THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

[cappie]

The Easter season concludes the public life of Jesus, but before he returns to the Father, he gathers his disciples. He asks them to be his witnesses to the world and continue his ministry by proclaiming the good news and under the influence of the Holy Spirit calling people to newness of life. The feast of the ascension reminds us of our collective responsibility for mission. We are baptised into the community of believers and share an identity, but life as Catholic Christians is a call to share the mission of Jesus.

Jesus visited the disciples a number of times following the resurrection. He allowed them to see his wounds and to touch them in order to deepen their faith. He fed them and ate with them. They prayed together and Jesus once again gave them their marching orders. By now, they knew three things for sure:

Christ has died: They sat in deep mourning following the crucifixion. The reality began to set in. They reflected on their responses following the events after the Last Supper. Judas had betrayed him. Some had run once Jesus was captured by the Roman soldiers. Peter denied knowing him.

Christ is risen: The women went to the tomb early on the third day to add the spices that they had prepared. Jesus was not there, and they panicked. Two men standing near the tomb said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.” They ran back to tell the others. The men didn’t believe them. Peter and the others got up and went to see for themselves. Filled with fear, they decided to escape Jerusalem. Jesus directed them to Galilee.

Christ will come again: Jesus gave them all that they needed while they waited for his return.   He simply told them to wait until they were “clothed with power from on high.” That clothing was the Holy Spirit.  

As Christians, you are clothed with that same power from the time of baptism. You are gifted with everything like the disciples. You get to choose what to do with the powers you have been given.  

 This Jesus who came down from heaven to become a human being, to suffer, to die, to rise from the dead has ascended to heaven, returning there as something he wasn’t before—the crucified and risen Jesus.    

Now this is where many people get misled. They think, “Ah, so Jesus is in heaven. I must find a way to go up there and be with him.” Then when the gospel should be down-to-earth, we turn the  Christian religion into a religion of going up. Up, and away. About going up to heaven.   Then it becomes about joining Jesus up and far away because he’s absent here on earth. We must join him up there.

But do not be mistaken and think he is now far away from you. Jesus, inseparably both God and a human being, is with you now and to the end of the age. And he makes himself known in his holy  church and the sacraments which God has entrusted to the church.

 In communion, when we receive the body of Christ, we are not ascending into heaven to God, but God in Christ is coming down to us, here on earth. We are not a go-up-to-God religion, we are a God-come-down-to-us religion.

The blessing of the Ascension is that Jesus is down on every altar on the earth where the words  of institution are said—there, Christ is present to you both as God and a human being. And wherever Christ has put himself, there we have life and salvation. This is not Christ as an idea, but Christ as a down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood reality. Because Christ has ascended, there is no place you can go without him.

The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus is good news because there is not a place on earth that the Lord Jesus has abandoned. He comes to us in a lovely place like here, the church. But he also comes  in unlovely places, the side of the road, prison or hospital, the darkness  people’s lives. Because you are baptized into Christ, where you are, there, your Christ is, with his gracious, forgiving heart. Always.  We now have a Lord who loves us wherever we are, who abides in the church, and who is our advocate.

We must rise up and inform people that “if it is not about love, it’s not about God.”  God is with you. God will always be with you. What could be more joyful than that?