The Ascension of the Lord (Year A)

Commentary on Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?

The Ascension is not to be understood literally as if Jesus floated up into space on his way to “heaven”. Where is “heaven”? Is it above Jerusalem? Is it in the whole sky encircling the earth? Heaven should be conceived not as a place, but as a relationship with God and God is everywhere in the whole universe. Jesus did not have to ‘go’ anywhere to be with his Father.

Paschal mystery
The Ascension is part of what we call the Paschal Mystery. There are four interrelated parts: suffering and death; resurrection; ascension; and the sending of the Spirit. They are closely interlocked as one reality. If the Resurrection says that the crucified Jesus is alive, the Ascension says that the living Jesus has entered into glory, sharing on an equal level the glory of his Father. This is expressed in many different ways in different writings of our Christian (New) Testament. We have three of these viewpoints or understandings in each of today’s readings.

On God’s right hand
In the Letter to the Ephesians (Second Reading) the fact is stated with great solemnity, but without saying how it took place. The author speaks of putting God’s:

…power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

This is basically the meaning of the Ascension, namely, that Jesus, our triumphant Messiah-King, reigns in glory over all creation. There is no mention of ‘where’ he is or how he got there.

Familiar account
If we go to the Acts of the Apostles (First Reading), we come to a description which, for many Christians, is the definitive account of the Ascension. Jesus rose on Easter Sunday and then spent 40 days instructing his disciples about the Reign or Kingship of God. During this time they wondered when Jesus was going to restore the Kingdom of Israel. They were still in a state of great misunderstanding about the nature of Jesus’ mission—and their own.

As they will eventually come to understand, it is they themselves who will become the agents, not of restoring the Kingdom of Israel, but much more importantly, helping to establish the Kingship of God all over the world.

Then, one day on the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem, as they looked on:

…he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

The ‘lifting up’ is to be understood more in a spiritual sense, as it is in John’s Gospel where he speaks a number of times about Jesus being “lifted up”:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32)

In particular, it refers to the Risen Jesus being raised to the glory of God the Father. This is further emphasised by the cloud that took him from their sight. The same cloud that, in the Hebrew Testament, shrouded Mount Sinai as the sign of God’s presence, or the cloud that enveloped Jesus at his Transfiguration.

Lower your eyes
And that is why the disciples need to be told not to stay standing there gawking up at the sky. That is not where the Risen and Ascended Jesus is to be found. If they want to meet him again, they have to go back to Jerusalem, where, in a few days’ time, they themselves will be filled with the Spirit of God and of the Risen and Ascended Jesus. They will become the Body of the Risen and Exalted Jesus, his effective presence to “the ends of the earth”. As Jesus had told them just before his Ascension (in Acts):

…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.

As we saw on previous Sundays, in order to continue being with his disciples, Jesus had to leave them. His ‘old’ presence in one human body, in one small corner of the world, reaching a small number of people, in one tiny period of history now gives way to a new presence that will reach the whole world in every age. From now on, wherever there is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23), the Spirit of Jesus is there.

Same message, different location
Today’s Gospel (from Matthew) has a similar message. While the scene in Acts takes place in Jerusalem (for Luke, it is the focal point of all that Jesus means for the world), Matthew has the disciples back on their home ground in Galilee. For, it is in the familiarity of home, not up in the skies, that Jesus is to be found. They are at the mountain “to which Jesus had directed them.” This is the mountain where Jesus once revealed himself to three disciples at the Transfiguration (chap 17) and where he touched them after this, saying:

Get up and do not be afraid.

This is not really an ascension scene. It is understood that the Risen Jesus is already in the glory of the Father. We have here rather an appearance of the Risen Jesus, an appearance that relies on faith.

So, on the one hand they worship and, on the other, they have doubts—an experience all of us can have from time to time. The emphasis here is not on the appearance of Jesus, but on what he has to say to his disciples. It is in three parts—past, present and future.

Jesus, source of all authority
First, Jesus tells them that:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [him by the Creator God].

To commit oneself totally to Jesus is to commit oneself to God.

Second, Jesus gives the command to “make disciples” of people everywhere. He is thus passing on much of his own authority to his disciples. Pentecost will be the confirmation of this. They are to do what he did. They will have the power to reconcile the sinful with God and with the community, and to decide who are not yet ready for reconciliation and full participation in the community’s life. The community has standards to keep in order to be a living and credible witness of Jesus and his gospel. It has a corporate right to maintain those standards. They are to teach, to heal, to break down the divisions that separate people. Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will be the symbol of incorporation as members of Christ’s Body, as disciples of Jesus.

Always with us
Third, the Risen and Ascended Jesus is not far away:

…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

It is a reminder of the promise made at the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, before the birth of Jesus:

Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.” (Matt 1:23)

And again later on,

…where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (Matt 18:20)

The gift of the Spirit is not mentioned, but is clearly implied by the promise of the ongoing presence of Jesus.

