Tomorrow we will be celebrating Ascension Day at church. Ascension Day is the great event that happened forty days after the resurrection. Jesus ascends to heaven, and takes his seat on the throne of heaven and earth, and it is announced that from now on, and forevermore, Jesus reigns and Jesus is in charge!
We live at a difficult time. I truly fear for our nation and the world for that matter. There is so much conflict, so much hate, so much racism, poverty, hopelessness. There is so much misinformation and sadly those with earthly powers across political aisles, and countries, are using their powers not for the betterment of humanity, but for the betterment of themselves.
This makes Ascension Day a vital day and a day where we HAVE to come together and declare that though the powers of evil are great, the one on the throne is greater.
Gregory fisher in Leadership magazine tells of teaching a class in a West African
bible College. One day the class was discussing the Second Coming of Christ. A student asked Fisher a question that took him by surprise. The question was: “What will he say when he shouts?”
The student said, “Reverend, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says that Christ will descend from heaven with a loud command. I would like to know what that command will be.”
Fisher wanted to leave the question unanswered, to tell the student that he must not go past what Scripture has revealed, but his mind wandered to an encounter he had earlier in the day with a refugee from the Liberian civil war. The man, a high school principal, told him how he was apprehended by a two-man death squad. After several hours of terror, as the men described how they would torture and kill him, he narrowly escaped. After hiding in the bush for two days, he was able to find his family and escape to a neighboring country.
The escape cost him dearly: two of his children lost their lives. The stark cruelty unleashed on an unsuspecting, undeserving population had touched Fisher deeply. He also saw flashbacks of the beggars that he passed each morning on his way to the office. Every day he saw how poverty destroys dignity, robs people of their best of what it means to be human. Fisher says even now he is haunted by the vacant eyes of people who have lost all hope.
“Reverend, you have not given me an answer,” the student demanded. “What will Christ say?”
“Enough,” Fisher said in answer to the question. “He will shout, Enough! When he returns.”
The student looked at his teacher in surprise. “What do you mean, enough?”
Fisher said firmly, “Enough suffering. Enough starvation. Enough terror. Enough death. Enough indignity. Enough lives trapped in hopelessness. Enough sickness and disease. ENOUGH!”
Yes, we need to remember and come together and celebrate Ascension Day. To be reminded that the powers that be, will not, and never will, get the last word. Jesus does, and he will say, “Enough,” and at that moment all that separates one from another will be demolished and justice and peace will reign.
In joy I say to you, that will be ENOUGH!
~ God bless, Dan