Great Joy | Luke 24:44–53 | A Glorious Ending That Changes Everything
Listen To This Sermon on the Ascension
In this Ascension Sunday sermon on Luke 24:44–53, Pastor Mark Groen explores the often-overlooked ending to Luke’s Gospel. While the resurrection rightly receives much of our attention, the ascension of Jesus is no less important—and perhaps even more surprising. Why did the disciples rejoice when Jesus left? What does the ascension mean for us today? Drawing from Scripture and the rich teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism, this message invites us to see the ascension not as a departure but as a coronation. Jesus reigns—and because He is ascended, we have joy, assurance, and a mission.
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Many movies and television shows are known to have a twist towards the end to shock you, or maybe they're designed to cause you to question everything that you have assumed up until that point in the story. These twists can take a mediocre story and make it good, and they can also take a good story and make them great. For example, the MASH episode where Henry leaves the 4077th would have just been a sad episode. But the scene where Radar walks into the operating room and says that Henry's plane went down over the South China Sea, that took it to the point where it's ranked as one of the most memorable moments in television history. These moments can create a moment for you personally, where you always remember where you were in that moment that you saw this surprise. And some surprise endings become cultural icons. For example, the ending of the Planet of the Apes when astronaut George Taylor realizes he has been on Earth the entire time of the movie. It's a surprise people didn't see coming, and it's still talked about today. Of course, you can't deny the cultural shock when we discovered at the end of the Empire Strikes Back that the evil Darth Vader was the father of the film's hero, Luke Skywalker.
The line, "No, I am your father," is easily the most quoted movie line in history. There are also surprises that are huge, but we can forget about them because we're paying attention to something else that's going on in the story. As an example, I offer this surprise at the end of the blockbuster movie Rocky. Until recently, I had completely forgotten that Rocky lost that boxing match. Why? Because we were so busy focusing on the love story and the relationship between he and Adrian that the match, the result of it, didn't matter. It was a twist we didn't see coming, but we also pushed it aside. We forgot about it. Now, I didn't come here today to discuss movies, but our text for this morning really has a bit of a surprise ending. We are rightly focused on the main story of the gospel of Luke, and so we sometimes forget how it ends. We have the death and the resurrection of Jesus, but the ascension of Jesus is almost an afterthought for us. It's the part of the story that we sometimes forget about or a part of the story that we don't necessarily understand. There are lots of good reasons that we tend to forget about this ending.
There's a lot going on at the end of Luke's gospel. But we need to make sure that this last part of the gospel of Luke is something we understand and we remember as a vital part of our faith. Let's be honest. We have the story of the life, death, resurrection, and even the ascension of Jesus down very well. We may know different parts of this story to various degrees, but in general, we know the basic outline of the story. In fact, we confess it here nearly every week. Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and buried, on the third day, resurrection, and then ascended to the right-hand of God, the Father. We can rip all those parts of Jesus's life off pretty easily. And so I think we miss what a surprise ending this is to the story that's told in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is crucified, and the most amazing thing of all happens. And we focus on that. He rises from the dead. He appears to his disciples. And then he leaves? If you were sitting in the theater watching this as a movie and it ended that way, you'd probably turn to your friends and say, Great, another movie just to set up a sequel.
It seems like the story is focusing on this resurrection. And then we have Jesus gone. It's a cliffhanger ending. And of course, Luke does continue the story. There is a sequel. It's called Acts. But as we look at our passage today, we can't deny the surprise that this is. And I think on top of it all, there's one fact of this ascension that is most surprising. In verse 52 of Luke 24, it says, Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Jesus had left them, but they don't depart with tears or confusion. Instead, they worship Jesus and do what he has told them to do. And most surprising of all, they do it with great joy. This isn't how the story would go if any of us were to write it. The ascension of Jesus is important, and it's a reason to worship Jesus and a reason for us to have great joy as well. Our familiarity with the story of Jesus can make us pass over some of the parts of the story without grasping its importance. This is why we have things like Ascension Sunday so that we come back to this important doctrine and come to grips with what it means for us.
