It's Good That He's Gone 9:30 05/17/2026

Devotional

Day 1: Clouds and Unfinished Questions

The disciples stood slack-jawed as Jesus lifted off the ground. His resurrected body – still scarred, still human – floated upward until clouds swallowed Him. Two angels broke their stunned silence: “Why stare at the sky? He’ll return the same way you saw Him go.” Their question hung like the Galilean dust Jesus’ feet had just left behind. [19:02]

Jesus’ ascension wasn’t abandonment but promotion. By taking perfected humanity to heaven’s throne, He secured our future bodily resurrection. The disciples wanted political restoration, but Jesus offered cosmic renewal – starting with Spirit-power to witness in their streets first.

When life’s brokenness tempts you to fixate on heaven’s “when,” remember the disciples’ unfinished question. Jesus redirects us from cosmic calendars to present obedience. What earthly concern dominates your gaze today?

“And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father... ‘you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’”
(Acts 1:4,8, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to shift your focus from demanding answers to embracing today’s mission.
Challenge: When overwhelmed, step outside for 2 minutes. Look up. Pray: “Come, Lord Jesus – but keep me working.”

Day 2: Gravel in the Garden

Adam’s fingers dug into cursed soil where thistles now thrived. Eve winced as sweat stung her eyes – a new sensation. Their whispered accusations (“She made me eat!” “The serpent deceived me!”) echoed through a garden now littered with fig-leaf scraps. The crunch of gravel beneath God’s feet announced His approach. [33:27]

Sin shattered three relationships: with God, each other, and creation. The ground itself rebelled against Adam’s stewardship. Our broken world – from marital spats to polluted oceans – still bears the scars of Eden’s treason.

You inherit Adam’s fractured legacy each time you exploit creation, manipulate others, or doubt God’s goodness. Where have you normalized brokenness as “just how things are”?

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.”
(Genesis 3:17,19, NIV)

Prayer: Confess one way you’ve contributed to relational or environmental brokenness this week.
Challenge: Repair a neglected item in your home (mend clothing, fix a leak, replace dead plants).

Day 3: Kintsugi Christ

Thomas’ calloused finger traced the jagged scar on Jesus’ ribcage. The resurrected Lord didn’t hide His wounds – He served broiled fish with nail-pierced hands. Like kintsugi artisans highlighting cracks with gold, God displayed Christ’s scars as trophies of restoration. [41:24]

Jesus’ resurrected scars prove brokenness doesn’t get the final word. His wounds validate our pain while previewing our future – healed scars, not erased history. Ascension means our High Priest intercedes with hands that bear eternal proof of humanity’s repair.

Your hidden wounds – divorce papers, addiction relapses, grief anniversaries – await their kintsugi moment. Which scar feels too ugly to ever become beautiful?

“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”
(John 20:27, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for a specific wound He’s transforming in your life.
Challenge: Share one struggle with a trusted friend using the phrase: “This is being repaired, but right now it’s sharp.”

Day 4: Better Than Unbroken

The disciples clutched their shattered expectations. Forty days post-resurrection, they still begged: “Lord, will you finally restore Israel’s kingdom?” Jesus refused their demand for a quick fix. Ascension launched His better plan – indwelling them with the Spirit to spread restoration globally. [38:40]

Human efforts at repair often whitewash cracks. God’s restoration digs deeper, making broken places stronger than before. The Ascension ensures Christ’s healing isn’t limited to first-century Palestine but flows through His body – the Church – across generations.

We prefer pain-free solutions, but God specializes in resurrection, not time machines. What broken situation are you trying to “un-break” instead of surrendering for redemption?

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
(2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV)

Prayer: Ask God to reveal where you’ve prioritized comfort over His restoration process.
Challenge: Write down a current struggle. Circle verbs implying control (fix, solve). Replace them with “entrust.”

