Ascension of Our Lord
Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11
NOTE: These weekday sermons seem to be chock full of typos and such errors, more so than the Sunday sermons are. Perhaps that's because they are written under more pressure (a tighter deadline). If you listen to the audio, you'll likely hear some places where the manuscript tripped me up. What is entered here and the pdf file are the original, unedited, uncorrected manuscript.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As you were to pore over the Scriptures, you would find periods of time where God is simply silent. There was no thunder from heaven, no smoke, no fire, no trembling mountains—only silence. Not much is said of God’s activity in the time between Noah and Abraham. The Old Testament closes and there was 400 years of silence before John the Baptist, to which even the Apocrypha attests. (cf. 1 Maccabees 9:27) Even in the New Testament, there’s hardly a word from God, even as He walks on earth in the flesh, between the time of Jesus’ Annunciation to His birth, between His birth and baptism, and a little between His resurrection and ascension. Of course, we presume to know that God was active in all of those times, but we read and hear little to nothing of them.
We now live in a time referred to as The Saeculum, a Latin word meaning “age” or “period of time.” It is used to refer to a period of time since an event occurred and the death of the last person to witness the event. This Saeculum that we live in is marked by the period of time in which no one living as seen Jesus in the flesh. By the standards set forth so far in this sermon, The Saeculum is another period of silence from God—there is no thunder from heaven, smoke, fire, or trembling mountains, at least, none of which we can attribute to the direct activity of God to mark His presence. The Canon of Scripture is closed, as there is no further revelation from God. Jesus has come, died on the cross, rose from the grave, and is now ascended to the right hand of majesty.
Now, there is silence...only silence.