The Sunday after the Ascension 2025
This Sunday is called Waiting Sunday - it derives its name from the instructions in the Epistle for the Ascension in which the Apostles were told to wait for power from on high. This Sunday is the only Sunday in the short season of Ascensiontide - a 10 day season between Ascension Day, which was last Thursday, and the feast of Pentecost/Whitsunday which we celebrate next Sunday.
Our Lord gave the Apostles instructions to “wait” in the period between the Ascension and the fresh expression of the Holy Spirit’s power on that day of Pentecost. We read in the first Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles - The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the Apostles whom he had chosen:
3 to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
We read later in that first Chapter of Acts that all the apostles and other disciples gathered together and St. Luke tells us “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” While they waited for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit, they returned to Jerusalem in obedience to Our Lord’s command. They did so together; they stayed together. Not only were they together in body, St. Luke tells us that they were unified in their spirit. They were “with one accord”; their unity was expressed in prayer and supplication.
Our Lord spent 40 days opening the Scriptures to them. His matchless exposition would have brought light to Old Testament Scriptures and it would have brought to mind His earlier teaching. As they devoted themselves to prayer, it is likely that they remembered Our Lord’s words, “Ask and it will be given unto you….the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” They would have been reminded of Christ’s prompting to be diligent in prayer (recalling the parable of the persistent widow) so that they may continue in prayer and not lose heart. They would have been reminded of our Lord’s teaching concerning praying and it is most certain that they would have recalled Our Lord’s instruction concerning the promise of the Father - the key teaching in the Gospel appointed for today.
St. John gives the account of another Upper Room - that which preceded the cross and resurrection, the great 40 days of Christ’s teaching and His Ascension, that is, the Upper Room of the Last Supper. There, Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit - the Comforter. The Holy Spirit which proceeds from the Father is called the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit would testify of Jesus - direct men and women to his saving power as Messiah and Son of God. The same Holy Spirit would empower them to bear witness. Notice that Jesus says that these men shall bear witness, not “may” or “will”. The power of the Holy Spirit in His ministry to the Church would be so great that they would bear witness joyfully even unto death. Witness, here in the Greek, is the word martyreo. It can mean to give evidence, to testify. The Apostles, with the exception of St. John, every last one of them died for bearing witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bearing witness to Christ became a synonym for death.
Hence, we speak of the martyrs as those who throughout history embraced death rather than bear false witness about the true Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Jesus says of his Apostles in our gospel, “These things I have spoken to you that you should not be offended.” It was the power of the Holy Spirit that prevented them from being “offended”. The Greek for “offended” is very difficult to translate. It can be translated as overthrown or made to stumble. The sense of the word is that they will enter into such persecution and it will be a great test of faith, because it would be hard to believe that a cause that truly belongs to God would seem to meet with no success. In fact, from all appearances, all the power was on the other side. Only the Holy Spirit could keep them in peace and keep them faithful when they were excommunicated from the synagogues.
They would need to be kept by the Spirit when they were being killed by those who thought they were doing God’s work in violently opposing their testimony when they presented witness of the reign of Our Ascended Lord. All these words, the teaching about prayer, the teaching about the Holy Spirit, were told unto them, our Gospel tells us, “so that when the time comes, they may remember”. They remembered as they waited, and their waiting was active in that they were praying and making supplications. They were empowered from on high as a result of that obedience - unified prayer and supplication. They remembered after Pentecost the Spirit’s presence in all their adversity.
They waited for the power of Pentecost, and we, too, are waiting. We are not waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit for we live in the reality of His presence at the present. We have already received His indwelling at our baptism. Our waiting is that which has been shared by all Christians.
We await the return of our Lord Jesus Christ ushering in the new heavens and the new earth and to manifest plainly his rule by judging both the living and the dead. What did they do while they waited? We read in Acts 2:42 - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
They continued in the Apostles teaching - that which had been revealed to them during the Great 40 days while Our Lord was with them. Moreover, they devoted themselves to “fellowship”. We often think of fellowship as anything that involves friendly socializing with people of common interest, which is a very limited understanding of the activity, the same way people often associate worship only with singing. In the case of Christian fellowship, the common interest is our common identity in Christ, which allows us to learn together and to remind each other of the truth of the gospel. It allows us to pray with and for each other.