I think I've mentioned in the past on Ascension Sunday, I've talked about this before, about how we pass over this doctrine. Because in my entire library of books, I have one book on the Ascension. I've looked for more, and I can't find good ones that are recommended, and there really are none at all out there. I have hundreds of physical books. With my Kindle and my Bible software, I have thousands. I have just one book on the topic of the ascension. That should tell us something about how this doctrine is a forgotten doctrine. It means so much, but I think we lack an understanding of why it's so significant for us as Christians. This morning, I hope we come away with a greater appreciation of our ascended king at the right-hand of the Father and what it means for us. As we read our passage this morning, you may have noticed that we have some overlap from what we've read in Luke already this year. Already, we've seen this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
We looked at this passage extensively a few weeks ago, so I won't spend much time on the front part of this passage this morning. But it's so important for us to remember this part of the story. Before leaving, Jesus let them know what this was all about. He didn't unhinge himself from the Old Testament. Instead, he let them know that all that he had done was to fulfill what had been said about him in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. This is so important for us to understand because there were many promises about the Messiah, and one of them was that he would be a king who would forever sit on the throne. If you were one of the disciples, this is what you likely would have expected. But now they know and understand that Jesus is not an earthly king. So what is going to happen? There's another element to this. There's a message that's going to go out, and it's going to go more than to just the folks in their little corner of the world. It's going out to the nations. So where is Jesus going to be? We don't know at this point in the passage.
Is he going to be sitting in Jerusalem while the message goes out to the world and everyone will flock to Jerusalem for the forgiveness of sins? What's going to happen? The promise of the Old Testament was never about just the Jewish people. It was to go out to all the world. And so we see this in our Old Testament readings all the time. The salvation of God goes to all nations. He's king over all the Earth. We read this in the Psalms all the time. How does all of this happen? And we see this in verses 48 and 49. Jesus is sending out witnesses, and these witnesses will receive power from on high. Great. But then what's next? And this is where the story gets to be surprising. This is where we see the unexpected twist. All this stuff to do, this message to go to the nations, finally, God will be a king to all nations like it's promised in the law, in the prophets, and in the Psalms. And Jesus is going to leave? What? You can't do that, Jesus. You only spent 40 days with us after the resurrection, and now you're just going to leave?
That would be the natural reaction. But that's not the reaction of these disciples of Jesus, is it? Instead of mourning at his leaving, what do they do? They worship him and they return to Jerusalem with great joy. Two very unexpected plot twists. Quite frankly, it's not at all what we would expect, but they are very important to our understanding of the faith. First, we have to see that they worship Jesus. This tells us something huge about what the disciples believed about who Jesus was. They believed him to be God; to worship anyone or anything else is idolatry and would have been blasphemous. These Hebrews just would not have done it. They wouldn't have. Jesus, if he was just a created being, and they worshiped him, it would have been blasphemy. So Jesus was one who these monotheistic Jews were willing to worship. And this is important not only for our understanding of what we believe and confess about Jesus, but for how we understand the message of Jesus. In other words, Jesus was more than just a messenger telling other people how to be nice to each other. He is the one who is worthy of praise.
He is God. And so his death, resurrection, and now his ascension means something because he has done something special for his people. And this is why the disciples could have great joy. They had understanding of how significant what they had seen was. The joy of the disciples is rooted in the salvation that Christ had won and in his being a king who is now at the right-hand of the Father. Jesus, in his death and resurrection, had done so much more than defeating the Romans that were occupying their country. He had defeated sin, death, hell, and the devil. The real enemy here had been defeated. He had paid for our sins. As we read in Psalm 47 in our call to worship that we had this morning, and it was our New Testament reading this morning, God is the King of all the Earth. He is not just the leader of the descendants of Jacob who happened to live on a particular tract of land in the Middle East. He is the King of all the Earth, and he reigns on high in the heavens. As we go to understanding what this means for us and why we can have great joy at Christ's ascension, just like the disciples, it's a good time for us to once again look at the Heidelberg Catechism and what it teaches in regards to the ascension.
In Heidelberg Catechism, question 46, we see, What do you mean by saying he ascended to heaven, that Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven and remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead. Notice that when answering what the ascension is there, it talks about it being for our good, for our benefit. We're not just talking about the ascension because we can't explain where the resurrected Jesus is. That's not what it's about. It's about Jesus doing something for us. At some point in my life, I'd never really thought about the implications of the ascension. My disinterest in it showed that I didn't really understand what it meant. Really, if I would have been pressed on the issue, I probably would have thought that Jesus was sitting there waiting to return to judge the living and the dead, and that his ascension was just Jesus sitting around and waiting. But that's not what the answer here is. It reminds us he's there for our good. Jesus is doing something. There is a reason he ascended, and it was for our benefit.
