This past week much has happened in the political realm. Donald Trump travelled to China to meet with President Xi Jinping and returns home to rising inflation due to the ongoing conflict with Iran. States both blue and red continue to form and reform congressional districts in order to control the federal legislative branch this fall and into the future.
As interesting as politics are, and indeed we are called to be active and aware of things in the public sphere, and of course, we are called to pray for all those in authority, we Christians, have a different perspective on world politics and events from the rest of the world around us. Especially on this day when we observe the Feast Day of Christ’s Ascension.
The Epistle lesson speaks of the end result of the Ascension this way: “He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places”.
When you hear that the Father seated Jesus at His right hand or when we confess in the Nicene Creed that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father what do you think of? Do you picture Jesus sitting up in heaven, static, unable to leave, twiddling his thumbs, and waiting patiently for His Father to give Him the signal that the time has come for Him to return again in glory? What is He up to as He sits at the right hand of the Father?
First thing we need to clear up is this “right hand” business. The sacred writer is not giving you hints about heavenly throne room organization, so that when you get to heaven you’ll know on which side of the Father to look to see the Lord Jesus. The right hand of God is bigger than that!
Recall the words of the Psalmist: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted.” Ps. 118:16
The right hand of the Lord in scripture is not a place, but an almighty power: a source of authority and rule!. And so to say that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God is merely to say that He has all power, that He rules and governs all things! Listen again to how Paul said it in Ephesians: “He raised Christ from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Eph 1:20-23
So, when we confess in the Creed that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, we confess that the human nature which Jesus assumed from the womb of the Blessed Virgin in which He offered to God the sufficient ransom to release all people from the debt of sin and the power of death; this same human nature has now been exalted and raised above every other height, glory, and power imaginable. He has been given the exercise of all Divine power in heaven and on earth. The One who bears in His hands the scars of the crucifixion nails now rules over all! He is in charge of everything!
So, when You or I complain about the way things go in our lives, when we gripe about the troubles and events of the world, politics, or of the Church, we are actually complaining about the way the Crucified and Risen One sees fit to govern, aren’t we? We are actually grumbling against our Lord. Puts a different perspective on life, doesn’t it? Us pitting our puny wisdom and ideas against the omnipotence and wisdom of Christ and what He allows and through which He works His will.
In the early days of the Church, the active rule and authority of Jesus Christ in this world was not forgotten. Even as the persecutions raged and people died for the faith, they never forgot the One in charge. There’s a writing called the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp that was written in the earliest days of the Church, in the early 2nd century. It’s a fascinating document retelling some of the persecutions performed against the early church, but where it really soars is when it talks about the circumstances surrounding the time, place, and under whose authority St. Polycarp’s death occurred. It reads thusly: “It was the second day of the first fortnight of Xanthicus, seven days before the calends of March, when our blessed Polycarp died his martyr’s death two hours after midday on the Greater Sabbath (referring to a Sunday). The official responsible for his arrest was Herod; the High Priest was Philip of Tralles; and the proconsul was Statius Quadratus – BUT THE RULING MONARCH WAS JESUS CHRIST, WHO REIGNS FOREVER AND EVER. TO HIM BE ASCRIBED ALL GLORY, HONOR, MAJESTY, AND AN ETERNAL THRONE FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.” (Martyrdom of Polycarp, par. 21)
What confidence and peace those early Christians had as they remembered and confessed who it is who sits upon the throne of this universe and gives ultimate deliverance even at the time of death. The one who allows even evils such as persecution to accomplish His will: for the spread of the Gospel! This truth can also give the same confidence and peace to us today.
There is even more to being seated at the right hand of God. Our Lord Jesus not only rules all events for the well-being of His holy Church; He also constantly intercedes for each one of His people before the Father for their benefit and salvation. The writer to Hebrews put it this way: “Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them!” (Hebrews 7:25) For you, He prays. When you and I sin, when we stumble and grumble He says to His Father, “Father, forgive them. Look not upon the sin, but upon these scars from the cross that testify that I have answered for all their sin.” In this way He is our Mediator, our ongoing priest, the one who stands in the breach between us and God. His being Mediator did not cease when the work of the cross was done. He continues to be our Mediator by His unceasing intercession through His crucified body and blood for us and by hearing our prayers in His name.
And yet there’s even more. Since the “right hand of God” is not to be thought of as a place, but as a power, the Ascension of our Lord does not remove Him from us, but actually brings Him closer to us. Oh, yes, His visible physical human presence as during His earthly ministry is removed. But His presence is not removed from us. In fact, His presence with His Church is even greater now than in His temporary earthly ministry. His promise stands forever: “Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Now He fills all things and gives the gift and promise of His special sacramental presence of His body and blood in the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. St. Leo the Great preached to his parish in Rome hundreds of years ago: “The visible presence of Christ has passed into His sacraments.”
When you come to the altar today, you not only receive the Body and Blood that were offered in your place on Calvary’s tree for the forgiveness of your sin! You receive the Body and Blood of Him who sits at the right hand of the Father, ruling over all things. Thus, Paul could rejoice that “He has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2) The Sacrament lifts you that high! Lifting you from your sins, the threat of your death, to the place of Christ’s resurrection, to His authority reconciled to our Father and creator.
How great then are the treasures contained in the words: “He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” He is ruling our every circumstance, drawing us to Himself throughout this life by His Word and Sacraments unto eternal life. With this truth, peace through faith displaces our complaining, Jesus is interceding constantly for us, therefore joy drives out our anxieties. Because of His Ascension He is able to continually descend to us, to His body, the Church. He is constantly with us in His sacraments, and so we are never alone, but together with the Church are gathered with Him who sits at the right hand of God. Jesus, your Mediator. Jesus, your King. Jesus, your Risen, Ascended, and Glorified Lord now fills all things for you. And in the same way that He ascended this same Jesus will come again to bring us and all believers to Himself once and for all time. This is the hope to which you have been called. This is your glorious inheritance through Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all glory and honor now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas