St. Luke 24:52 – Consecration of Dcs. Sara Lemon
Cabot, PA – May 19, 2007

In the name of Jesus. Amen. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They had a lot to be joyful about…

Everything that Jesus had said, He did. He fulfilled what was promised – the Law of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms. He did what we could never do. He did it all. And He didn’t do it for Himself, He did it for you and me.

The disciples didn’t get it. How could they? So, He opened their minds to pour into them this Gospel.

We are lost and condemned creatures. We have failed to live for God, failed one another – daily and much. We are not saved in this world by what we do. Nor does being good or living a good life cut it before Almighty God. What saves us is Christ – He suffered and rose again on the third day for us.

And after He did that – after He won and secured our salvation, He saw to it that it was delivered into our ears – He sent His men to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name, beginning first in Jerusalem and going all the way to Pennsylvania.

Repentance – that’s the Law which condemns us for all the times that we fail to fulfill the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. When we live for ourselves as if we matter most. He calls us to repent of that – to turn from our sins. To stop doing evil.

Then He pours in the Good News – the One who died has risen from the dead. Jesus gives forgiveness of sins in His Name – no sin is left unforgiven, no debt left unpaid, no way that, in Him, you or I will miss out on heaven on the Last Day.

Not since Christ died. Not since He rose. Not since He ascended to the right hand of the Father.

Who is this that comes in glory With the trump of jubilee? Lord of battles, God of armies,– He hath gained the victory. He who on the cross did suffer, He who from the grave arose, He hath vanquished sin and Satan; He by death hath spoiled His foes. (TLH 218, 2)

So… They went home. They did what they were given to do. They went back to the same stuff – but no longer quite the same as before, for Christ is now at the right hand of the Father.

For Christ, “…hast raised our human nature On the clouds to God’s right hand; There we sit in heavenly places, There with Thee in glory stand.” (218, 5)

The Ascension is how we face each day – in His Name we rise in the morning, in His name we pray, in His name we live, in His name we close our eyes and in His Name we die. And as certain as Christ has been raised from the dead – in His Name we rise from the dead – no doubts, no uncertainty, no despair.

Each day is spent in this life by faith already certain of heaven, and salvation, and eternal life. For where Christ is, there we are, and there we will be. What Christ has been given from the Father is ours in Him too.

Christ is at the Lord’s right hand – you and me too, in Christ. All that we could never do, He gives us for free – adoption, sonship, inheritance…everything.

So the disciples couldn’t just stand there gawking at the sky anymore, there was work to be done. Back to Jerusalem they went – back home to their regular lives.

But regular no more – their lives were now spent in the certainty and the confidence that He had not only ascended, but He had ascended for them.

“And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.” (Luke 24:52-53)

Back to work they went too – men and women both. The Apostles given to preach repentance, to baptize in His Name, and to forgive sins.

To help and aid them the Lord gave certain woman to do the work behind the scenes, unbenownst to anyone else. These quiet servants did what couldn’t be done by the Apostles – they visited widows, sometimes bringing them the Body and Blood of Christ, cared for the sick, tended to the poor, taught the younger women and the children.

The earliest reference to a deaconess that we have in the Scriptures is dear Phoebe, whom St. Paul recognized as a helper and servant for him and the church.

Now “helper” doesn’t sound like a very important one at all. Helper sounds like second-fiddle, like a sidekick.

But such talk is the way of power and control, and it loses the gift.

A deaconess isn’t second-fiddle, she’s a servant — putting others’ needs before her own. That’s the way it is with deaconesses – all service, little respect. But that’s the way it was with our Lord too, wasn’t it? He came not to be served, but to serve.

“He took upon the form of a servant and was obedient unto death, even death on a Cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name…” (Phil 2)

Unwanted. Despised. Like the woman who anointed Jesus at Bethany. Judas protested that the fragrant oil could’ve been sold and the money given to the poor. His condemnation of her wastefulness was clear, “Nobody wants you around.”

But the Lord knew what was up with him, and with her. The poor would be with us always. The salvation of the world rested on His suffering and dying for us. Can you get any better of a way to serve Him, and us, than to anoint his body for burial?

No man would do that – but she did. And Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."

The particular work is never forgotten by the Lord, the small service never considered small. He gives it meaning with His words and promises – with His Name. His Ascension gives it purpose – He’s at the right hand of God. In Christ, you are too, Sara.

Those jobs, those icky jobs, those jobs that no man would do – godly women have done. It was the women who took His bloodied, beaten, dead Body off the Cross, and tended to it. Women who showed up at the tomb on Easter morning to do the particular unique service that only they can do.

But they didn’t find the living amongst the dead. Alleluia! The Lord sent women to tell the Apostles that the Lord had risen from the dead.

Each one, each part of the body, given their unique gift – each gift and service made important not because of the task itself or the fanfare received for it, but because Christ suffered, rose on the third day, and ascended beyond our sight.

The ancient rites for the installation of deaconesses all took special care not to lose this gift. They were all very specific to point out – you are not a pastor, Sara. The Lord loves you far too much to do that to you. You are to be in the pew on Sunday morning.

What you are is important to Him – you’re a deaconess with a service that only you are given to do, a task uniquely given for you that the Lord has a for you for a time. Do what’s given to you to do with the joy of the Ascension for…

“Jesus reigns, adored by angels; Man with God is on the throne. Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension We by faith behold our own.” (TLH 218, 5)

What you do isn’t ordinary or everyday even though it may feel ordinary and everyday. What you do is eternal for He is eternal – for in your service you deliver the Crucified, Risen, and now ascended Lord.

And if you perish in this service? “If I perish, I perish said Queen Esther. I would perish for Him who gave Himself for me.”

Or as the hymn writer says. “To them the cross, with all its shame, With all its grace, is given; Their name an everlasting name, Their joy the joy of heaven.” (TLH 219,5)

So, off this mountain too now, Sara. No glory for deaconesses, not even on commissioning day. It’s straight off to service. Straight to the task of mercy – the calling given specifically and only for you to do.

For “…This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Go your way in peace, casting all your care upon Him. INI. Amen.