Luke 24:44-53

A friend of mine called me excitedly this week. “Did you hear about the scientists in Antarctica who discovered a parallel universe?”

She went on to explain how particle physicists had observed something called a neutrino coming up from the Earth, seeming to defy what scientists had previously observed about it.  Some scientists suggested that this is possibly evidence of a parallel universe that mirrors ours. From our perspective, time runs in the opposite direction in this universe. But the observation of the neutrino would suggest that there is a connection between these two mirroring universes.

Although science is probably still quite far away from identifying a true parallel universe, people of faith have long recognized the possibility of Life beyond the here and now. Stories like this capture our imaginations, pique our curiosity, and may even terrify us. We like to imagine that we know everything there is to know about our universe. We like to imagine that the rules of physics can’t be broken, and things will go according to plan, and our world’s systems won’t be interrupted in a single moment. 

But we know that a parallel universe is not the most unlikely reality.

And people of faith have wondered about a parallel universe for centuries. In the Jewish tradition, the universe is imagined in separate spheres. According to the creation story in Genesis, when God made creation, God set a firmament in the sky separating the heavens and the Earth. And humans have looked up at that sky with curiosity great enough to cause us to leave our home planet. The heavens are so synonymous with God that the gospel of Matthew uses the word heaven in place of the name of God.

In the Lord’s Prayer, which we pray together every Sunday, we pray “Our Parent who art in heaven hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” Earth and heaven. Today we know much more about the structure of the universe. It would be hard for us modern Christians to say that God is just up above in the sky. After all, we have learned that we are not at the center of the universe, that up is really out, that there is much more to God’s creation than we knew before.

But we still pray Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Because deep down we know that there is a parallel universe. There is a place, a realm, another world, just beyond our ability to comprehend. And Jesus testified to this world. Over and over he told his disciples: I am going ahead of you. I will prepare a place for you. I will come and receive you to myself.

The Ascension is a holy mystery when Jesus passes from the Earth to the heavens. While many people would like to believe that the story of Jesus ended with death, we proclaim that Christ was raised from the dead. But Jesus did not remain with the disciples. At least, he did not remain in a way that they were expecting. Like the neutrino, Jesus moved in a different direction, suggesting the presence of a mirrored world that was reaching out to our own.

“When Jesus had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them he left them and was taken up into heaven.” I had a fun time looking up images of this scene. Many artists have tried to capture the mystery, and majesty, and even humor of this moment. In some depictions, the focus is on Jesus, up in the clouds surrounded by angels, you can almost hear the trumpets sounding in the background. But in other depictions, the disciples are front-and-center. They’re looking up at the sky and a pair of feet is dangling from somewhere out of the frame.

I wonder where we would be in this picture. The disciples’ response to the Ascension was to worship Jesus and be filled with joy. The Gospel of Luke says that the disciples returned to Jerusalem and praised God in the temple. Something happened that day that was different from death. Jesus’s first death on the cross was a somber scene, filled with tears, and heavy silence, and rending of garments. But 50 days later, the disciples had been transformed. Were they finally understanding Jesus? Hadn’t he been telling them all along that he would return to the father? To the God of all creation?

Jesus told the disciples, you are witnesses. Witnesses of Christ’s death and Resurrection, witnesses of the Gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, witnesses of the inclusion of all people in the kingdom of heaven. Witnesses sent out in the spirit of God to bring the promise of hope to the whole Earth.

Last week, we heard Jesus’s promise that God would send an advocate for us, the Holy Spirit. And next week, at the holy Festival of Pentecost, we will celebrate the day that the church received the spirit, poured out upon all nations. The church on earth is not bound in our buildings or books but moving with the Eternal Spirit of God in each one of us. The building is closed, but the church is open.

Martin Luther reflected in a sermon on the Ascension saying this:

“Now, where is [Christ]? He is here with us, and for this purpose did he sit down in heaven, that he might be near unto us. Thus, we are with him up there and he is with us down here. Through the word he comes down and through faith we ascend up… Lest you imagine within yourself that Christ has gone, and now is, far away from us. The very opposite is true: While he was on earth, he was far away from us; now he is very near.”

Dear friends, God came to Earth to dwell with us. And God was carried up to heaven so that we might dwell in the presence of God forever. Christ is our reminder that the space between heaven and earth is thin. Particles of light and grace and hope are passing through, breaking our expectations and transforming our lives. Through faith, we are carried up.

We are carried up when our faith calls us to look outside of ourselves long enough to see the suffering of our siblings and find compassion to act. We are carried up when we join together in a spirit of prayer. We are carried up when we say no to the things that are hurting us and live into the truth that God has called us to life and not death. We are carried up when we see Christ in one another, because to love another person is to see the face of God.

The kingdom of heaven is breaking through. It’s more than a consolation prize to right the wrongs committed here on earth. It’s a commission to disciples to witness to the power of God and pray Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Activist and singer song-writer Andre Henry started a campaign called #ItDoesntHaveToBeThisWay. He challenged a pattern he saw in predominantly white churches. He saw that so many Christians dismissed the suffering of black Americans, disguising racism as piety. “You’re being too political– stop preaching about justice and preach about Jesus”. How often have we seen this? How often have we thought similar things ourselves?

Certainly Jesus, who was unjustly killed by an oppressive government and triumphed over the dead has something to say about racism and injustice! Surely the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke through the prophets and liberated the Israelites from pharaoh’s rule has something to say about unsafe and cruel labor practices.

As the church of Jesus Christ, we are united in one Spirit as witnesses to the promises and commands of God. We are transformed, but we can’t keep it to ourselves. God is calling us to see the need throughout the world and bring God’s love to our neighbors. In so doing, may we all be carried up.

Amen.