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.
