” The healing God is bringing is not about the reality of one people but about transforming the realities of all people everywhere. The gospel of Luke foreshadows the transformative work of the Holy Spirit throughout the book of Acts. 

Jesus tells the disciples that they won’t be alone and instructs them to wait for the Spirit. Jesus blesses the disciples, and, with that, Jesus goes up. The disciples are left gaping, jaws hanging open, gazing at the clouds. The book of Acts says, “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (v. 9).  

I won’t try to explain the weird trans-dimensional process that occurs here or the physics of it. I trust that Jesus ascended, though that place isn’t a literal “behind the clouds” in our earthly sky. Luke wasn’t trying to be scientifically accurate but was using words to indicate Jesus’ ascension and connecting it to the presence of God’s dwelling place. Some commentators note that, in the Hebrew scriptures, clouds often symbolize the presence and power of God (Boring & Craddock, p. 367; cf. Exodus 13:21; 19:16; 40:34; Ps. 68:4; Ezek. 1:4; Dan. 7:13). We don’t know the technical details, but the resurrected Jesus is taken up and goes to the presence of God. 

The disciples stand agape and reasonably so. They’ve just seen something miraculous, marvelous, and other worldly. I’d stare too. Beyond the natural shock at one’s teacher and messiah finally saying goodbye and leaving, the exit is pretty jaw dropping. The gaping jaws of the disciples only come shut when two messengers in bright white clothing snap them out of it. “Hey, Galileans! Why do you keep looking up? Stop gawking. Jesus, who was taken up to heaven from among you, will surely return again—in a manner just as mysterious” (v. 11). 

The disciples have heard from a few sources: they’ve heard Jesus’ words and teachings, they’ve witnessed Jesus’ ascension, and now they’ve seen and heard these from shiny bright messengers (clearly from God—pay attention to those folks in shiny bright clothing). This combination helps the disciples finally put it all together. They set out on their way and quickly head back down from the Mount of Olives to the city, to the main part of Jerusalem to pray and wait for the Spirit, as Jesus instructed them to do. In the Luke passage, the gospel describes that the disciples “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” They don’t know exactly what’s coming, but they pray and praise God for this new reality—a reality of a crucified, raised, and ascended Jesus, who is lifted up to reign with the Creator of the universe. 

Thoughts on the Ascension

The Ascension feels theologically obscure to me. Certainly, visiting the Chapel of the Ascension made it more tangible for me, but it is still somewhat theologically esoteric. Perhaps it is its in-between-ness; perhaps it is the trans-dimensional nature that it is difficult to wrap my head around. A resurrected body – something broken made whole and filled with life – that is mind-blowing and earth shattering, but it resonates with me. An invisible force filling and empowering people to do the work of God, what happens with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this too is mind-blowing but somehow the empowering/filling is something I can latch onto. The Ascension, this trans-dimensional here and then not here, still embodied but in the Spirit realm – it has always been a bit harder to wrap my head around. Perhaps this is one reason why I wanted to tackle the ascension scriptures: what is this puzzling piece and what do we learn from it? 

Reading through commentaries, there are a few theological concepts I think we can share and meditate on. 

The first is the importance of Jesus’ being lifted up and how it relates to Jesus’ place in God’s plan. For Jesus’ disciples, the ascension of Elijah would likely have come to mind – a time when God’s servant was beloved and fulfilled his mission so well that God welcomed Elijah into the presence of God while still in the flesh. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension work together to be a type of vindication: as God’s righteous suffering servant, Jesus is exonerated and exalted into the fullness where God dwells. With that exaltation comes power and authority. Our Ephesians passage talks about Jesus being raised from the dead and exalted, “God put this power to work 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 age to come.” In an era where violence and domination are exalted, I am clinging to this message that the exalted one is selfless servant, that the One who suffered for love and compassion is the One given all power and authority. We know the end of the story, even if we aren’t there yet, even if we are still waiting for the fullness of God’s Kingdom to touch every inch of this world. 

