Reigning with the King

Today we commemorate the Festival of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, 40 days after he rose from the dead. the Ascension of Christ is just as important as the other major celebrations of his birth, death and resurrection—but in modern times much less attention is given to it, as it always falls on a Thursday. It easily slips by as our attention is focused on the weekly rhythm of school and work and daily tasks instead.

But Jesus’ ascension wasn’t missed in South Korea this Easter. It was acknowledged very publicly during a theatrical Easter performance called ‘Because he lives’, presented by the United Christian Churches of Korea at Gwanghwamun Square. The performance was a spectacular re-enactment of biblical events of the first Easter to an audience of over 8,000 people, with many thousands more viewing video of it online.

At the high point of the performance, an actor portraying Jesus was hoisted up by a crane to represent Jesus’ ascension. There was a pre-arranged signal of when to lower the actor back down. But there was miscommunication between the actor and the crane operator. Instead of lowering the crane, the operator kept elevating the poor actor above skyscraper height. Most people thought it was part of the actual act and were left amazed and impressed, but the actor was terrified. Witnesses say that he appeared to go limp at one point, with many online speculating that he passed out from fright. The visual was so surreal that viewers on social media joked that he was being sent to join the Artemis 2 crew, or that he was “attached to the moon.” One commentator quipped: “He’s going to meet the real Jesus!” [1]

In today’s set of readings, we hear that Jesus did not ascend by his own power. Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up. As the Korean performer needed the aid of crane to hoist him into the air, the real Jesus was also lifted up—not by a crane, but by his Heavenly Father’s strength, just like when he raised Jesus from the dead. Paul said: “[The Father’s] incomparably great power for us who believe… is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…” (Ephesians 1:19-20).

But why was Jesus taken up into heaven, and why is the commemoration of Jesus’ ascension so important?

In ancient mythology, it was thought that the higher a person was to the heavens, the closer they were to the Divine. Mountaintops were believed to be sacred places of divine revelation and glory. People carried their gods up mountainsides in spiritual coronation rituals seeking to access divine power for their gods. Perhaps that’s why God gave revelations of himself on mountaintops. He revealed his holiness when he descended to the top of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19) to give his commandments to Moses. It was atop Mount Carmel (the place for worship of the Canaanite storm and fertility god Baal) that God powerfully revealed himself as the true God (1 Kings 18). It was on the top of a high mountain that Jesus’ divine nature was revealed for a fleeting moment when his clothes became dazzling white and his face shone like the sun, and a voice came from the cloud that enveloped them: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Matt 17, Mark 9).

But Jesus ascended even higher than the mountain tops. He was taken up to the heavenly realms and seated at the Father’s right hand, far above all rule and authority, power and kingdoms. The ascension of Jesus is the culmination of his Easter victory over sin, death and Satan, when the Father enthroned him as Lord over all and crowned him the victorious King. God placed all things under Jesus’ feet—he has complete rule and authority over all things, as head over everything for his church.

That is why Jesus’ ascension is a central part of the Christian faith and reflecting on what it means for the Church is so important. Paul could say to the Philippians that every knee will bow before Jesus—either voluntarily or involuntarily. On the day when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead even the most wicked people with hearts far from God will be compelled to acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship and fall down in fear before him.

The communion of saints though, are those who voluntarily kneel before Jesus, not because they are convicted by fear, but willingly, in joyful worship and devotion. Those who willingly honour Jesus by submitting to him and trusting their lives to him are those who have received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father. Paul said to the Corinthian Christians: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit”. For the early Christians the confession of faith was not so much that Jesus was Saviour, but “Jesus is Lord”—their King who they pledged their allegiance to.

Receiving the Holy Spirit through the ascended Jesus from the Father in Heaven means a confession of ‘Jesus is Lord’ not merely with one’s lips but also one’s heart, living out one’s faith in daily life. In his sermon on the plain, Jesus asked his audience: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:46-49).

God has saved us to be free people. Freedom is a wonderful thing. Freedom can also be abused. God’s intention for our freedom is not to live independently, doing whatever we want. But he has freed us from the lordship of Satan, sin and death, to live under the Lordship of his Son, Christ the King. Luther would explain what living as saved people looks like:

“At great cost Jesus has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil—not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.

All this he has done that I may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead, and lives and rules eternally.”

Many people say that living as a Christian means being a party pooper. In a culture that sends the message to us that we need to be constantly entertained, many say that going to church is boring and irrelevant. But living in submission to the ascended Lord means a life of joy. When Jesus was taken up to heaven and a cloud hid him from their sight, his disciples are not the slightest bit sad. Jesus was not hidden from them, as if he was separated from them or distant to them. But he was hidden from their sight. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus promised them that he would be with them always to the very end of the age. How could he ascend into heaven, yet still be with them on earth? How can Jesus be in two places at once? Because he is God. And precisely because by ascending he went up into heaven to be everywhere present—what Paul means when he says that Jesus fills everything in everyway.

