[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Thursday, May 29, 2014

[Paul via Faith-talk]

Hello and good day to you all.  I hope that, whatever time of day it is or day of the week, that you are all doing well when you read this message.

Today in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran church calendars is known as Ascension Day, the day on which our Lord ascended bodily into heaven.  Perhaps many of you don't hold to that belief, but for those of you who do here's an article written by Aaron Koch in a publication entitled "Portals of Prayer." The article in question is entitled "Blessed In the Ascension" and is rendered as follows:

Then He (Jesus) opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.  And see, I am sending upon you what My Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He blessed them.  While He was blessing them, He withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. (Luke 24:45-53 NRSV)

Ordinarily, when we say goodbye to someone we love, it is a sad event.  We feel a sense of loss and separation.  But that is not so when Jesus ascended to heaven on the fortieth day after His resurrection and was parted from His disciples.  It is written that they "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God." (Luke 24:52-53)  How could that be?

The reason is that Jesus' ascension is not His departure from us; rather, it is His enthronement as King of kings.  He had said, "I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20) His presence now is simply hidden from human sight.  Though visibly unseen, He still is with us quite literally and tangibly in His preaching and Supper.

The very last sight the disciples saw was Jesus lifting His hands in blessing.  And that is how we are to think of Christ.  He is continually blessing us with mercy.  For this reason, we also are given to worship God with great joy.  For Jesus is Lord, and all our enemies, even death, are under His feet.

And there you have this article, brief as it is.  I pray that it was a blessing to you today.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another Daily Thought message for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul