The Ascension of the Lord
This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of The Lord. We have relived Jesus’ ministry during the past few months and now we are at the point where it comes to an end; Jesus ascends to the Father and his disciples begin the mission of the church. All of this takes place 40 days after his resurrection. In our Gospel, Matthew tells us that “They worshiped but some doubted.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Are we any different? Our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1-11) is kind of an extended version of the gospels. Luke continues his writings to Theophilus about the early events of the Church. In this first chapter Jesus gives his disciples instructions for receiving “the promise of the Father”, the Holy Spirit, who will be with them and guide them. They will be his witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. That’s a lot of territory to cover, and they were a small group of 11! With such a mission ahead of them, I could imagine their apprehensions and doubts. In our Second Reading (Eph 1:17-23) Paul speaks of the unity of the Church in Christ. He not only gives thanks for the community in Ephesus but he prays that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation and that they will be strengthened through the message of the gospel. Paul prayed that they could realise the hope which Jesus called them into visualising and put it into motion.
Gospel Teaching
What I find very exciting about these readings is that they give us a sense of what Jesus does at the end of his ministry. When we understand this, we can look at his entire ministry and comprehend it more fully. In Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 28:16-20) the disciples are back on their home ground in Galilee. Jesus ordered them to meet him at the mountain where he was lifted up and a cloud took him away. These two symbols – mountains and clouds - are biblical symbols of the presence of God. The emphasis here is not on the appearance of Jesus or the presence of God, but on what he has to say to his disciples. It is the farewell scenario between the disciples and Jesus. Jesus tells them that all authority of God himself, the Creator, has been given to him from the beginning of time. Then he goes on to explain the current situation as he gives them a command to “make disciples” of people everywhere, to teach them everything and to baptise people. The power of the Holy Spirit, which will come later, will help them. Receiving the Holy Spirit would be very important because it would sustain Christianity into a new era of sacred history, the era of the Church and her mission. Pentecost will be the confirmation of this. Not only do these guys have quite a big assignment – they have big shoes to fill! Overwhelming, don’t you think? The disciples loved him, and they were willing to give their lives for him. But even those who accepted him and saw how attractive his message was still could not completely fathom Jesus. “They worshiped but some doubted.” But in his parting words Jesus promises that he will not abandon them – he will be with them “until the end of the age”.
Our Mission
On the feast of the Ascension, we remember the power of Jesus as he was raised up to heaven. We remember the instructions of Jesus to the disciples to continue his work all over the world. We remember their mission: the call to evangelise and to continue the healing work of Jesus, to preach the good news. This mission my friends is our mission too. We are called to spread the message of Jesus and continue his healing work. The feast we celebrate today should be a reminder that Jesus is present with us, not just in the Eucharist but in the word of God and in our community. Ascension is the door that opened for the coming of the Holy Spirit, a feast that is celebrated 10 days after Ascension: Pentecost. The feast of the Ascension is not to commemorate the departure of Christ and his earthly mission but it should be a celebration of the living and lasting presence of Jesus in the church. We find his presence wherever we find love, peace, kindness, truth and compassion. This is the beauty of the Spirit of Jesus. It is this Spirit that guides the church - that guides us in our mission.
What I Think
It seems to me that the Church longs for us to understand more and more about the mission of Jesus: What is Jesus trying to say to us? What is he trying to teach us? It's interesting to me that we had a relationship with God for a very long time before the coming of Jesus. God was speaking through prophets in order to reveal who he was. There have been so many misconceptions of God throughout the ages. Even today people have difficulty wrapping their imaginations around the image of the true God, who he is and what he wants. This is very comforting to me. Even though I studied theology for five years, as a priest I too sometimes struggle to understand his message. It isn't difficult to believe that God is good and that he sent his Son, asking all of us to be good. That doesn't take a lot of effort to understand. But the message of Jesus is difficult to grasp. How are we to be good? What does it mean that God became one of us? What is God really trying to show us? Those are much more complex questions to ponder. As we continue celebrating the Ascension of our Lord, let us open the door to Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Let us look forward to experience Jesus in our lives and try to understand his message more and more and be his messengers in the world of today. Let us worship my friends and have no doubts. Amen.
Stay healthy - stay alert - protect others.
Yours, Fr. Urs