Hurry up and wait! Hurry up and wait! Anyone who has spent time in the military has heard this and lived this as a part of their daily routine. Rapid flurries of activity are followed by long periods of waiting in line. Waiting seems to be part of life in every context. We wait in lines at grocery stores, department stores, banks, athletic events, concerts, motor vehicle offices, and government agencies. It seems like time passes with the speed of light on our way there and at the pace of a slug after we finally arrive. Much of our daily lives seems to be spent waiting — for traffic jams to clear, mail to arrive, workweeks to end, sermons to conclude, the weather to change.

So, what do you do while you are waiting? Some folks fuss and fume, staring at their watches impatiently. Some bring something to read. Some worry about anything and everything. Others do absolutely nothing at all. What is waiting like for you? What is it like when you are unable to control the unexpected and unwanted delays in your busy life? What goes through your mind when you discover that you are powerless to restore order in a confusing and scary situation?

These are the two essential Ascension Day questions that our text addresses. In the first, the apostles ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). In the next, two angels ask the apostles, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” (Acts 1:11).

Now remember, each of these questions emerged from the apostles’ own anxiety. They had no idea what might happen next. The future was uncertain at best. Even the immediate present was beyond their control. Reality as they knew it had ended. Something new was happening all right. Jesus — the one who was crucified and buried and now resurrected? Yeah, that Jesus — had been speaking with them about the kingdom of God for about forty days now. He told them to hang around Jerusalem and wait there to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3-5). What would this new kingdom be like? Would the occupying Romans be kicked out of Judea? Would those uppity Pharisees and priests finally get a reality check? Would Jesus ask the apostles to be in charge of things? Just when would Jesus start the restoration ball rolling? It would be easier to prepare for all this if only Jesus would at least give them a target date.

Star gazing and naval gazing, drifting and dreaming in their private reality, the apostles did not quite get it yet. The new kingdom wasn’t all about them. It wasn’t all about their wants and needs. It wasn’t all about gaining control over a world that seems to be in chaos. It wasn’t all about getting secret insider knowledge of exactly how long they would have to wait for the followers of Jesus to be in control.

In fact, Jesus said as much to the apostles when he replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). God is in charge of God’s kingdom. The apostles were not. We are not.

Of course, waiting is hard. It’s scary and frustrating. It’s aggravating and confusing. It’s difficult enough when you don’t know when it will be over. However, when you are given an impossible task to accomplish while you wait, it’s downright overwhelming.

Have you noticed that not only did Jesus refuse to give details about the kingdom of God, he also told the apostles not even to ask when it would appear. Then he told them they would receive some power soon when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Power to do what? The Spirit would give them power to witness while they wait… power to be Jesus’ “witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Huh?

Impossible and overwhelming for sure. How were they to do this anyway? Was Jesus going to stay with them and instruct them in what to say and how to say it and when and where to say it? Jerusalem would be difficult enough but to walk all over Judea and Samaria would take years. Going to the ends of the earth or even around the whole Roman Empire was just plain ridiculous. Never happen. Couldn’t happen.

Then Jesus got the apostles’ attention again with another demonstration that he was in charge and they were not. Now Jesus was about to show them that they were partially correct; they would not be able to accomplish this mission all by themselves even if Jesus in his resurrected body went with them. Jesus would see that they would have power to undertake the impossible. This power would proceed from Jesus himself when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

Confusing? Yes. Overwhelming? Of course. Did the apostles’ mission still seem impossible? Certainly.

Immediately after Jesus told the apostles that they would be his witness to the ends of the earth our text states: “As they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). That got their attention all right. Jesus’ resurrection appearances were over. The reign of the exalted Christ had begun. A new community, the church, was about to take shape. The apostles were about to find out that the ascended Lord was not a past Lord; but an always present and contemporary Christ. Somehow, Jesus would show them this. Somehow the ascended Lord would bring order in their confusion. Somehow, as he always did, Jesus would show them who was, is, and would always be in control in the midst of chaos.

Here’s a story that you may not have heard before. Pastor Kathy enjoyed visiting in parishioner’s homes and work places. One afternoon, Barbara invited Pastor Kathy to ride along as she made a regular delivery from her pet store. Every half mile or so, Barbara would stop the van, get out, pick up a two by four from behind the driver’s seat, and whack the side of the van. Then she would drive down the road again. After seeing Barbara repeat this process a few times, Pastor Kathy’s curiosity got the best of her. “Why in the world are you doing this over and over?” She asked Barbara. “Is there something wrong with your van?”

“Nope,” replied Barbara? “It’s the best one-ton van I ever had.”

“Well then, why do you keep whacking it with that two-by-four?” wondered her pastor.

“You see pastor, today I have two tons of parakeets in back. Every so often I have to whack the side and get their attention so that half of them fly in the air. After a half mile or so they start to settle down, so I whack the van again,” Barbara answered.

Jesus got the apostles’ attention with many show-and-tell demonstrations from feeding and healing to dying and rising. Each time their zeal diminished and their energy dissipated Jesus got them moving back again to the center of mission.

The apostles were ready to enjoy the physical presence of the risen Jesus forever. Those past forty days of advanced instruction at the feet of Jesus was great. They had become a tight little band of Jesus people. Perhaps soon Jesus would give them the secret of world conquest and establish the kingdom of God forever. It didn’t really matter exactly when that would happen. Jesus could keep that to himself if he wanted. Soon they would show those know-it-all Pharisees whom God really likes. Soon they’d show those Romans a thing or two about military operations.

Well, their one pound brains were filling up with two pounds of hot air. Here they were, gathered just outside Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives exactly where God’s kingdom would begin. Maybe Jesus was about to commission them as heavenly warriors in the new kingdom. Then Jesus told them that they were not to be warriors for an earthly kingdom, but to be witnesses to a new king and a transformed reality. Hmmm, that got the apostles’ attention.

Before they could ask Jesus for more information, or at least some clarification… whoosh!... Jesus ascended into heaven. That got their attention too, but it didn’t get them moving. Instead they stood in stunned silence, gazing toward heaven. Now what? Then two angels appeared, not with a two by four, but with a question that would get them focused and moving forward. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” (Acts 1:11). It’s time to get busy. Stop star gazing and naval gazing. It’s time to get busy.

Jesus left the apostles with a specific promise of power from the Holy Spirit and a precise mission to witness for Jesus to the ends of the earth. Jesus gives us the same promise and the same mission.

How does the Lord get your attention? How does the Lord move you from feeling religious emotions to doing faithful deeds? What do you do when you find yourselves waiting around for specific directions and they never seem to come?

Celebrating the Ascension of Our Lord is really celebrating who really is in charge of a new reality and acknowledging who is not. Celebrating the Ascension of our Lord is celebrating the reign of Christ who has broken the controlling bonds of all earthly kingdoms. Because of Christ’s ascension, the kingdom of God is not just out there somewhere — the kingdom of God is within the people gathered, within this bread broken, and this wine poured. The kingdom of God is within the water splashed and the word proclaimed.

Here, as we celebrate ascension, the Lord Christ gets our attention and moves us forward with a mission in his name. Amen.