As Acts opens and Jesus returns to God in the ascension, we discover that the early church found itself in a difficult spot—especially when you consider that there was no early church at the ascension. But for our purposes, as a congregation asking questions about where it is that God is leading, that is precisely the point.

There was no early church at the opening of Acts—just a bunch of worried folks trying to figure out what to do next—hoping fervently that God had a plan, but just as afraid that things were about to spin out of control—both of which, as we will learn—were true.

Acts is, therefore, the story about how the church learned—admittedly in fits and starts—about how to be the church.

So, to begin ... the ascension. I’ve got to tell you, it’s pretty hard making homiletical hay out of the ascension. I mean, obviously, it’s important. Otherwise, why would Luke close out his Gospel by talking about it while opening up his account of the early church with it?

Luke uses it as a literary bridge between the story of Jesus and the story of the early church, a transition from the ministry of Jesus to the ministry of Jesus’ followers. In that sense, then, the ascension is a literary hinge joining two compelling narratives about the kingdom of God.

So, clearly Luke finds the story of Jesus ascending in a cloud a significant one. But, if we’re honest, why Luke finds it so important is a little tough to figure out. None of the other Gospels give it any airtime. So, what’s the big deal for Luke?

Well, he begins the book of Acts by giving a brief account of the time Jesus spent with the apostles after his resurrection and before his ascension. Jesus gave instructions “through the Holy Spirit.”

What instructions did he give?

Luke doesn’t tell us, only that for “forty days” he was “speaking about the kingdom of God.”

The kingdom of God. You can imagine that the apostles would like a little more information about that one. They’d spent the better part of three years hoping that Jesus was going to preside over a political/military revolution that would oust the occupying Roman force and establish a new kingdom—or at least restore the old Judean one.

When Jesus’ followers first heard “kingdom of God,” they got hung up on the “kingdom” part. But then came Good Friday, shattering the dreams of all who believed that the kingdom Jesus spoke about would be concerned with keeping a distinctly anti-Roman foreign policy, with the internal struggles over domestic policy and leveling the death-dealing legal and economic systems that kept 97% of the Palestinian population in poverty. The crucifixion, for all intents and purposes, blew up the disciples’ grand plans of nation-building in the Middle East—even if it was only their own nation they had any interest in building.

But then came Easter, and what appeared to be lost on Friday seemed to be restored on Sunday. Resurrection went a long way toward putting the holy wind back in their sails.

The question, though, was what did resurrection mean in the larger scheme?

Assuming, as they did, that Jesus was more than just a resuscitated corpse, what were the larger implications of Easter?

Was Jesus raised from the dead to lead a military coup?

Were they finally going to get some satisfaction for the years of oppression by their Roman overlords?

Or, as Luke puts it in our text for this morning, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And you can see the apostles’ eyes begin to twinkle as the faded dreams of Jewish liberation start to regain some of their luster. We thought we knew what was going on, then Good Friday came and we knew we didn’t know what Jesus had been talking about, but then Easter Sunday came and we thought, “Well, if death can’t keep him down, maybe the Romans can’t either.”

For forty days, they hadn’t figured out a way to broach the subject with Jesus, but here in the first chapter of Acts, just before Jesus takes off for the final time, the apostles finally find the courage: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Is it time?  Now?  Tomorrow?  We’d like a little help with the schedule of activities if you don’t mind. Couldn’t you just give us a hint so that we could stay one step ahead of the game? Some sort of timetable, maybe? I mean, how’s it going to look if your own pals are caught with their pants down when the kingdom is restored?