Help us to see that this benefit is threefold. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us? First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father. This is important. Jesus is our mediator. He pleads our case in heaven. You can see this in Romans 8:34. His being at the Father's right-hand for us is why we can boldly go before God, before his Throne of grace. Romans 8 lets us know that we have someone who is our advocate to God the Father. Jesus is not sitting in heaven twiddling his thumbs. He's interceding for his people. He's interceding for you right now. He's doing something for you at the right-hand of God. Secondly, the catechism says, We have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself. The catechism reminds us that because we have our own flesh there, we have a guarantee that Christ will take us to heaven. The ascension was about the elect of humanity being seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms. We see this in Ephesians 2:4 and 6. Look at verse 6 here. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
That is important because it means that we have a representative that is like us in heaven. We have a place there. And lastly, because Christ ascended, we see here that the spirit came. The Holy spirit is our Comforter. But let's not forget the other work of the Holy spirit. It's by the proclamation of the gospel that the Holy spirit brings believers to faith. It is by this same proclamation of the word that the Holy spirit is sanctifying us and making us holy as we hear that word. As the catechism says, by the power of the Holy spirit, we make the goal of our lives not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is sitting at God's right-hand. It is through the Holy spirit that we are able to do the work of God and look towards heavenly things, working not for our own selfish desires or for earning salvation before God, but instead serving God by serving our neighbors because Jesus has saved us in his death and resurrection. And then he sat down, showing that the work of saving his people was accomplished. The ascension of Jesus is important. It is a historical event.
And this wonderful truth that we confess nearly every time we gather together is important, but it's something we rarely take the time to think about or even talk about. It is more than something to recite in a creed. It's something that we should have great joy about because it was for us and for our salvation that Jesus did it. The joy that we celebrate on Easter Sunday should be the same type of joy that we have when we remember the ascension of Jesus. When Jesus ascended, he did not come back like he did the other times after the resurrection. This time, he ascended and disappeared from their sight. The disciples knew that this mysterious and glorious cloud was Jesus going into the presence of God, and there was a finality to what Jesus had done. They knew that his work on earth was done. Mission accomplished. That's what the ascension tells us. Now it's time for the good of the gospel to go to the ends of the Earth. Salvation to all people through the work of an ascended king. What a glorious surprise twist to the story that brings us great joy.
And as we remember the ascension today, it's really fitting that we partake in the Lord's Supper. We celebrate our ascended king seated at the right-hand of the Father. And by participating in this feast, this feast that is merely a foretaste of the feast to come when we shall dine together in the house of Zion, we remember our ascended King. As always, we are reminded when we take the Lord's Supper. This is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope. We remember that Christ has suffered and died for us. The death was for the forgiveness of our sins because Jesus rose again and he ascended. His death was more than an injustice because a righteous man was killed. That's not what we're remembering. We're remembering that it was the wrath of God poured out for us, and Jesus resurrected, showing that our sins were forgiven, and now he is interceding for us at the right-hand of the Father. And because of that, we're family. We're brothers and sisters who are united together under our king. And so we say that we come in communion. We have communion because we're united, not just to each other, but we have union and communion with Christ himself.
And also we come in hope. This feast reminds us that we have our own flesh in heaven, and Christ will take us to himself. Whether that is at the time of our death or at the end of history, when Jesus returns to deliver his kingdom to the Father, we don't know. But this feast that we have where we remember and commune together also fills us with hope of our salvation. This is truly a cause for us to have great joy, just like the disciples. As the children of God in Christ Jesus, may we exhibit this joy that we have in Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension for us. We are his covenant people, and he has done this for us. May you be filled with joy. Amen.
Continue Reflecting on the Ascension
What does it mean that Jesus reigns now, not just in the past or future, but today? Explore more Ascension Sunday messages and deepen your understanding of how Christ’s ongoing work brings joy, assurance, and purpose.
👉 Watch another Ascension sermon from Acts 1:1–11 →
