Jesus Still Ministers to Us, Part 1 (Sermon for the Ascension of Our Lord: May 29, 2025)

Listen to the Sermon here.

Texts: Psalm 47

Acts 1:1-11

Ephesians 1:15–23

Luke 24:44–53

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. And is seated and the right hand of the throne of God.

The text that serves as the foundation for our sermon is all of our readings, but especially these words in our epistle, “[The Father] put all things under [Our Lord Christ’s] 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” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus,

A couple hundred years ago or so, there was a young couple engaged to be wed. And the young man, knowing that no life lay ahead of him in the old country, told his bride, “I am going to sail over to America. And I'm going to get a life started there, and then I will come to you and bring you to me.” Years passed. The bride had many other offers, many trying to get her to leave her betrothed. Yet he regularly wrote her. She regularly got word from him. And so she stayed faithful to him, even during that time when she could not see him. Ascension is one of those holidays in the church year which to us as modern-day people, it can be hard to understand why this is a joyous occasion. After all, like the bride waiting for her bridegroom, would it not be better that our bridegroom were here now than that we couldn't see? And yet we know by faith that Christ's Ascension into Heaven is for our good. And just like the bride who got letters from her fiancé to reassure her, so likewise, Christ has not left us alone. He is still ministering to us. Today in our readings we learn that our Ascended Lord Jesus still ministers to us through the Holy Spirit at work in the Word and Sacraments.

Let us pray: O Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God, who having left Your earthly humility, are seated at the right hand of Your Father as Lord over all things, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that You would send to us Your Holy Spirit, give us faithful ministers, preserve Your Word, curb Satan and every tyrant, and mightily uphold Your kingdom on earth until Your enemies are all laid at Your feet and we through You are victorious over sin, death, and all things. Amen.

We like the certainty of the tangible. We like the certainty of being able to see and feel things. It's why stores like Walmart are still around even though Amazon usually has better prices. Because we like to be able to go in and actually touch what it is. Sure, we can maybe see a picture of it, but that's different than the real thing. There's the old saying, “Seeing is believing”. And yet our ascended Lord Jesus Christ, do we see Him? He's here. We said that at the beginning: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” God is here. But do we see Him? Not with our eyes. With our eyes, all we see is the sin-filled world. And Satan uses that to his advantage. Because we cannot see Jesus, Satan tries to get us to doubt. Because we can't view Jesus, he tries to get us to fall away from that faith that has been given to us.

He does this in many different ways. He tries to get us to doubt that Jesus ever really was in the flesh; that Jesus ever actually was born of Mary; that Jesus ever actually assumed into God human flesh, taking on our flesh and became one of us. In so doing, if God did not become man, well then it's easy to doubt that He actually still cares for us. Or Satan tries to get us to doubt that Jesus died or that he died for us. When we doubt the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when we doubt that He has been killed in His flesh, or when we doubt that He died for us, the hope and the promise of sins forgiven., we lose the certainty that we are made right with God. Or Satan tries to get us to doubt that Jesus was raised from the dead. He started working this doubt there on that very first Easter, even before. The Jews say that if the tomb is found empty, they will just spread the lie that the disciples stole the body, planting the seed of doubt. Because if Christ who once was slain, not been raised from the dead, well then His sacrifice was for nothing and our faith in Him is for nothing. If He is not actually bodily raised from the grave, then we have no hope of everlasting life. Or Satan tries to get us to doubt that Jesus who has ascended into Heaven is still caring for us even now Sure, maybe He came, maybe He lived a good life, maybe He even died and rose from the dead, but He's left. He's like the absent father. He doesn't actually care for you. He's left you on your own. When Satan gets us to doubt that our Ascended Lord is still caring for us, it becomes easy to follow false gods that at least by outward appearances are present and actually do care for us. And finally, Satan tries to get us to doubt that Christ is coming again. Because if Christ took on human flesh, lived the perfect life, suffered and died, rose on the third day, ascended, but if He's not coming again, even if He's still caring for you, what's the point? If you're never going to actually see Him, then live your life as you want. Do whatever you want. Eat, drink, be merry. Give in to all types of debauchery. Who cares? Satan's job is to sow doubt. Satan's job is to do everything to drive us away from the certainty of faith that is ours in our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord.

But Jesus doesn't leave us alone. As our loving bridegroom who has gone to prepare a place for us, He still is caring for us. How? He says it in our gospel reading, “Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you” (Luke 24:49) And even more explicitly in our First Reading, He says, “You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). Jesus still ministers to us through the Holy Spirit at work. Where's the Holy Spirit at work for us? The Holy Spirit is at work for us in the Word and in the sacraments. You heard this in our Gospel reading. Jesus says, “‘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 and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:44-47). He opened to them the understanding of Scripture. For them it was just the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, that is the entirety of the Old Testament.

The same Holy Spirit is at work in you. Christ is ministering to you today through the same Scriptures, not just the Old Testament, but also the New: the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, the Revelation of John. God is still ministering to you through His Word. He's still giving to you that same and certain hope that He gave to the Apostles, that Christ has been crucified and risen for you, that you are reconciled to God through his work.

Likewise, as God cared for His church in the Old Testament through the covenant of circumcision and through the sacrifices that were made at the altar, so now Christ is still ministering to you through physical things as well. Not circumcision or sacrifices, but through Baptism and through the Lord's Supper. Here with water combined with the Word, the Holy Spirit is given to us and we are given that gift of new life, that hope of everlasting life. Here, in the Sacrament of the Altar, we get to taste and see our risen and ascended Lord in, with, and under the bread and wine. Through these sacraments, the Holy Spirit clings to the certainty that Christ has promised that we receive the forgiveness of sins here through these means. Therefore, we know that He is still with us. He is still taking care of us until at last he comes again.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I know at times it's not easy to wait. I know at times it can be quite difficult to remain faithful. Thanks be to God that it's not up to you. Christ did not leave you on your own. Instead, He has given you the Holy Spirit. And He is, through his Holy Spirit, still ministering to you today and every day until at last, when He comes, you get to partake of that great marriage feast of the Lamb and his kingdom which all have no end. Till that day may God continue to grant you that certainty of faith that comes through the Spirit that you may continue all the days of your life singing His praise until the last when we join in the great marriage banquet which shall have no end. Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

+Soli Deo Gloria+