Second, this trans-dimensional puzzle has a big theological implication for us and our bodies and the created-ness of our world. Importantly, in God’s plan of redemption, the body is not bad. The body is part of the story – the creatureliness of Jesus Immanuel does not get discarded. Jesus doesn’t say, “Welp, I’m done here,” and then kick off his skinsuit and fly away. The earthy matter stays connected with the divine: Jesus ascends as God made flesh. There is humanness co-mingled with the presence of God, even now. I can’t fully wrap my head around that but there is something beautiful and healing and hopeful in that theological thought. One commentator says, “When Jesus ascends to heaven, all of this creaturely life is welcomed into the throne-room of God. The ascension is anything but a creation-denying doctrine. Luke’s emphasis on Christ’s enfleshed body being lifted to God is a profound affirmation of heaven’s redemptive embrace of the entire cosmos” (Matsen Neal, 2025). The resurrected Jesus is the same embodied Jesus that sits at the right hand of God – the body pushed out of a birth canal, the body breastfed by Mary, the body that grew and skinned knees and raced through the streets of Nazareth, the body with hands that healed and cared and welcomed and hugged, the body that was tortured and died, the body that appeared to the women at the tomb and the disciples in the room, on the road, at the beach. That body – in its humanness and God-made-flesh-ness – is what is present on the throne. 

Third, I want to highlight Jesus’ care for the disciples in this passage. Really, Jesus has been caring for his disciples since before his torture and death and throughout the 40 days of resurrected-Jesus appearances. Earlier, Jesus famously prayed for his disciples – and even all who will follow him. Jesus said he will not leave them alone and promises a comforter, a Spirit of power who will come and empower them to be witnesses to what God has done. Beautifully, in this passage, Jesus promises the power of God. Jesus also raises his hands and blesses the disciples, and Jesus ascends amidst that blessing. One could say that the blessing itself is still ongoing – Jesus has been blessing the followers of Jesus from that day until now. 

Fourth and finally, I think we can learn from the disciples’ responses. I appreciate the disciples and their gaping at the sky. I also appreciate that when they get it, their reaction is to follow Jesus’ instructions and stick around in Jerusalem, visiting the temple and praising God. When we are stuck in limbo, in a perplexing in-between time, waiting can become generative, when we have the right orientation. Perhaps anything can become a liminal space with the right orientation. As we enter transitional spaces as individuals or as a congregation, we can model the disciples. We can center in on the joy of worship and praise, as a means of centering and guiding us into the next phase that God has for us. We might not know what is next, but we can praise God for what has gone before and for who God has been revealed to be. Hallelujah – the resurrected Jesus, Immanuel, the love of God embodied, has been raised up. 

Questions to Ponder Together

I outlined four theological thoughts to ponder: 1) Jesus’ ascension as a demonstration that the selfless servant is exalted; 2) Jesus ascension in his body as an affirmation of God’s love for and healing of all our created world (including our own bodies); 3) Jesus’ ascension as linked with Jesus’ blessing and care for his disciples; 4) Jesus’ ascension as something that prompts worship and praise, even amidst the unknowns of a liminal space. 

• What resonates for you today? 
• Where do you feel a yearning or a nudge? 
• What feels true and authentic to your spirit? 
• How does the notion of a liminal space – a transition period that is also generative amidst unknown – spark your curiosity? 
• What needs to be done to cultivate or hold onto these liminal spaces we might encounter as individuals or as a congregation? 

Prayers for the Church

I’d like to close us with the words of the apostle Paul to the early church in Ephesus. He prays, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I don’t stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. And what do I pray? I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power” (Eph. 1:15-19).

Paul wants them to know the depth of the new reality—a new power and work of God in the world—that is made possible only with a Messiah who is crucified, risen, and ascended to heaven. The Ascension of Jesus has given Christians hope, purpose, and power. Paul continues, “God put this power to work 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 age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (vv. 20-23).

Siblings in Christ, I echo the prayers of Paul. May we know that there is a new reality where Jesus is reigning, where sin and death have lost, and where all humanity can be brought together before God, in Christ Jesus. May we know that we, as the church, have the power to be Jesus’ body, to continue Jesus’ work of healing and deliverance in a world of pain and captivity. May our hearts and minds be given wisdom to bring this new reality in existence, to make the Kingdom of God manifest. I pray that the power of Jesus—the crucified, risen, and ascended One—would be made concrete and tangible for each of us, that we would know the source of strength and life to continue Jesus’ work in this world. AMEN.

References

Boring, M.E. & Craddock, F.B. (2009). The People’s New Testament Commentary. Westminster: John Knox.

Matsen Neal (2025, May 29). Commentary on Luke 24:44-53 Retrieved from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ascension-of-our-lord/commentary-on-luke-2444-53-11

Rohr, R. (2020, April 26). Between Two Worlds. Retrieved from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/between-two-worlds-2020-04-26/