Freedom
Sermon given on October 3, 2010 by The Rev. Jon Roberts
Good Shepherd Episcopal, Venice, Florida
Title
THE LIGHT
BLACK & WHITE XP Ministries
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Pulling Us
Luke 24:44-53
The Rev. Jon Roberts
1 June
2025
Calvary Episcopal Church
Indian Rocks Beach, FL
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
The Ascension, James Tissot, 1886–1896
The Brooklyn Museum
I flew a kite into the sky,
It pulled so hard, it seemed to fly
Beyond my reach, beyond my view,
Yet still I felt it pulling through.
It wasn’t gone, just soaring high,
Still held by love beneath the sky.
There was a little boy who was flying a kite on a windy day. The kite soared higher and higher, and the boy beamed with pride. His dad came over and said, “Wow, that kite’s flying high! Aren’t you afraid it’s going to fly away?” The boy looked at him and said, “Nope! I want it to go higher. That means it's doing what it’s supposed to do!”
A few minutes later, the kite got so high it disappeared into the clouds. A passerby asked the boy, “Why are you still holding that string? You can’t even see the kite anymore!” The boy smiled and said, “I might not see it, but I can feel it pulling.”
That’s kind of how the Ascension is for us. The disciples watched Jesus rise into the clouds, and I imagine one of them may have said, “Wait! Come back! We can’t see you anymore!” But Jesus wasn’t leaving them behind, He was lifting them up to something new. Just like that kite, Jesus was doing what He was supposed to do: ascending to heaven, so He could send the Holy Spirit and empower His followers.
Our church cross, suspended above our altar is a representation of the triumphant Jesus, the one who rises high above. In the same manner, wearing a fashioned chasuble, He resembles that kite. Taking flight, the Ascension lives on when we come to the altar. When we take of His body and blood, we are connected in a manner that transcends this earth. We are raised into His body for the moment, and we want to go higher.
Not unlike those disciples we hear about in their experience with watching Jesus ascend, we too lose sight.[1] We get fearful, frustrated, depressed when there are times when we need Him most and can’t see Him. Maybe we feel we are barely hanging on by a string. He leads the way. Even though we don’t see Him the same way, in some mysterious way He is there, guiding us, and working through us and we can still feel Him pulling.
[1] Luke 24:44-53