29 May 2019
Text: Mark 16:14-20 (2 Kings 2:5-15, Acts 1:1-11)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
It
is not our job to fix the world. Don’t
get me wrong – we have work to do. There
are things that God calls each one of us to do in the kingdom, to serve the church,
to serve the world, and to serve Him. And
if we look at how messed up the world is, we might get discouraged. But if we keep our eyes on the small tasks
that the Lord assigns to us, day in and day out, we can find joy – joy in being
a part of something that transcends our own lifetime.
As
great as the prophet Elijah was, it was not his job to fix the world. It was Elijah’s job to preach the Word of God,
calling sinners to repentance, and teaching them of the mercy of God when they
repented. Elijah preached Christ without
even fully realizing it. Elijah suffered
and at times felt like a failure. But it
was not Elijah’s job to fix the world, but rather to proclaim and serve the One
whose job it is to fix the world.
For
there came a time when Elijah was taken from the earth, not in death, but
rather in some kind of wormhole in the space-time continuum: “behold chariots
of fire and horses of fire separated” Elijah from his student Elisha. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into
heaven.” Prophecies in the New Testament
suggest that Elijah’s work will be completed on earth when our Lord returns. And Elisha was left literally bearing Elijah’s
mantle: “My father, my father!” he cried. “The
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
And he saw him no more.”
Elisha
took up the mantle of Elijah, and he too preached the Word of God. But it was not Elisha’s job to fix the world
either.
This
ascension of Elijah into the heavens prefigures our Lord’s ascension. Our Lord has returned to the Father with the
intention of coming again at the end of time. It’s not our job to fix the world, but it is
His job to do so. And so He does, and He
will.
Our
Lord prepared those who were to wear His mantle as apostles (whom He had
chosen) by explaining what was to come following His ascension. For like Elisha, they were to see their master
taken into heaven. The apostles wanted
to know what was going to happen next, as St. Luke reports: “‘Lord, will You
restore the kingdom to Israel? He said
to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed
by His own authority. But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be My witnesses.”
Our
Lord tells them that they will be witnesses of the resurrection, giving
testimony beginning with their own city, their own region and beyond, “and to
the end of the earth.”
St.
Mark also records the Lord giving the apostles their marching orders: “Go into
all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
And
even as the prophets Elijah and Elisha would carry out their ministry
accompanied by miraculous signs, so too would the apostles: “In My name,” says
our Lord, “they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues; they will
pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will
not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
It
was not the job of the apostles to fix the world. Rather it was their job to proclaim the
gospel, to be witnesses of Christ, to teach and preach and baptize and absolve –
to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and to evangelize the world come what may –
even demons, language barriers, deadly animals, even the poison of enemies, and
sickness. Their vocation is to be
witnesses of the One who has come into the world to fix it: to die for the sins
of each one of its inhabitants; to destroy sin, death, and the devil; and to
recreate the universe anew.
The
apostles bear the mantle of their Lord, whom they preach. And they are not carrying out their ministry
alone. For even though they saw the Lord
ascend from them, not unlike Elisha who cried out “My father, my father!” our
Lord has taught them to pray to God the Father, to rely on His providence, to
proclaim the gospel, and to do so filled with the Holy Spirit through whom our
Lord has “given commands” to them. For
Jesus continues to work through the apostles, as St. Mark says, “And they went
out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the
message by accompanying signs.”
Dear
friends, the apostolic ministry continues through us. We preachers of the Word, and hearers of the
Word, in our own day and age bear the mantle of the apostles. We continue their work in proclaiming “the
gospel to the whole creation.” We
continue this ministry in spite of demons and cultural barriers, natural and
man-made hardships, through sickness and mortality. Age upon age, the church’s ministry goes on,
bolstered by the Holy Spirit, centered on the Word and Sacraments of the Son,
and to the glory of the Father.
It
is not our job to fix the world, but we certainly have work to do. There are things that God calls each one of us
to do in the kingdom, to serve the church, to serve the world, and to serve
Him. We each have a vocation, a calling,
whether we are preachers of the Word or hearers of the Word. We have the vocation to receive the
sacraments, and to be the Lord’s witnesses, whether in Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, or the ends of the earth.
With
the passing of each day, each week, each year, and each generation, the time of
the Lord’s return draws closer. And so
we, like the “Men of Galilee” have work to do. There is no time for us to stand gawking into
the sky. For “this Jesus, who was taken up
from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.”
It
is not our job to fix the world. But we have
the joy to confess and proclaim the One who has come to fix the world – even Jesus
Christ our Lord – now and even unto eternity. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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