Pious Lutheran

Christ Enthroned , Emmanuel Tzanes, 1664 King Jesus Nourishes His Church Jesus’ ascension marks His enthronement as King His church lives in the wilderness of this world King Jesus rules with a rod of Iron, His Holy Word, in order to nourish us “ So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down. ” Sounds pretty lame, huh! Here Jesus dies and rises again, conquers sin, death, and hell, and what does He do next? He sits down. It sounds terribly anticlimactic, kind of like the creation account. God creates all things, from nothing and chaos to a perfectly ordered universe teeming with life, and then on the 7th day God rested. But of course God didn’t just give up on the 7th day and take a nap, but He thenceforth continued to uphold and preserve the universe. Likewise, Jesus ascending to heaven and sitting down does not at all mean He’s just kicking back in His Lay-Z-Boy, throwing back a couple beers and lazily smoking His pipe. Instead, Jesus’ asc...

The Alpha and Omega,  Mosaic, Church of St Alphonsus Liguori, Rome, 1908 King Jesus Sits and Reigns Over All Jesus sits upon His throne All His enemies are beneath His feet Jesus is Head over His church If I were to sum up the feast of Ascension in two words, I might say: God Sits. Afterall, we heard that “ The Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down. ” Or in the Introit from Psalm 47 it says “ God sits. ” Or in an additional Psalm appointed for today, Psalm 110, God the Father told God the Son to “ Sit. ” Upon first hearing, that sounds pretty lame. Why would we have a feast to celebrate that God sits down? Wouldn’t we want the opposite?  Considering the state of things today, we’d rather have Jesus stand up and do something! We’d like to see some of those accompanying signs: casting out demons, speaking in tongues, handling serpents, drinking deadly poison and being unharmed, healing the sick. But instead we complain that God is silent,...

  "The Ascension," Rembrandt, 1636 Unsurprisingly, over the past year or so I’ve noticed a general unease and anxiety among many in our nation. People are a bit more on edge and impulsive, with shorter fuses. I know there are many factors which contribute towards this, not least among those factors is the feeling that our nation is rapidly changing before our very eyes. Particularly as faithful church going Christians we’re also a bit nervous about the future of the church here in America. We’ve had a few generations of comfortable Christianity, but now things are looking quite uncomfortable. The Equality Act is looming, which threatens all of our Concordia Universites, since none of them could currently survive without government money. Our tax exempt status as congregations is thus threatened, and could make it even more difficult for us to pay our bills. Not to mention that all the while our membership is shrinking and aging, and the programs and activities we’re used to a...

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! What’s the big deal about Ascension Day? Out of all of the church feasts and festivals to observe and celebrate, why this one? What makes this one so significant to merit coming to church on a Thursday evening in May? We have Christmas, when we celebrate the incarnation, that Jesus took on human flesh and blood from the virgin Mary. We have Easter, when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the devil. And here we also have Ascension, when we are given the opportunity to rejoice that Jesus has ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father upon the throne where He reigns over this whole creation through baptism and the proclamation of the Gospel. Therefore, indeed Ascension day is quite significant in the life of the church. “ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ” It’s not that Jesus is sea...