Blessing God While We Wait
This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for the Ascension of Our Lord on Saturday, May 31, 2025.
Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I don't like to wait. I don't like to wait for good things to come, and I especially don't like to wait for bad things to happen. When I visit people in the hospital, very consistently, the hardest part of being there isn't the pain or even the uncertainty. It's the waiting—waiting for the doctor to stop in, waiting for the next test or test result, waiting to heal. Waiting is hard, even when we know something good is coming at the end of it, even when we know the wait will produce something worth it.
In many institutions like school and work, our lives often consist of "hurry up and wait." We get ready, and then we wait because we need to be prepared when the time comes. Waiting is not easy. I don't know many people who are so comfortable in themselves that they can just sit and wait patiently. I was impressed with a little boy who said he could wait for four hours if it was something good. By the time I've been staring at a wall for four hours, I feel like I'm about to tear my skin off. I get too fidgety for that sort of thing.
The Wisdom of Waiting
One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received was about waiting in the uncertainty of ministering at the bedside of others. There's a common saying, "Don't just stand there. Do something." But a professor of mine turned that around. He said, "Don't just do something. Stand there."
Waiting while a loved one is suffering or waiting for test results is incredibly difficult. Sometimes the best thing we can do for those around us is to be willing to be present and wait, to sit with them and allow the grating agony of nothing to pass by in solidarity with someone who is also waiting for the same thing to happen.
Waiting in the Book of Acts
In the book of Acts today, St. Luke launches into the beginning of his second book. He wrote the Gospel of Luke, and Acts is essentially part two—a continuation so closely tied that scholars often refer to them together as Luke-Acts.
In Acts 1, the disciples are gathered together. Jesus has died on the cross, been raised from the dead, and demonstrated Himself alive by many convincing proofs. Now they are about to watch Him ascend into heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.
While staying with them, Jesus gave them an order. He said, "Don't leave the city. Don't leave Jerusalem. You need to be here when the Holy Spirit is given to the church. That's going to happen, but first, you need to be here in the city and wait."
The Challenge of Waiting for the Spirit
Waiting is hard, even though the disciples know a good thing is coming. They know God is going to give them a blessing, that God will give them His Spirit to bear the Word of God into the world. They're beginning to understand these things, but still, Jesus says to put the brakes on.
He instructs them not to leave the city and try to go on this mission by themselves. Without the power of God to guide their decision-making and help them carry that message into the world, they will fail—not for lack of trying or ability, but because they lack the one essential tool they need: the promised Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells them:
- "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
- "You will be my witnesses, starting in Jerusalem and then going out to the ends of the earth."
But right now, they haven't received the Spirit yet, so they must wait.
The Agony and Assurance of Waiting
I can only imagine that waiting must have been agony for them—to wait for the Lord whose day is near, to watch Jesus lift off the ground and bodily ascend into the heavens with His hands outstretched in blessing. Those hands bear the wounds inflicted upon Him at His death, and now they are extended in blessing as He ascends into heaven.
He shows them His hands and ascends, saying to them, "Wait. God's not done with you yet. God's Spirit has not come to you yet, but it's going to happen. Just stay here. Just wait." And He ascends and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Waiting for Christ's Return
We often talk about the end of the world in the church. We speak of Jesus as the Son of God who will return to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. So much of what it means to be Christian is to wait for the Lord because Jesus is coming back.
We believe and confess in the creed that Jesus Christ will return to this earth. He will wipe every tear from every eye, make every wrong right, fix what's broken in this world, reverse the curse, and restore us to our original blessedness. But He's not here yet, and in the meantime, we have to wait—and it's hard.
Some people get this mixed up because they think waiting means doing nothing. But that's not what Jesus says here at all. He doesn't tell the disciples to sit in a room by themselves and stare at the wall for ten days until the Spirit comes.
Active Waiting: Worship and Joy
As they watch Him ascend into heaven and just as He goes out of sight, God sends two messengers—angels—who arrive while the disciples stand in slack-jawed amazement at what they've witnessed. The angels say to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up toward heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw Him go."
The implication is clear: there is work to do even in waiting. In Luke's Gospel account today, we see what that work is:
- Jesus withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
- They worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
- They were continually in the temple blessing God.
Between Jesus ascending into heaven and the Holy Spirit coming down at Pentecost to equip them to bear His message and birth the church, they aren't to do nothing. In the midst of waiting, they have work: to return to Jerusalem with great joy and continually be in the temple praising God.
They have seen things no other person has ever seen—proof that the Messiah, the Son of God, is Jesus Christ of Nazareth; that He is risen from the dead; that He is truly risen, not just some spirit or apparition; that He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Now all they have to do is wait until the proper moment when God will send His Spirit. They will be filled with heavenly blessings and graces, able to speak languages they don't understand so others can hear the gospel as they travel. They will be given faith, hope, and love to carry this word into the world.
But right now, we're not there yet—that's the Pentecost sermon. You'll have to come back next week for that one. Because right now, we're waiting—but we're not just waiting. We're blessing God.
May God bless you in the waiting for His return. May God fill you with peace and wonder at this God whose Son sits at the right hand of the Father praying for you right now. May you worship at the throne of this One who has given you His grace and blessing in His wounded hands, feet, and side. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord to life everlasting. Amen.
