“I know you have come to kill me. Shoot, coward. You are only going to kill a man”

The last words of that Argentinean revolutionary who became a prominent player in the Cuban revolution: “Che” Guevara. Famous last words! So what about this one:

“I am just going outside and may be some time”

Captain Oates. Of course, history doesn’t have all the best last lines:

“Peter Quint, you devil”

sends shivers up and down my spine every time I hear it. The last words of the boy Miles in Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw and immortalised for me in the Benjamin Britten opera of the same name. And what about:

“You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done” I’m melting. Melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness”

The Wicked Witch of the West as she appeared (or disappeared!) in the film version of The Wizard of Oz.

Today we are faced with one of the most difficult stories of the Christian year: that moment when, we are told, Jesus “ups and offs” from this earthly realm to live forever in the heavenly realm. He gathers the disciples together for the very last time; for the final rally of his three year campaign; for the final concert of his three year tour! He gathers all the disciples together to give them their final instructions; to speak his very last words to those with whom he has taught and worked, prayed and worshipped, lived and died.

Forty one words in the original language; seventy or so in English (depending on which translation you use). Forty one words to sum up a life time … to say nothing of a death time and a resurrection time”

“It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive the 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.”

And with that … he vanished from their sight. After all the teaching, all the preaching, all that time spent together:

•   it’s not for you to know, he says

•   wait for the Spirit

•   you will be my witnesses

Yet again, the disciples are told that the do not really understand: those who wanted to see the kingdom come on earth, the restoration of Israel, the booting out of the occupying Roman army, were disappointed. Yet again, the disciples are told to be patient: you are entering a period of waiting. Yet again, the disciples are told that the future is not what they expect: it’s not about Roman occupation of Israel, it’s not about that kind of kingdom on earth

Rather, it is about Jerusalem, but not only Jerusalem. It is also about those places outside Jerusalem – Judea and Samaria – where all the “foreigners” live, the foreigners that threaten the Jewish way of life.

At this points it’s worth mentioning that it’s no coincidence that, in one of his most well-known stories, Jesus places the man who was robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (in the heart of Judean/Samarian land); nor that the one who had pity on him was a Samaritan!

But Jesus instructions to his disciples at the Ascension go beyond, not only Jerusalem, but also beyond Judea and Samaria! Jesus proclaims that his disciples will be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth”.

Someone once pictured the Ascension a bit like a Maypole Dance. Personally I think the image is a bit … well, quaint! However it does have some merit and it does bear repeating …

If there was a golden thread from your heart to the heart of Christ, then as Christ ascends you would be drawn closer to all the other hearts thus tethered … just like a Maypole Dance.

In those last words, Christ shares that vision with his disciples. A vision of drawing together the hearts in Jerusalem, with the hearts of the foreigners in Judea and Samaria, with the hearts of those god forsaken heathens that live beyond the known world.

All hearts being drawn into one heart.

It is a vision of that unity which is God’s gift and God’s will to us all. It is that same unity which is a goal for which we must constantly work and to which we must constantly hold. One commentator has written:

Why has the human race proven superior to all the threats of nature? Our jaws are not stronger than those of the tiger. We can't run like the deer. We aren't agile like monkeys. We aren't able to adapt by mutation like bacteria. Why are we so dominant? Because we are able to pull together to meet both opportunities or threats. It is our unity that is our strength, our unity and our ability to transcend the circumstances. This God-given strength is extended by our unity in Christ, whereby we can withstand, even that most corrosive threat, evil.

Instinctively human beings, when threatened, withdraw into the handiest tribe they can find: Serbs, Palestinians, Shi’as, Anglicans, Gays, Straights, Manchester United fans! It’s only ‘natural’. That is what we, in our ‘natural’ animal nature, would do. We seek the safety of unity. We seek the safety of those who are like us and act the same way as us; people who are driven by the same guiding principles and founding morals.

But, as Christians, we are called to transcend those narrow divisions. We are called to build our unity

•   with those within the faith – those within Jerusalem;

•   with those whom we fear – those in Judea and Samaria;

•   and with those beyond the limits of our experience and knowledge – those who are at “the ends of the earth”.

When we transcend the divisions of race, colour, lifestyle, fear, persecution and all those other myriad barriers that we erect which stop us from connecting one with another…

When we can overcome these corrosive, human failings to love our neighbours as ourselves …

When we can see that our protection comes, not from doctrinal purity, but from that unity in Christ whereby we are one in him and he in us …

Then we, together with all God’s creation, will respond with joy to those famous last words; and will rejoice that we are sent

to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.