Greater than Elijah is here
Sleepy early, last night to bed at eight o'clock, didn't for long lie awake and thinking before drifting off. Up this morning just before four a.m. for a cup of black and morsel of dark. Black a Starbucks coffee, dark a small chocolate truffle from TJ's. Coffee I drink down, but chocolate I ration out one square, round or truffle a morning to make it last until, and it does.
In early morning half-light, Spliethoff Line's MV Nunalik 453x69 arriving from Le Trait, France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Trait to offload reels. Next port, Theodore, Alabama.
Yet another shelter in place Sunday School and without class members, "How long, O Lord?" a common cry in the Bible. Maybe the answer is "This is how it is now, get used to it!"
Looking at the lectionary readings for this morning, still pondering the Ascension event. Why is it? Is it in part Luke's view, and the view of all the evangelists, that Jesus is the greatest of all prophets. This Luke story for example
Luke 7. Jesus Raises a Widow's Son
11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. 12 As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 17 And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
indeed, greater than Moses, greater than Jonah, greater than the Temple, greater than Elijah is here. At the Transfiguration, in the presence of three key disciples, Jesus is presented with Moses and Elijah and Jesus alone acclaimed as Son. If Elijah is prophet, Jesus is prophet and Son. Elijah and Elisha each raise a dead boy and restore him to his brokenhearted mother; Jesus by word alone does the same.
In the presence of his successor, Elijah is taken alive and bodily to heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire, Jesus is lifted directly to heaven in the presence of those who love him.
indeed, greater than Moses, greater than Jonah, greater than the Temple, greater than Elijah is here. At the Transfiguration, in the presence of three key disciples, Jesus is presented with Moses and Elijah and Jesus alone acclaimed as Son. If Elijah is prophet, Jesus is prophet and Son. Elijah and Elisha each raise a dead boy and restore him to his brokenhearted mother; Jesus by word alone does the same.
In the presence of his successor, Elijah is taken alive and bodily to heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire, Jesus is lifted directly to heaven in the presence of those who love him.
Luke 24
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Ascension of Jesus
50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Acts 1
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Ascension of Jesus
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
So I'm suggesting that a reason why the Ascension is so important is to show where Jesus stands before God, over against the greatest and most revered men in the history of Israel.
So not only
- greater than Elijah is here, but
Also of note,
- Jesus is not a ghost, he eats fish: this is a real, bodily resurrection.
- all things of God begin, end, and begin again from Jerusalem.
- the same two men in dazzling white who appeared at the empty tomb show up assuringly after the Ascension.
- the apocalyptic, eschatological promise that Jesus "will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven".
- Jesus' own explanation settles the question that later challenges the early church "If Jesus was Messiah why did he suffer and die?" It was meant to be.
And to address my ongoing question Why is it always forty something - - forty years in the wilderness with Moses, forty days in the wilderness with Satan, forty days and forty nights of rain on the ark with Noah? Why forty? Here's from Strong's Concordance as found online in Bible Hub:
- 5062 tessarákonta – forty, sometimes with added symbolic sense, i.e. "a full-testing period." That is, the full time (of a crisis, etc.) needed to successfully pass through to know God's approval.
Finally perhaps, my sense of it: that Luke found himself stuck with Matthew's pre-existing story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, otherwise Luke would have remembered Jerusalem as the place of Joseph's ancestors, the City of David where Joseph went with Mary to register.
The City of David is part of Jerusalem.
https://www.cityofdavid.org.il/en/tours/summer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwv7PhNHO6QIVGcDICh0XtgAqEAAYASAAEgLiQ_D_BwE
Discussion, challenge, questions, comments?
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