Why are you staring up at the sky?

17th May 2026

Gavin Koh

What do you do when you are challenged? If you look at what is going on in the world and there seems to be yet another war. What is your reaction?

It can be tempting to avoid argument; to stay comfortably in our respective bubbles; to surround ourselves with people who share our point of view.

What do today's Bible readings have to say about that? On first reading, perhaps very little.

If you are a scientist, then Luke's account of the Ascension presents some difficulties. St Luke writes:

"...as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight."

Humour me. Please humour me. If you launch Jesus like a rocket straight up into the sky from the Mount of Olives on Ascension Day 33 AD. What speed was he going at? We have to assume that Jesus achieved escape velocity, because otherwise he would have fallen back down to Earth and burnt up in the atmosphere.

You are welcome to check my maths for me, but at 11.2 km/s, Rocket Jesus would have passed Pluto in the year 45 AD, the same year St Paul started his first of his missionary journeys. At 11.2 km/s, Rocket Jesus would have exited the Solar System in 83 AD, when Domitian was Roman Emperor.

At the same rate of travel, Jesus would now be travelling in interstellar space and would be scheduled to arrive at Proxima Centauri, our next nearest star, in another 110,000 years or so.

I'm glad that you laughed, because I think that this is why the Book of Acts begins with the angels challenging the apostles:

"Why are you staring up at the sky?"

Because, we, are too often to be found staring wistfully up at the sky. The first chapter of Acts sets up all that happens next. Having received the good news, having received the Holy Spirit, Jesus' disciples are charged with taking that good news out into the world.

"Why are you staring up at the sky?"

Go! Spread the word! A recurring theme in the Gospels is the Kingdom of Heaven. It is possible to become fixated on an ideal of heaven, for which we are destined as Christians.

It doesn't matter what happens here in this world, because after death, we are plucked from Earth and plonked into a Heaven where all our worries are relieved….and so we wait dreamily for the Kingdom of Heaven to arrive and until then, when the world outside look difficult, we retreat into our little bubbles to gaze longingly at a heaven we so desire and to surround ourselves with friends whom we love and avoid all the difficult people whom we dislike;

To listen only to music that entertains but does not stretch us;

To read only things that comfort but do not challenge us;

To discuss topics that confirm our pre-existing beliefs but avoid talking about anything difficult or controversial.

The Book of Acts, is a long letter written by St Luke to his fellow-believer, Theophilus.

It begins with the account of Jesus' Ascension into Heaven; but importantly, it begins also with a one-sentence summary of the Book of Acts: Jesus says "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."

The Book of Acts can be summarised like this: the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, then the disciples take the good news to the rest of the world. That's it: Jesus summarises the story in one prophetic sentence.

There is a Chinese expression used to describe someone who is ignorant, someone who is not worldly wise:

井底之蛙

We say that that person is like a frog, sitting at the bottom of a well. The frog sits comfortably in the black water at the bottom of the well, surrounded by darkness and all it can see is the bright circle of sky at the top of the well; and the frog imagines that this is the whole world. There is nothing else, but the dark water and the little patch of light up above above.

The last ten years have been very educational for me. Election after election, I find the outcome to be different from what I expected. I have seen outcomes I thought were impossible, because no-one I knew had voted for these things.

I have come to realise that maybe I am a frog, sitting at the bottom of a well, because the world is filled with people whom I don't know and to whom I have not spoken.

Yes, the world is a difficult place right now. Yes, it is hard to engage with people who seem to hold view diametrically opposed to ours.

But imagine a world where nobody spoke up. Imagine a world, where everyone just changed the topic of conversation whenever things got a little heated. Imagine a world where evil was allowed to persist unchallenged.

Jesus tells us that we are to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. It is not Jesus' command that we spend our Christian lives staring up into space sitting still in our own little bubbles.

It is our job to bring the Good News to the World. Love. Faith. Hope. We need to speak up and to say that it is wrong to blame people for being poor. That God's love is universal. That God's love is not restricted by colour or gender or sexuality.

That bigotry is not the same as common sense. that compassion and empathy are not weaknesses, that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world,

Not just those people currently in postcode CB2 3PT.

These principles are Biblical and Christ centred and the fact is that there are people who disagree and these people will disagree loudly and sometimes even with violence. Which is why St Peter says, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you.

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed…

The Gospel reading is from St John's Gospel, which records Jesus' High Priestly Prayer.

These are Jesus' last words, before he is taken from his disciples to be crucified.

Jesus words are addressed to God the Father: I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. …and now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to you.

Jesus knows that he is leaving his disciples behind physically. His prayers are for us, because he knows that what he has asked us to do is not easy.

We look to our church community for refreshment and joy. We begin each week on a Sunday, gazing into heaven, trying to discern in the clouds of incense, the figure of Jesus vanishing into the distance.

But come Monday we are asked to look down and to gaze around us. We are asked to think about how we, as Christ's disciples, will engage with the big wide world around us.