Ascension Day sermon - Scripture: John 17:20–26 - May 14th 2026

 

Entrusted with His Glory: A Prayer for the Ascended Church

Introduction: The Paradox of the Empty Throne

My brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Ascension Day. Forty days have passed since the stone rolled away from the tomb. In our Gospel reading, however, we are not standing on the Mount of Olives watching Jesus rise into the clouds. We are kneeling in an upper room the night before He died.

At first glance, this seems odd. Why would the lectionary give us John 17—a prayer spoken on Maundy Thursday—for a feast about a throne in heaven? Because the Church, in her ancient wisdom, knows that you cannot understand where Jesus is going unless you understand what He is praying for.

In John 17, Jesus is not just a friend saying goodbye to His disciples. He is the High Priest crossing the veil. He is the King preparing to ascend His throne. And in verses 20–26, He stops praying for the eleven men in the room. He looks through time. He looks at you.

I. The Gaze of the Ascended High Priest (v. 20)

Listen to His words: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…”

Do you realize what just happened? In the shadow of the cross, faced with betrayal and death, Jesus was not consumed by His own suffering. He was consumed by you. He prayed for the generation of the apostles, but He also prayed for the Roman centurion, for the medieval monk, for the missionary in Africa, and for the tired parent sitting in a pew in the 21st century.

If Jesus prayed for you before He had even secured your forgiveness on the cross, how much more is He praying for you now that He is seated at the right hand of the Father? Ascension Day is the day we celebrate that our High Priest didn't disappear. He simply moved from the battlefield to the command center.

II. The Mission of Unity (v. 21-23)

What does Jesus ask for? He asks for one thing, repeated three times like a drumbeat: “That they may all be one.”

Why is unity so critical to the Ascension? Because the Ascension is about visibility. The disciples could no longer point to a sandaled foot or a scarred hand to prove who God was. From now on, the world would see Jesus through the Church.

Jesus prays, “That the world may know that you sent me.” How will the world know? Not through billboards or political power. Through a community of forgiven sinners who love each other as radically as Jesus loved them.

This is the hardest part of the Christian life. We are good at believing in Jesus; we are terrible at loving each other. We split over hymns, over politics, over carpet colors. But on Ascension Day, Jesus reminds us that our bickering isn't just rude—it is a theological contradiction. When we refuse to forgive, we blur the image of the ascended Christ to a watching world.

III. The Gift of Glory (v. 22-24)

Then Jesus says something breathtaking: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them.”

Stop and think. On Ascension Day, we celebrate Jesus taking up His divine glory. But He tells us that He has already given that same glory to us. What is this glory? It isn't a halo. It isn't superpowers. In John’s Gospel, the glory of God is the invisible weight of His love made visible in self-sacrifice.

Jesus is saying: “Just as I showed the Father’s love by washing feet and dying for enemies, I am giving you the capacity to do the same.” You share in the Ascension glory whenever you choose humility over pride, service over status, and reconciliation over resentment.

And note the promise: “I desire that they also be with me where I am” (v. 24). The Ascension is not a separation. It is a preparation. Jesus went ahead to prepare a place, but He sent the Spirit to prepare the guest. You are already seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). The rope of prayer ties you to the throne.

IV. The Threefold Love (v. 25-26)

Jesus concludes this magnificent prayer with a revelation of the Trinity. “I made known to them your name... that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

What is the Ascension ultimately about? It is about a love so strong that it could not be contained by a tomb, nor limited by a single body in Palestine. On Ascension Day, Jesus withdraws His physical presence so that He might extend His spiritual presence to everyone, everywhere.

Because He ascended, He is not limited to Jerusalem. He is here, in this bread and wine. He is here, in the gathering of two or three. He is here, in you.

Conclusion: Living Between the Ascension and the Return

So where does this leave us? We live between the Ascension and the Return. Jesus has His hand on the door of heaven, but He has not yet opened it to bring us home.

Until then, remember three things:

1. You are prayed for. When you doubt your salvation, remember: the Man with the nail prints is praying for you right now.
2. You are unified. The person in the pew next to you who drives you crazy? They are the evidence of God’s love. Love them. It proves the Ascension is real.
3. You are glorious. Not glorious in yourself, but carrying the weight of Christ’s love.

Today, as we celebrate the King taking His throne, do not look up into the sky with bewildered faces like the disciples in Acts. Look around at the Church. Look at the bread and wine. Look at the mission field. The King is not absent. He is ascended. And because He lives, we can love.

To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before His glory... to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, now and forevermore. Amen.