Today’s feast, then, is a celebration of Jesus’ glory after his suffering and death—a glory in which we also hope to share. At the same time, we celebrate the ongoing presence of the Risen Jesus among us through the Holy Spirit, a presence which calls on every one of us to be living witnesses to that presence here in our own community and to the ends of the earth.

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The Ascension of the Lord (Year C)

Commentary on Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28,10:19-23; Luke 24:46-53

The First Reading and the Gospel today seem to be in contradiction with each other. Although both are written by Luke, the Gospel says that Jesus’ ascension was on Easter Sunday and the Acts of the Apostles says it was 40 days after the Resurrection. The Gospel also seems to say that the Resurrection and the Ascension are one thing while Acts seems to say they are two separate events.

In fact, the Ascension is part of the Resurrection. Resurrection emphasises that Jesus has entered a new life and not just that he recovered his previous life. The Ascension emphasises that the risen Jesus is together with the Father and that he shares the place and dignity of the Father.

Real meaning of Ascension
The real meaning of the Ascension is in the Second Reading, a passage from St Paul’s magnificent Letter to the Hebrews. The author makes a clear distinction between the role of Jesus and that of the Jewish High Priest. Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands; he entered the dwelling place of God himself. Nor, unlike the High Priest, did or does Jesus enter the sanctuary again and again, as the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies every year. Nor did he, again unlike the High Priest, offer blood that was not his own—the blood of goats and bulls. Jesus entered God’s presence by the spilling of his own blood on the cross:

Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many [i.e. all], will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Washed totally clean
How are we to share in all of this? It is again put very well in the second part of the Second Reading:

…since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Jesus has totally replaced the old way, i.e. the old covenant. The place where God is is the new Holy of Holies. Jesus is the curtain through which we, all of us sharing in the priesthood of Christ, have access to that presence. That is the meaning of the Ascension, which we celebrate today.

Therefore, we have no need to fear. We have freedom and, by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, we can go into the holiest place. This is the path which has been opened for us through our baptism and our participation in the life of the Christian community.

Continuing the work of Jesus
But before we go to share Jesus’ glory, there is work to be done. When Jesus left us, he made it clear that he wanted us to carry on the work he had begun. He said that we could do the same things he did, and even greater. So before leaving them, he tells his disciples to go back to Jerusalem and there wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

This experience will be their baptism when they will become filled with the very Spirit of Jesus. But before Jesus leaves them, Acts tells us that the disciples ask him:

Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?

Even at this late moment, they still do not understand the meaning of Jesus’ life and work. They still do not understand what kind of Messiah he is.

Jesus will not just restore the kingdom of Israel; he will establish a new Kingdom altogether. This Kingdom will be open to include all the people of the world. It will not be a political force or a military power. Rather, it will be—as the Preface of the Mass of Christ the King says,

An eternal and universal kingdom:
a kingdom of truth and life,
a kingdom of holiness and grace,
a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.

The disciples will soon learn this, accept it and promulgate it everywhere. For after they receive the Spirit of Jesus themselves, they themselves will begin to inaugurate the Kingship of God not only in Israel (Jerusalem and Judea), but in time to the very ends of the earth. This is their mission—and ours—to carry the message of Jesus to the whole world.

As Jesus spoke, he is covered by a cloud, clearly indicating the enveloping presence of God. Jesus can no longer be seen. But the Ascension should not be understood too literally, as if Jesus floated up into the sky to a place called ‘heaven’. Rather he is wrapped in the all-embracing presence of his Father, symbolised by the cloud.

Lower your eyes
As Jesus disappears from their sight, the disciples continue to gaze upwards into the sky. It is then that two men wearing white clothes stand beside them and say:

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Did they take these words to mean that they, in their lifetime, would see him return? Time would show that this was not the meaning of the messengers’ words. The nameless messengers in white are understood to be angels—direct representatives of God—indicating the importance of what is happening. They were also present at the Resurrection.

A new lesson
The disciples have a new lesson to learn: they will not now find Jesus in the sky, in “heaven”. The Jesus they knew before the Crucifixion has left them for good. They have to go back to Jerusalem. There, through the outpouring of the Spirit of the Father and Jesus on them, they will begin to understand and grow in understanding. If they want to find Jesus, they will find him in the Christian community—in those they mix with every day of their lives.

Every time they receive the love of a brother or sister, it is the presence of Jesus. Every time they share their love with a brother or sister, they are making Jesus present to that person. They—and we—are to be Jesus in this world. We are to be the visible presence of Jesus. It is really a great challenge and a rather scary responsibility.

When people see me, do they see Jesus? When people see me, do they want to know Jesus? When people see me, do they want to join our community, share our life, and take the Gospel as the foundation of their life? That is the meaning of the Ascension.

Today we gather here not only to remember something that happened a long time ago; we are also here to remind ourselves that when Jesus left us he gave us a very important mission. That mission was and is to continue his loving and redemptive presence in the world. Let us ask him today to help us, together with him, to carry out that huge responsibility in the way he wants.

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The Ascension of the Lord (Year B)

Commentary on Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; Mark 16:15-20 (more…)

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