1 Ascension Sunday C 2013; Luke 24:44-53 May 12, 2013 Cross and Crown Lutheran Church Superheroes When my sister and I were little, say six and seven, Every year around Easter time My mom would buy the two of us Cute little Easter dresses, Adorable little patent leather shoes And one year And this was totally awesome each of us received A white fluffy shawl that was manufactured from The finest in genuine 100 percent free-range acrylic. Now as I remember it the shawls came down to Just about our fingertips And best of all they buttoned real tight right around the neck Like a cape (thinking) a cape huh? Well my mom didn t need the gift of prophesy to figure out what was going to happen next or any kind of supersensitive telepathy Although like most moms I suspect she had it To know what my sister and I were thinking The moment we tried on those shawls from JC Penny Because no sooner had we gotten home then she made us solemnly swear on a stack of Oreos That under no circumstances Were we to play super-heroes With our brand new white shawls. They were for church and church only, Oh no, we solemnly replied We won t play super heroes. Noooo-oooo. Uh-huh. Well no sooner had my mom gone to bed to rest up
2 For the night shift at the hospital Then Kathie and I were tearing around the backyard With our billowing white capes blowing behind us And we were jumping off just about every object that we could get on top of Pretending that we could fly We were superheroes! Man that was fun And it was totally worth it Even when our dad got home from work And discovered that I d ripped a great big hole Into my brand new shawl And it hadn t ever gotten to church, not even once. You know, longing for a super hero Or longing to be a super hero Is something that I think everyone At some point in his or her life Just plain gets. Jesus disciples sure as heck did Now, it would take another couple thousand years, of course Before the good folks at Marvel comics would give the world Ironman or the Hulk or my personal favorite Spiderman But the disciples didn t need Marvel comics back then to know what a super hero was They already had them But their names weren t Captain America or Wolverine or The Avengers They were Moses and Joshua and Elijah And now, of course, they had Jesus And Jesus was proving to be more powerful that all of them Put together. I mean, he did rise from the dead after all And surely that meant that Rome s days were numbered, right? They even asked him about it In our first lesson this morning. So, uh Jesus is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? is this the time when you are finally going to act like the superhero that we all really know that you are? Cause we ve read our scriptures you know
3 And we know from reading them That God always sides with his people And he s so obviously been siding with you Because you re alive and all Even after what the Romans did to you. So, where should we sit so we get the very best view When you finally decide take out the Romans? Hmm, hmm, hmm? But of course you and I both know that they got it so very wrong and so Jesus being a nice guy and all didn t bonk them on the heads but instead did the only thing he could do with them he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. That s what it says in this morning s gospel reading. Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Essentially he's saying, Look, I know you have gotten some ideas about me. That s obvious. And I know you have some ideas about what the Messiah is supposed to be. I get that. And I know where you got them from. I know that some of you thought that if I was the Messiah that maybe I should ve been more like David or Solomon or brave Joshua and called out the troops when John got arrested. Or that maybe I should ve gone head to head against Pilate and freed Jerusalem from those Roman thugs the way that Moses went head to head against Pharaoh. I get that. I read the same stories that you did in Sunday school too. But I m here to tell you that if you thought
4 that this is what the Messiah must be and this is what the Messiah must do if you think I m about blessing nations and cursing enemies then you d better have another look at the scriptures because they re not about finding a superhero which is what you all seem to be looking for but about knowing who the Messiah is and let me tell you he s anything but a superhero. You see, superheroes at least the ones that take over the box office every summer after they're done saving the day don t seem to want to have much if anything to do with most of the people they save. And while superheroes have powers that are much greater than ours which is cool - superheroes do not go about sharing their super powers with anyone else least of all us. And of course, we all know that superheroes take great pains to disguise themselves and their true identities from just about everyone around them. No, Jesus is no modern day superhero like Superman, or Batman, or Wonder Woman although it you listen to some preachers these days you might get that idea Nor, is he even an Old Testament superhero like Moses, or David, or Elijah. No Jesus is the Messiah. And the Messiah, if anything, is the anti-superhero. He's the one who is standing always on the side of the poor and the broken and the outcast and the fearful and the shameful And according to him
5 his mission, right down to his suffering and death, is clear right from the Old Testament even if the disciples and even some Christians today didn t want to see it. You see, in his suffering and his passion - the beatings, the humiliation, the betrayal by his friends Jesus the Messiah is not so very far from The poor and the outcasts of every nation the ones who even today are picking through the rubble of collapsed factory buildings and making their meals out of dumpsters and begging for medicine for their children - the ones who have been mostly forgotten by the rich of this world, and the comfortable of this world but have never been forgotten by God. And if you doubt me, go back and read Deuteronomy. And in his blameless death upon the cross Jesus the Messiah is crucified right along with the thousands upon thousands of innocents in this world that have been cruelly slaughtered and then are totally forgotten by the powerful warlords of this world and the powerful profit motives of this world but who have never, ever been forgotten by God not even on the cross And if you doubt me just go back and read the prophets like Amos or Jeremiah. And his rising from the dead? Yes, it s in there too, along with the triumphant arc of the rainbow that rises high above the earth and that serves as the sign of the eternal covenant that our Father made with every nation and tribe of humanity when the waters of the flood finally returned to the sea and the world needed proof that death and destruction would be no more.
6 Oh yes, it's all in there, if you doubt me, go back and read Genesis. For you see, although the Messiah has come into this broken world to save it, that much is true rather than keeping it and us at a distance and disappearing into the shadows once his work is done instead he wants nothing more than to be in a direct relationship with the ones who need him most every moment of our lives. That is the power of the Body of Christ. And while the Messiah is powerful beyond anything that you or I or the disciples or even the good folks at Marvel comics could ever have come up with or even comprehended rather than hording that power of love for himself he wants nothing more than empty himself of it and to lavish upon each and every one of us the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it's promised to us in our baptisms and is what fuels us in our service to one another. And while the Messiah is known by many names the Christ, the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, the Logos Jesus is never ever going to hide his identity from us With a mask or a cape but instead wants us to know exactly who he is by knowing exactly who we are which is why he came in the first place and why he has promised to be present to us every time we come together in the most knowable things of all, like a piece of bread and a sip of wine. And so it s a good thing a blessing even in the retelling of this story that all of us here this morning get to sit right next to Peter and James and John
7 and Mary Magdalene and the rest of the disciples as Jesus continues to preach the truth about who he really is to all of us the Messiah of the Old Testament. Because too often I think - especially among those of us who have a great deal to say about salvation by faith through grace - too often Jesus is made out to be like he's some kind of super hero with super powers and a super will when he s not; No, Jesus is not a super hero he's the Messiah who is the fulfillment of the entire scriptures. And as much as I do so love all the super heroes in my life especially if there s a cape involved there s a huge difference between the two. For only the Messiah has the power to save us, befriend us, empower and transform us by inviting us, all of us, to stay here (gesturing around the room) right here in the city that we share so that together through the Holy Spirit we can all be clothed in his power which is the power of his sacrificial love. Gosh, now I sort of can t wait for Pentecost, what about you? Amen.