The Cloud (The Ascension of Our Lord)
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As language evolves over time, people come to associate different things with the same word. For example, I know in the 19th century the term “pilot” meant a person who steered a ship. It’s still used that way, but when we hear “pilot”, most of us think of the people who fly airplanes.
Similarly, I remember that even when I was in seminary, many of the older pastors we talked to spoke of “making calls” to people. Immediately, we students all considered the importance of picking up the phone and calling people we might need to reach out to. But the old guys were speaking of the days before most people even had land line telephones, and what they meant was the old, 19th century idea of getting on your horse and riding out to somebody’s farm – that was referred to as “making a call” on someone.
But today, technology moves even faster. And different from even a few decades ago when I began preaching, whenever I read the word “cloud”, I don’t think of the white, fluffy things in the sky, even though I know that’s what’s meant by the text. I think of the “cloud” on which all my stuff – and probably all your stuff – is stored!
It wasn’t so long ago that it wasn’t like this. My email was all downloaded onto a computer in my office. All of my personal contacts were stored on my home computer. And all the files I needed were probably on paper and – well, they were somewhere and I wasn’t always sure where!
But now, I try to store everything in the cloud, so I can access it from wherever I am. And it’s great, because whether I’m at home or at work or on vacation – or even just driving around – I have have access to my email and contacts, my banking, my personal photos and all of the reservation info I used to worry about losing when I was on vacation.
Of course, what we call a “cloud” is not an actual “cloud”. The “cloud” is a collection of severs somewhere that are always connected to the internet and redundantly backed up so I don’t have to worry about it (although, not entirely trusting that, I do still have a multi-TB back-up drive in my house, and as an old time computer science major I recommend this to you as well!) But the “cloud” is a term we use, and symbol we have, for stuff that’s available always and everywhere.
And I mention all this, because today as we conclude the Easter season by celebrating Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, our reading from Acts points out that this is a day where it looks like Jesus has literally been stored in the cloud! “As they were watching, Jesus was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Jesus is literally in the cloud! Yet even though Luke didn’t think of the “cloud” in the ways I’ve been describing, maybe that is partly the point.
I’m afraid that all too often, Christians read the story of the Ascension of Jesus and deduce that the meaning is that Jesus, who once came to earth, is now gone. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s over now. And everyone needs to go back to their lives without the presence of God until someday when Jesus returns.
But that’s actually NOT the meaning of the Ascension. After all, if the meaning was that Jesus was gone from the disciples’ lives, then the Gospel of Luke wouldn’t end with them returning to Jerusalem with great joy, and blessing God.
Instead, the disciples realized that Jesus’ Ascension meant that, even though he was “out of their sight” (as he had been between Resurrection appearances), he was now going to be present for them always and everywhere. It actually was sort of like what we mean when we talk about being “stored in the cloud.”
If Jesus had remained physically on earth and in one place, it would have been like the old days when I had email physically stored on my desktop computer. To access Jesus, I’d have to be in a particular place at a particular moment, and probably fight through a crowd of other people trying to do the same thing.
But in his ascension, Jesus promised his disciples that he’d continue to do what they had begun to experience in his Resurrection appearances – that he’d be available to all of them, all of the time, no matter where they were … (which is kind of what’s implied when you read some of the Resurrection appearances in Luke, that Jesus can be in multiple places with multiple people at the same time…)
The message of Easter is that Jesus is NOT dead and gone. And we shouldn’t turn the meaning of the Ascension into “Jesus is alive and gone.” Because after all, that’s not a whole lot better!
Instead, like the first disciples, we should take seriously the notion that Jesus really is “stored in the cloud” in the sense that he is always and everywhere available to each and every one of us. The first disciples understood this, and were able to return to Jerusalem with great joy, and bless God, and then move out into the world, because they were confident that Jesus would still be with them.
And for us, too, the reality that Jesus’ presence is always and everywhere present for us, mediated by the Holy Spirit, means that we also:
- Are never alone or separated from Jesus’ presence in our lives … (Jesus’ ascension does NOT mean, “you’re on your own; see you later when you get to heaven!”…)
- Can actually rely on and expect Jesus to help us no matter where we are or what situation we face … (It’s a reminder that we find the living presence of Jesus not simply in “holy places”, but in ordinary places and among unexpected people, just as those first disciples did…)
- Should remember that Jesus is present with us to help us and strengthen us for faithful living, and that Jesus is a greater reality in our lives than the chaos and dysfunction in our world that so often surrounds us and captivates our attention and emotions … (that’s why believing in the Resurrection isn’t simply a concept for after you die, but a way of facing the world right now…)
So with this weekend, Easter is over. But Jesus’ Risen presence is not. The Ascension assures us that we are never alone in this world. The Ascension promises us that Jesus is available always and everywhere to help us in facing the challenges of life. And the Ascension reminds us that the presence of Jesus is always a greater and more transcendent reality to life than anything we face in the world around us.
Amen.