Tag Archives: Jesus

Up, Up and Away

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I missed it.
I always miss it.
I didn’t even know I was missing it.
Did you miss it, too?
Probably.

Last Thursday was Ascension Day.
Until recently, I wasn’t aware there was such a thing.
It’s a big thing.

Ascension Day is celebrated 40 days after Easter Sunday and commemorates the moment Jesus ascended into heaven and took His rightful place on the throne as ruler of the universe.

That’s a really big thing.

Eugene Peterson said, “Ascension Day may be one of the the most under-celebrated events in the church’s life. Part of the reason is that Ascension Day always falls on Thursday, never on a Sunday, and so no sermon is required.”*

There are no presents to buy, no cards to send, no baskets to hide.
Mail gets delivered, banks are open and nobody gets the day off.

“When Luke set out in Acts to tell us the story of the church, he began with Jesus’ Ascension. It’s the opening scene that establishes the context for everything that follows: Jesus installed in a position of absolute rule—Christ our King.”*

So, why should we celebrate Ascension Day?

  • It’s the day Jesus entrusted us to take His message to the world
  • It ushered in the coming of the Holy Spirit ten days later
  • It gives believers hope for a future resurrection
  • Jesus, the divine, went up without abandoning His humanity
  • The ascension gives us a picture of what His return will be like
  • It shows Jesus’ triumphant victory over death
  • This day crowns Him King over the universe in glory
  • It begins Jesus’ role as intercessor for us in heaven

Celebration is in order, my friends.

Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 14, 2026!

He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
Why do you stand here looking into the sky?
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.
Acts 1: 9, 11

God has gone up with a shout!
Sing praises to our King.
He is king over all the earth;
He sits on his holy throne.
Psalm 47:5-7


*Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection, p. 43

Gall

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“They came to a place called Golgotha.
There they offered Jesus vinegar to drink,
mixed with gall;
but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.”
Matthew 27:34

See that knobby thing growing on that tree branch? It’s a gall. Galls are any kind of abnormal growth on a plant. They can be caused by insect infestation, bacteria or viruses, injuries or irritations.

I never paid much attention to those weird lumps before.
Now I see them everywhere.

Vinegar or wine infused with wood from a gall produces bitter tasting painkiller. It was offered to Jesus on the cross but he refused to take it. Christ was determined to take on the full force of our sin and drink the cup of suffering to the dregs without anesthesia. It had to be vinegar and gall because 1,000 years before the crucifixion, King David wrote,

“They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”
Psalm 69:21

Why all this talk about galls?
PB has been chosen to be an extra on “The Chosen.”
He goes to Utah soon for three days of filming crowd scenes for season six.

I’m not sure he’ll pass as a Jewish rabbi, but perhaps he could be a bedouin sheep-herder from the far northern reaches. Or an Anglo-Saxon merchant with Viking blood carrying lutefisk and lefse from the North Sea.

I bet he’ll be the only one on the film set with a gall on his walking stick.