Day 5: Ascension Anthropology

Jesus’ ascension wasn’t a divine demotion but humanity’s coronation. When the Son returned to the Father’s right hand, He carried our dust in His lungs and our DNA in His veins. The Incarnation wasn’t temporary – God permanently united Himself to our species. [43:52]

Because Jesus reigns as the God-Man, our humanity now inhabits heaven’s throne room. Your tears, laughter, and stretch marks matter eternally. Ascension guarantees your body’s future glorification – not annihilation.

How would living as “already ascended” change your view of mundane tasks today?

“And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.”
(1 Corinthians 15:49, NIV)

Prayer: Thank Jesus for three physical aspects of your body (hands, eyes, etc.) He will glorify.
Challenge: Do a chore mindfully (wash dishes, make bed) while whispering: “This is training for eternity.”

Sermon Summary

The Ascension sets the scene: the Christ candle that burned from Christmas to Easter marked God come near, then went out on Good Friday to witness real death, and was relit at Easter to proclaim real life. Now the text drives the question home, Where is Jesus today? Jesus is not standing here as he once did. Jesus is at the Father’s right hand, ruling. Luke shows the risen Lord lifting human nature into heaven, not stepping out of a costume but taking true humanity home to reign.

The fall exposes why that matters. One reckless choice shattered a world that once knew no arguing, no sweat-soaked labor, no distance from God. Since Eden, sinful hearts have been very good at breaking beautiful things. Calvary exposes the worst of it. Humanity “smashed” the Son, and his body lay in fragments in a tomb. But Easter turns the table. God is better at fixing than sinners are at breaking. The risen body still bears scars, and that matters.

Kintsugi becomes a living parable. A master mends a shattered bowl with resin traced in gold so the fault lines do not vanish but glow. Jesus stands like that. His resurrected scars are not erased but perfected. Thomas touched them. Those marks preach what the Ascension confirms: the worst wounds can be gathered up into beauty under a better hand. The church’s reflex is often like the disciples’ question, Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel? The risen King will not be reduced to a small win inside the old categories. His kingdom is not of this world. He sends witnesses and then ascends, carrying humanity into the throne room, presenting a reconciled people before the Father.

So the Ascension is Christmas in reverse. At Bethlehem, God took humanity on. At the Mount of Olives, humanity in Christ is taken into God’s presence. Jesus keeps that humanity, because the mending he worked is not pretend. From the right hand, he reigns and keeps on mending, beautifying, refashioning piece by piece. For the believer holding shards that no longer look like a design, the Ascension speaks promise. The firstborn from the dead stands alive, scars intact and transfigured. What is true of the Head will be true of his body. The broken pieces will be gathered. The scars will be made golden. And just as he ascended, so will his people with him into life that does not end.

Key Takeaways

1. Ascension completes salvation’s circle [43:14] The movement that began with God taking on flesh comes to fullness as the risen Son brings that same humanity into the Father’s presence. This is not Jesus dropping a disguise but enthroning the healed human nature he redeemed. The Ascension says the work did not just fix a problem; it lifted humanity to communion and rule with God. That promise secures identity, intercession, and hope for embodied glory. [43:14]
2. God’s mending outruns human breaking [06:19] From Eden’s bite to Golgotha’s cross, sin has a talent for ruin, yet resurrection proves God’s skill outstrips that wreckage. The worst humanity could do became the canvas for a greater restoration. Trust does not deny damage; it hands the pieces to the One whose power turns graves into gardens and fault lines into witness. [06:19]
3. Scars remain, but they shine [41:24] The risen body of Jesus still bears wounds, not as open aches but as honored testimony. In him, healing does not erase history; it transfigures it. The believer’s future echoes that pattern, where remembered pain is no longer ruling pain, and the very sites of loss become lines of glory. [41:24]
4. The kingdom resists small ambitions [38:40] The disciples wanted a tidy national restoration, but the risen Lord would not squeeze his reign into old molds. His kingdom moves by Spirit-given witness, not by grasped control. Letting go of narrower wins makes room for the larger work of a King who rules from heaven and reaches the ends of the earth. [38:40]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[06:19] - Better at fixing than breaking
[15:56] - Christ Candle and Ascension focus
[17:54] - Acts 1: The Ascension read
[30:49] - The shattered window story
[32:19] - Eden’s wholeness and the fall
[35:24] - Humanity breaks the Son
[36:23] - Why Ascension really matters
[39:22] - Kintsugi and the golden seams
[41:24] - The scars that stay healed
[42:49] - Christmas in reverse explained
[44:25] - Naming today’s broken pieces
[46:06] - Golden scars and final hope
[68:22] - Benediction and sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Acts 1:1-11 (ESV)
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Observation questions

