Ascension of Our Lord, 2025
Text: Luke 24:44-53
Title: The Blessing
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year there was a pattern, a rite, a ritual at the temple in Jerusalem. Every morning and evening the priest on duty did the same thing. He offered a lamb on the bronze altar, together with some bread and oil and wine, then washed his hands and feet, he entered the holy place, he offered incense on the golden altar and prayed for the people.
And then, to complete the ritual, the priest came out of the sanctuary, lifted up his hands and blessed the people, putting God’s Name upon them.
The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make His face shine upon and be gracious to you,
The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, that’s how it went in the temple in Jerusalem.
Until that one day when all did not go according to plan. The priest made the offering, he washed his hands and feet, he entered the holy place to offer incense and to pray, but when he came out he could not speak the blessing. He could not say anything at all. He could only make signs and gestures to the people. The priest, Zechariah, was speechless, and the people did not receive the blessing.
That is how the gospel of Luke begins, with a priest in the temple in Jerusalem who is unable to complete the ritual, unable to bless the people.
And notice how the gospel of Luke ends. Jesus, the great high priest has made the final offering. He has given His life on behalf of the people, His own broken body and shed blood intercedes for the people.
The altar was the cross, and Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God was not only the priest, but the offering itself.
No more need for temples, lamps, or priests, Jesus has done it all, once for all, perfectly. And through that offering He has won forgiveness of sins for all people- for your sins, for the sins of the world, and for the disciples’ sins, too.
And then what does Jesus do as He is parted from His disciples? What image of Him are they left with? Jesus lifts up His hands and He blesses them.
Finally, the blessing that we’ve been waiting for is given by Jesus to His disciples. The blessing that Zachariah the old priest could not speak is spoken by Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. The blessing that was over 30 years in the making can now be given because the one great offering is now complete.
Jesus lifts up the hands that were nailed to the cross, He shows them the scars that bring them peace with God.
And then He speaks those words of blessing, that eulogy, those good and powerful words that make all things good and right and holy again.
Jesus has blessed you, too. The words of Jesus were spoken to you to bless you, to declare you good and right and holy. The hands of the pastor made the sign of the cross on your forehead and your heart, and then poured water over you in the triune Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And those good and powerful words delivered salvation to you. You died with Christ. You rose with Christ. You were blessed.
You continue to receive that blessing of Jesus in the Divine Service.
You are blessed with the Name of Jesus and the sign of the cross in the invocation.
You are blessed in Holy Absolution with the words of forgiveness and the sign of the cross.
You are blessed by hearing the word of Jesus to you.
You are blessed as your prayers arise like incense before the Lord and He hears You for the sake of His Son, who is there at His right hand right now interceding for you.
You are blessed as you eat and drink the body and blood of the risen, ascended Christ that was offered on the cross for you.
And you are blessed once more with the Name of God in the benediction, that blessing that has put God’s name on His people from days of Aaron for over three millennia.
And often your hands get drawn into service, too, making the sign of the holy cross, as you remember where all these blessings come from.
And it goes beyond the Divine Service, too, of course. The Lord blesses you in your home as you hear God’s Word and pray and sing. The Lord blesses you when His Word flows from your unlocked lips, as you speak of Him to your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, and your coworkers.
As repentance and forgiveness is proclaimed to all nations, all nations are blessed, and the Lord is remembering His promise to Abraham, that all nations would be blessed through his seed, through His Christ. That Christ is alive in you, as the Lord blesses through your hands and your lips. Thus the Lord remembers His covenant to Abraham and blesses all nations, through Christ, through the cross, through you, and through all His people. The Lord remembers…
Remember in Hebrew is “Zakar,” and so we’re back to the beginning, back to old Zechariah, whose name means “The Lord remembers.”
When Zechariah could finally speak again, 9 months after he was tongue-tied in the temple, Zechariah blessed God, when he sang,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people…
To show the mercy promised to our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath that He swore to our father Abraham,
To grant us that we, bring delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”
Zechariah blessed God. How can people bless God? Isn’t God the one who blesses us? After God blesses us, we bless God, which means that we acknowledge that God is the source of our blessings, and we praise and thank Him for all that He has given us.
What happened after Jesus blessed the disciples?
“While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.”
Let’s stand to bless God now, singing along with Zechariah and all the people of God and serving him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!