With this in mind, the Apostles “continuing in fellowship” refers to their continuing together in what St. Luke calls “the prayers”. These are not simply extemporaneous prayers that each individual crafted at the spur of the moment. Rather, these are set prayers that the Church was praying together. This is where we get our pattern of “common prayer” as Anglicans. They also celebrated the Holy Eucharist - they broke the bread.
The unity of the Church fundamental to their waiting in that Upper Room after the Ascension was known throughout all Christendom for a thousand years. Sadly, there were divisions in the Church, first in 1054 with the Great Schism between East and West, which was followed by the recalcitrance of Rome to address its errors in the Western Church, which led to the fragmentation of the Reformation. Now, according to one study, we have over 30,000 denominations globally. Yet, in all of this, God is greater than our weakness.
He is able to maintain unity in His body by the presence of His Holy Spirit, despite the diversity of the various branches of Christ’s church that have sprung from the root of the early, undivided church. Christ is still known in the prayers of His people, He is known in a mystical fashion in the “breaking of bread” - the Holy Communion. He is known in the fellowship of all Christians who share in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Fragmented, but waiting in some sense, together.
St. Peter in the Epistle appointed for today tells his Christian readers that the return of Christ is imminent. He says, “the end of all things is at hand”. In other words, Christ is ascended and all things that are needful for His return are accomplished. He can come at any point. Indeed, Peter is telling these first century Christians that Christ will come again soon. That they are living in the last days. St. Paul was constant in this reminder to the churches that they were living in the last days.
Was St. Paul correct? Yes! Because, guess what? We, too, are living in the last days. Moreover, if Christ tarries until the year 5,000, those Christians in the year 4999 will be living in the last days. Whether it be a day or a thousand years, the “last days” is a term of language describing a time of anticipation. Waiting. Here we have the same theme of waiting. We are waiting, and we should be doing it faithfully. When will Jesus return? It is not for us to know the exact time or date. What is important is what we do while we wait. Those who are not convinced of Christ’s return are not eager to conform themselves to the commandments of that great Judge. St. Peter who waited in that Upper Room prior to the day of Pentecost gives us practical instruction on how we should be waiting as we wait for His glorious return. Notice after the declaration of Christ’s nearness that St. Peter reminds them to be sober and watchful unto prayer. The Church is the new Israel of God and we know that we face similar challenges of unbelief and idolatry as Israel did in the wilderness.
You may recall that Moses ascended up to Mount Sinai where he received God’s law for the benefit of all of Israel. Instead of living in anticipation of Moses’s return, waiting faithfully for what would come next, Israel said among themselves, “Who knows what happened to this Moses?” They forgot their purpose and the role of Moses in giving them the law. Moses’ purpose was to bring about hope and direction as they headed to the promised land. We read that they turned to idolatry and immorality when Moses delayed in returning. We must never forget that the Ascended Christ will come again for the end of all things is at hand. Let us not have unbelieving hearts, doubting God’s goodness and the return of Christ. Let us not be faithless while we wait, falling into all sorts of immorality and ungodliness. Instead, let us be single minded, focused on the truths of the gospel and enter into prayer. Let us be watchful unto prayer.
Instead of living like Christ isn’t coming back, that his commandments don’t matter, let us join with the Apostles by waiting faithfully. On this Waiting Sunday, hear again the pattern of the ancient church in Acts 2 - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Let us do the same as we eagerly await the return of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us be about a consistent intake of apostolic teaching - the Gospel of Jesus; let us feast on our fellowship one with another - sharing in the good times and the bad. Let us eat the bread of heaven in the Eucharist and let every moment be made holy by our constant prayers. Amen.