Luke 24:44-53
“The Story Isn’t Over Yet”
Preached Sunday, May 17, 2026 at Boardman United Methodist Church
I am a reader and I am primarily an audiobook listener. I put one earbud in and I can listen to my book while doing dishes, “watching” TV with my kid, or doing any fairly mindless activity. Sometimes, as I’m listening to the book, I think “wow. It sounds like the story is wrapping up. I must be near the end” - and then I look at my phone and I’m only like 60% through. And I go, “Oh no! What horrible thing is going to happen to the characters to keep that plot going that much longer?” I know I need to buckle in, because the story isn’t over yet.
It made me think, if we were listening to the story of Jesus on audiobook, paying no attention to the percentages - when would we think the story was going to end?
Perhaps we’d think the story would end at the Crucifixion. Many of the disciples certainly thought this was the end of the Jesus story. A heartbreaking, horrible ending. Nothing like they had hoped. Empire and Death had won, their hopes dashed. Time to pack up the bags and go home.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story.
Perhaps, if we were listening to the Jesus story, we’d think the Resurrection would be a good place for the story to end. End on a triumphant note! A happy ending! A miracle! That which was dead has come back to life! The story can end now.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story.
Perhaps the story would end with the Scriptures we heard today - the Ascension. In a plot structure this would be a good place to end a story - you’ve had the tension of the Crucifixion and death of Jesus, resolved in the climax of the Resurrection, and the nice wrap-up of the post-Resurrection appearances and the Ascension - Jesus has said goodbye and left the scene and the story can end. Many thought this was the end of the story.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story.
Thankfully, the story of Jesus and the story of God’s involvement in this world does not wrap up like a nice novel with a beginning, middle, and end. The story continues.
The Ascension, that is the Scriptures we read today of Jesus ascending into heaven following his Resurrection, is not the end of the story - in fact, it ushers the story into an in-between time, a liminal space. The time between the Ascension and Pentecost. The time between Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit (that’s next week’s story - spoiler alert!) and the time between Jesus and the rest of the story…
Because with God’s story, there is no end to the story.
Even the book of Revelation which comes at the end of the Bible is not the end to God’s story and those who read it as the end of all things are missing the point. Revelation 21 paints a picture of a new heaven and a new earth, when all things are re-made, made whole, made right. The end of the Bible is not an end at all, it is a beginning.
In fact, we are missing a whole lot of the story of God if we think the story of God is only what is contained within the pages of Scripture. Just because the Bible has been canonized does not mean that it is the full and complete picture of God. Our siblings in the Jewish faith understand this much better than us, having a rich history of what they call midrash. This is using study and Biblical imaginations to “fill in the gaps” of the Biblical narrative, imagining and uncovering the ways God has been and is at work in the world, even if it’s not written down.
We can learn this from our siblings in another Christian denomination as well. The United Church of Church (The UCC) has a denomination tagline “God is still speaking,” - and there is purposefully not a period at the end of that statement. It is not “God is still speaking PERIOD” - it is, “God is still speaking COMMA” - it leaves room for us to listen to the still-speaking God.
The UCC website says this about their belief that God is still speaking:
“If you think God’s not finished with you yet, guess what? God’s not even finished with God yet. God isn’t finished with you, or finished with the church or our world, or even letting us know more about God’s own compassion, justice, hope, and truth. If you are open, if you listen carefully, you’ll discover what God is saying to this generation at this time in history. There’s more good news to be heard!
This understanding of God’s ‘revelation’ is a central aspect of United Church of Christ faith. We believe that God was revealed in the past, but also in the present and the future. In the Bible, God was known through covenants with people and nations, through prophets and teachers, through conflicts and commandments, in visions and songs, and through the followers of Jesus and the church. God acted profoundly in the life and ministry, even in the death, of Christ. On Easter, God declared in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ‘I’ll never, never stop speaking. Alleluia!’ Throughout history, in moments of compassion, justice, and peace, in our worship, sacraments, prayer, seeking, action, and silence, God continues to speak.”
End quote.
God is still speaking. God is still at work. The story of God continues.
We would be remiss if we thought God paused the story at the end of Scripture until God’s return.
We would be remiss if we didn’t see the ways God is still working in this world
We would be remiss if we don’t see see ourselves as active participants and tellers of God’s continuing story in this world.
We are called to continue the story and be storytellers - we call this being disciples and being witnesses.
Today we are welcoming a new member to our church. In the membership vows we promise to participate faithfully in the ministries of the church through our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Whenever a new member joins, all of us renew this covenant together. Now, the thing is - your hymnals do not have the word “witness” in them - that word was added in 2008 and the printed hymnal is older than that. I am going to ask you today to try and remember that word in our vows - to say it even if it’s not written there. Witness implies both sharing the story of God with our words and with our whole lives - witness means all we do and say points back to the story of Jesus AND thus, continues the story of God in our world.
At Jesus’s ascension, he tells his disciples that they have been witnesses to his story - how God has been at work in the world. The telling from Luke says: “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
And then in Acts, Jesus tells them that they will be - future tense - witnesses. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
This is what it means for us today to be witnesses. It wasn’t just the disciples gathered on that hilltop some 2,000 years ago. It is for us to be witness too. To tell the story, to point to the story - and to be active participants in the ongoing story of God’s work in this world. A story that has no end. This is what we are called to be - storytellers, witnesses, disciples.
The story of God continues in this world - thanks be to God.
Amen.
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