May 17, 2015

Ascension...or Being a Skyhook



We are almost at the end of the season of Easter-the 50 days between Easter Day and Pentecost. One significant event that happens not long before Pentecost is the Ascension of Jesus.
Luke is the one Gospel writer who brings us the story of the Ascension. At the end of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24:44-53) we hear Jesus summarizing his ministry by opening “[the disciples’] minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’”
After this, they went to Bethany and “While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.”
In the Book of Acts (Acts 1:1-14), also written by Luke, the first chapter picks up right where the Gospel ends. “In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven.” Then he goes on to repeat Jesus’ promise. “But 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.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards 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.’”
We are told that they returned to Jerusalem, “to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.”
The other 3 Gospels don’t specifically detail the Ascension. Mark notes that “the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” Matthew tells us that the disciples met Jesus at a mountain in Galilee where “they worshiped him; but some doubted.
What would it have been like to be a witness to the Ascension? Artists across the ages have imagined the scene. From the gathered crowd of haloed followers in the icon to the unusual view of Christ’s feet ascending (by Dali), we get a variety of images. 

Edward Hays in his book St. George and the Dragon and the Quest for the Holy Grail, somewhat tongue in cheek, suggests what would have happened if the disciples tried to grab onto Jesus and ascend with him.

“Once upon a time, long ago, a great spiritual master gathered all his disciples and followers around him…’My friends, it is now time for me to return to my Father…I will come back and take you with me to live forever in paradise.’
At this announcement the small band of faithful disciples wept and pleaded with him not to leave. But in spite of their tears and please, the Master took them out to a high mountain…then with his arms raised to the sky…he prayed, ‘Father I am ready.’ Slowly he began to rise from the earth…
One of [the disciples]…cried out, ‘O Master, don’t leave me…’ Suddenly the disciple jumped upward and grasped the Master’s ankle.
The Master stalled in midair…’Let go!’…he clung to the ankle even more persistently…
The mood on the mountain underwent a radical change…from deep sorrow to open anger…The rest of the followers began shouting to the disciple who dangled from the Master’s leg,.. ‘Let go, you fool!’
[Ultimately all the disciples end up hanging from the Master and one another]...Then, out of the forest…came bears and foxes, birds and bugs, flowers and bushed, and they too jumped upward…what had begun as a beautiful religious experience had suddenly been turned into a circus act!...
At that moment, the spiritual Master was enlightened!...he understood his true mission in life for the first time…His real purpose was to be a giant skyhook*.”

While that story may make us smile, in one sense it is very true. Jesus is a ‘giant skyhook’ who lifts us (and all creation) to heaven. And as little Christ’s we are also to be lifting one another toward heaven as well. We, like the disciples, are witnesses of Jesus life and ministry. Even more than that we are heirs. Paul tells the Galatians, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29) In Romans he goes further and says we are [God's] children, and because of that, we are heirs of the promises. "We are children...we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:17) The disciples knew that they were inheritors of God's promises because they were witnesses of Jesus in his ministry, his death, and his Resurrection! So are we!
If we look at the Gospel and Acts account, we notice that the disciples were actually joyful after the Ascension, instead of trying to hang onto the Risen Lord. They “returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” 
 
Is our Resurrection faith evidenced by joy and thanksgiving as witnesses to the mighty acts? 
Are we waiting with anticipation for the promised “power from on high”?
Do we live and act like we are lifting people up to God (like skyhooks)?

*A skyhook, for anyone who didn’t grow up in the construction industry in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, used to be another name for a building crane. Apparently now it is a space elevator concept or a form of rigging used in some sports like skate boarding and sky diving. Edward Hays book has a copyright of 1987, so he was probably referring to a crane type apparatus.

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