By his going to the Father, Jesus is with us even more closely than what was possible before. Jesus ascended not to absent himself from the world but to be fully present everywhere, reigning as King. After Jesus ascended, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and stayed continually at the Temple, praising God. Why did they go there? They couldn’t yet go up into the heavenly sanctuary to be with their King. So they went to the place on earth where they knew they would have an audience with their King and have access to his divine blessing. Instead of being sad, the disciples went to the Temple with great joy because they expected to receive blessing, mercy and favour from heaven from the Father through their ascended King. They waited to receive the promised Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit the Father would pour out at Pentecost.

Jesus is hidden from our sight too. With troubles all around relentlessly pursuing us in life, does

Jesus seem far away, hidden from your experience, your problems, your fears, your pain, your needs, your cares? As we survey the church and observe in many places a shrinking band of struggling people, afforded a much less respected and prominent place in society than in a previous golden age, does it feel like God has left us, watching from his throne in heaven, leaving us to our own devices to make his church relevant again? When we observe wars and fighting around us doing so much destruction, our weak human flesh losing the battle with our sinful nature, so that the good we know we should do we can’t do, and that which we hate we keep on doing, and when we consider the powers of evil arrayed against us in the spiritual battle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12), we might not feel triumphant at all, but small, weak and vulnerable, with little cause for joy.

When the Korean actor ascended by being hoisted on a crane, the exercise went terribly wrong and nearly ended tragically. But not so with God. He was in complete control, and Jesus was effortlessly lifted up to be king over all. Every human ruler on earth will have a time when their reign comes to an end. But nothing can bring an end to Jesus’ reign. Not even hell itself will triumph over God’s people because Christ is supreme Lord over all. Nothing can dethrone Jesus. All power and authority are his. Nothing can overturn his decrees. And so we confess in the Creed: his kingdom will have no end.

And that is a victory you share in already! In baptism we have been united with Christ, and his death, resurrection and ascension. In Ephesians 2 Paul explains that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, so that we participate in the reign of our King. This is past tense; it has already happened: God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). He did this so that in the coming ages we too, like disciples on the day of Jesus’ ascension, might see our exalted Lord in glory—not just for a few fleeting seconds but forever, together with the angels, and the whole communion of saints, gathered around the throne of the Lamb in Heaven.

Until that time, at the end of the age, the risen, ascended Christ is fully present for his people. Although he is hidden from our sight, he promises to you: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”—not a memory, and not even present by his spirit, but Christ himself, personally present with us every day in our life. And he who was taken up to the heavenly sanctuary at his Father’s right hand is with you here in this sanctuary on earth. Jesus’ ascension did not mean the end of his ministry on earth, but the very continuation of it, of bringing God’s blessings to his people as he ministers to us through his word and sacraments. He reigns to bring faith out of unbelief, peace from condemnation, life out of death.

And so over the years, through all your pastors who have lifted up their hands to bless you here, the Lord Jesus lifts his hands to bless you. He is here to hear your confession of sin and declare you forgiven and present you holy to your Father in heaven. Just as he read from the scriptures in the synagogue, he is here to read from his holy word, explaining everything in the scriptures to you concerning himself. He is here to speak his powerful word over bread and wine to place his body and blood in your hands, bringing the life, forgiveness and salvation he won for the world on the Cross to you personally, as his specially invited guests he desires to honour at his table. When two or three of you have gathered to reconcile with one another, Jesus has been with you, to mend what was broken. As you stepped out of the pews to pass his peace, you have gone with Jesus, the great Giver of peace.

In all these ways, and through all these things, your Father in heaven continues to send the Holy Spirit through Jesus his ascended Son, to clothe you with power from on high to be his witnesses, breathe new life into you, and to enlighten the eyes of your heart, in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That same power that will cause you and all his faithful people to be taken up with Jesus to be with him in our heavenly home, on the day he comes in glory.

For on that day the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). Amen.

Pastor Tim Ebbs

St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Glenelg

Commemoration of Jesus’ Ascension, 2026

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

 

“God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, so that we participate in the reign of our King.”

 

1. How is Jesus’ kingship different from earthly rulers?

 

2. How does knowing Jesus reigns over “all authority” change how we view current world events or uncertainties?

 

3. What does it mean to “set your hearts on things above” where Christ is?

 

4. How should Jesus’ kingship shape your priorities, decisions, and lifestyle?
5. In what ways can you actively acknowledge Jesus as King each day?

 

6. What areas of your life are hardest to submit to Jesus as King?

 

7. Where might your life reveal that something else is competing for the throne?

 

8. How does Jesus’ ascension point forward to his second coming?

 

9. What hope does the promise of Jesus’ return give you?

 

10. What does it mean to wait with expectation rather than passivity?

 

11. How has your understanding of Jesus changed when you see Him as reigning King?

 

1. What practical step can you take this week to live more under His reign?

 

1. How does Jesus’ ascension give you confidence in prayer and daily life?

 

[1] Sourced from Instagram reel https://www.instagram.com/reel/DW__E2nlJc4/ last accessed 16/5/2026 8:16am

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