In Acts 1:6, the disciples ask Jesus, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” What does their question reveal about their expectations of Jesus’ mission? [38:40]
The sermon compares Jesus’ resurrected scars to the Japanese art of Kintsugi. How does the analogy of golden-repaired cracks in pottery relate to the scars Jesus retained after His resurrection? [41:24]
What two specific promises does Jesus give the disciples in Acts 1:8 before ascending?

Interpretation questions

Why might the disciples’ focus on restoring Israel’s earthly kingdom (Acts 1:6) have been a “small ambition” compared to Jesus’ plan? How does this contrast with the idea that His kingdom is “not of this world”? [38:40]
The sermon states, “God’s mending outruns human breaking.” How does Jesus’ ascension—carrying His humanity into heaven—demonstrate this truth? [43:14]
The scars on Jesus’ resurrected body are described as “honored testimony.” What do these scars communicate about God’s relationship to human suffering and brokenness? [41:24]

Application questions

The sermon mentions holding “shards that no longer look like a design” in our lives. What brokenness or “scars” do you carry that feel irredeemable? How might the promise of God’s golden restoration shift your perspective? [44:25]
Jesus’ ascension means He reigns over all creation, not just a specific nation or group. What areas of your life (e.g., work, relationships, fears) do you struggle to trust are under His authority?
The disciples were told to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). What would it look like to prioritize “larger work” over “small wins” in your daily choices or relationships? [38:40]
The Kintsugi analogy shows beauty in repaired brokenness. How could your past wounds or failures become a testimony of God’s mending to others? [41:24]
The sermon says, “Healing does not erase history; it transfigures it.” What painful memory or regret could you hand over to God to reframe as a “line of glory”?

Sermon Clips

60s

“``Think about this with me for just a second. What happens at Christmas, but god becomes man. God who did not have a human body, the second person of the trinity becomes exactly like one of us. God takes on human form. He becomes fully human in Jesus Christ to save all of us. And now at ascension, the risen and the glorified Jesus who is fully human now goes back to heaven. God who became man now takes man to be like God. Jesus returns to heaven fully human, taking his humanity with him. This wasn't all for nothing. Jesus being a human, it's not a costume that he throws aside now that the work is done. No. It's important for you and I that Jesus ascends as a fully human person.”

55s

“We now have hope. We now have confidence that when our earthly life is over, that what is true of Jesus himself being broken and perfectly put back together bearing golden scars, having been mended by God the father, overcoming all the brokenness of life, that will be true for you too. The broken pieces that you bear, that you hold in your hands, God will, on that glorious day, put them back together. Your scars will be made golden when Jesus comes again. And just as he ascends, so will you with him into eternal life forever. In Jesus' name. Amen.”

49s

“But with one slithering sound, the serpent tempted them with a different thought. He said, well, if you want, you can make yourselves to be like god, if only you eat this fruit. And with that broken decision, with that one decision, brokenness and sin, and, yes, death itself entered the picture. Brokenness began, And ever since, we have been hurdling further and further into brokenness as human beings. And what was true for Adam and Eve back then is still true for us.”

51s

“Fast forward in human history and things had not become much better, frankly. Though the creator sent his most prized possession, his beloved, his only son to become a human being, God would take on humanity, would become a human being to save all of humankind. We did the unthinkable. Our sin, our brokenness, and our incessant desire to smash, to shatter, and to break things to pieces continued as we killed the Christ. We crucified Jesus. The crown of creation that god the father sent to us instead, we threw to the floor, smashing him into a million pieces.”

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St. John's Lutheran Arnold, MO This sermon · AI assistant

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