Blessings and Benedictions

Text focus: John 17:5-10 & Luke 24:45-51

There are certain moments in life when we instinctively reach for blessing. Graduations. Weddings. Baptisms. Funerals. First days and last days. Moments when something is ending, and something else is beginning. Even people who are not particularly religious often feel the need to mark these transitions somehow. We write cards. We throw parties. We say things like, “I’m proud of you,” or “Congratulations” or “I’ll be praying for you.”

Because deep down, we know transitions are holy ground.

We find the disciples today in moments of transition. In John 17, Jesus is praying on the edge of transition. The cross is before Him and his earthly ministry is nearing its end. The disciples do not yet fully understand what is coming, but Jesus does. And then in Luke 24, we meet Jesus and the disciples after the resurrection, just before Jesus ascends into heaven. Another transition. A time that is both an ending and a beginning.

And what does Jesus do in both moments? He prays and He blesses.

When Jesus prepares His disciples for what comes next, He does not begin with strategy. He begins with identity. In John 17, Jesus prays saying “They were yours, and you gave them to me.” Before the disciples preach sermons, plant churches, or carry the gospel into the world, before they even follow Jesus, we are being told here that they already belong to God.

Their identity is not rooted in success.

Not in achievement.

Not in anything they have done or not done.

Their identity is rooted in who they belong to.

And I think that is a word many people need to hear today.

We live in a world that constantly tells us to prove ourselves. To earn our worth. To build an identity through accomplishment. The world doubles down in times of transition, this intensified pressure to prove that we have accomplished or will accomplish something.

Graduates feel it.

Parents feel it.

Retirees feel it.

Any time people enter new chapters of life, the world is there asking, who are you now? What comes next? Will you be enough for what lies ahead?

But before the disciples ever step into the future, Jesus centers them in prayer and reminds them whose they are. “They were yours.” He reminds them that belonging comes before achievement.

I’ve been reading the book An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor. In it she writes that we don’t create sacred or holy moments, God is in the ordinary things of life, “the holiness is already there” waiting for us to recognize it. It is in prayer and blessing that we recognize it. A blessing does not create worthiness; it names it. How important this reminder is, because if our identity is rooted in Christ, then we do not walk into life trying to earn love from God. We walk through life already carrying it.

And that is why Jesus prays. Prayer is not panic in this passage. Prayer is rootedness. Jesus prays because prayer reminds the disciples that even in uncertainty, they are held in relationship with God.

How often do we treat prayer as a last resort?

Something we only pray when we have run out of options, but Jesus is showing us in this Scripture, that prayer is important whenever we are preparing for something. Prayer is a way of centering ourselves, a way to root our hearts and our lives in our Lord.

And maybe that is something we need to recover in our own lives. We prepare for transitions in all kinds of practical ways. We fill out applications.

Pack boxes.

Make plans.

Create schedules.

Seek and offer advice.

But Jesus prepares His disciples spiritually. He roots them in belonging and relationship before He sends them into uncertainty. Because, though prayer does not remove uncertainty, it reminds us that we are not alone within it.

In Luke 24, Jesus has led the disciples out toward Bethany, lifts His hands, and blesses them. And Luke says that while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. I love that image. The final image the disciples have of Jesus is not anger. Not disappointment. It is an image of blessing.

Christ ascends with His hands raised in blessing, and it becomes for the disciples a benediction. Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “A benediction… comes at the end of something, to send people on their way.” We see this every week as the benediction is said before you leave the church. That moment in our service is intended to remind us of this moment with Jesus. The Ascension is not abandonment. It is a benediction. Jesus is sending the disciples into the next chapter carrying blessing with them.

Transitions can feel frightening. Whether you’re a graduate, carrying excitement mixed with uncertainty. A parent or grandparent, holding pride mixed with letting go. Or someone going through another transition in your life, perhaps one you never planned for like illness or grief, aging or changing relationships, new or different responsibilities.

Sometimes we find ourselves wishing God would simply stop the transition altogether. But instead, Christ blesses us within it. Notice something important in Luke’s Gospel. The disciples do not leave the Ascension devastated. Luke says they returned to Jerusalem “with great joy.” This is only possible because blessing changed how they understood the transition.

Has that ever happened for you? Have you had something difficult that you had to face, and someone helped you see the blessing in it? The disciples realized Jesus was not leaving them empty. He was entrusting them with a promise. He was naming their identity. He was giving them purpose and promising that they did not have to do this alone because the Spirit would be with them. The blessing remained. And maybe that is the word we need to hear today too. Whatever transition you may be facing, your identity is deeper than the moment you are living through.

Hear this:

You belonged to God before this chapter.

You belong to God now,

And you will belong to God after this chapter.

The blessings we have been given do not disappear when life changes, because our blessings were never rooted in circumstances; they are rooted in Christ.

Perhaps my favorite thing that Barbara Brown Taylor said in her chapter about blessings was this: “That we are able to bless one another at all is evidence that we have been blessed.” What a beautiful truth. The church becomes a community of blessing because we ourselves have received blessing. That means we are called not only to receive blessing, but to speak it. To remind one another every chance we get that you belong.

You are loved.

God is with you.

Your worth is not measured by success.

Christ goes before you.

Some people may never hear those words unless they come from someone like you. And so perhaps Ascension Sunday invites us to see benedictions differently. Not simply as the final words at the end of worship. But as reminders of who we are and whose we are.

Every Sunday, we leave this place blessed and sent. Not because life will be easy. Not because we will never face uncertainty. But because Christ’s hands are still lifted in blessing over His people. And that blessing remains through every transition still ahead of us. So when you see those who are graduating, stepping into a new chapter, or facing a difficult transition, take a moment to pray with them, to remind them:

You do not have to prove your worth to earn God’s love.

You are a child of God, so deeply loved by God.

You are not abandoned, because God is with you in all things.

And may we all leave from here ready to face all things with prayer and the assurance that our identity is rooted in Christ. Wherever life takes us next, whatever we may face, we go into it carrying this promise:

We belong to God.

We are held by grace.

And we are blessed for the journey ahead.

Amen.