The Very Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
A young lady was engaged to a young man who had money, good looks, personality—everything a wife could desire. One day, however, she told her mother, “Mama, he doesn’t believe in hell.”
Mama replied: “Don’t worry about that, honey. You just go ahead and marry him. Then you and I will convince him!”
If you want to know what the Church believes, where do you start? Some might say you start with the Bible. That doesn’t narrow it down very much, and even if you become thoroughly immersed in Scripture, which is a noble goal, how do you discern what is really important from what is not so important? For instance, how do you know that the holy day for Christians isn’t Saturday rather than Sunday, since the Bible commands Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day; or that the primary act of worship for Christians isn’t foot washing, but the holy Eucharist? You have to have some way to discern what is essential to believe for the salvation of your soul.
Of course, you can go it alone and take your chances, but that’s pretty risky and it has never been the way of the people of God. Our catechism states that the Holy Spirit guides the Church in her interpretation of the Scriptures. So ultimately the Church decides, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, what is essential to believe for the salvation of our souls.
But still that doesn’t narrow it down a whole lot, does it? Perhaps a good place to start is with the creeds, since they begin with the words “We believe,” as in the Nicene Creed, or “I believe,” as in the Apostles’ Creed. That narrows it down greatly. And, of course, the creeds were composed by the Church interpreting the scriptures.
The first of the creeds was composed in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicaea. It was written in response to a crisis of belief introduced by a man named Arius, who was born in A.D. 250 and died in A.D. 336. He did a lot of thinking about the nature of Christ, and came to the conclusion that Jesus was a little less than God, and a little more than man. He came to that conclusion because Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore, to his way of thinking, there must have been a time when the Son of God did not exist. God is eternal, without beginning or end. Therefore, Jesus could not be God.
This was a departure from what the Church had believed, but he was persuasive, and many began to follow the teachings of Arius. It created a huge crisis for the Church. Jesus is who the Church is about, and yet there wasn’t agreement on who he is. The Emperor Constantine wanted Christianity to unite his empire, but how could that happen if the Church couldn’t even settle over this important issue?
So Constantine decided the guardians of the faith, the bishops, should meet in Council and decide about the nature of Christ. Three hundred bishops from all over the world gathered in Nicaea in A.D. 325 to settle the issue. At that council the bishops decided that “there never was a time when the Son was not,” composed a creed that stated clearly what the Church believes, and denounced Arius and his followers as heretics. The creed they developed is known as the Nicene Creed, although it was not entirely the Nicene Creed we use today.
That settled the matter, you might think. But it didn’t. Arianism continued to flourish. In fact, after Constantine died, his son, Constantius II, who eventually succeeded his father as emperor, was an Arian. Through his influence, Arius was restored to the Church posthumously and his teachings were back in favor. The war on doctrine continued throughout that century. In the year 381, the bishops of the Church met again, and again decided that Arianism was wrong, composed a creed based on the one developed at Nicaea in 325, and Arius and his followers were again out of the fold. The creed we call the Nicene Creed is what was developed at that Council of Constantinople. So it is really the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
What the Church believes to be essential for belief in Jesus Christ is found in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. In that creed, every Sunday and major Holy Day, we say, “he ascended into heaven.” It’s based on Scripture, where we read in both The Gospel according to St. Luke and in The Acts of the Apostles, that the resurrected Lord, as his disciples were looking on, “was lifted up, and the cloud took him out of their sight.”
Where did Jesus go when he was lifted up? The creed tells us he was “seated at the right hand of the Father.” This is figurative language that means that he is in the special place of honor, enthroned as Christ the King. Just before he ascended, his disciples asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They still did not understand that Jesus’ Messiahship was not to be a political reality, but a spiritual reality. In fact, it was at this time that his kingdom would be established. Ascending to the right hand of God would be his inauguration as head of the Church. His ascension is the completion of his work, and his kingdom, the new Israel, the Church, is now established. By being removed from a particular time and place, and taken to the right hand of the Father, he is now freed to be present to all of his people for all time and in every place.
Yet this isn’t all that is implied in the phrase in the creed, “He ascended into heaven.” The resurrected Jesus was taken into heaven, which means that both his divinity and his humanity are in heaven. The Son, who is eternal, is now clothed with the flesh of his humanity. Jesus, the God-man, is at the right hand of the Father. Humanity has been given an honor granted to no other part of creation. Not even the angels have such an exalted place. We, who are part of Christ’s body through our baptism, take part in the divine life of God through his Son.
When we say the Nicene Creed, we may think, “What a nice summary of what the scriptures tell us about God,” and that is surely true. Thank God that through his Holy Spirit he led the Church to the right understanding. Give thanks that our Lord Jesus, who died for our sins on the cross and was raised, is now at the right hand of the Father. No matter what trials we may be facing, remember that “hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe.”
Sermon preached by The Very Rev’d Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
Ascension Day
14 May 2015