May 9, 2002 -- THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
Acts 1:1-11
Title: “Let God be God in our lives.”
Color: White
Luke is the author of both the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, the only evangelist to write a two-volume work. He delineates three periods of salvation history: 1) the period before Jesus Christ, ending with John the Baptist;
2) the period of Jesus, ending with the ascension; and
3) the period of the Church, beginning with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit and ending with the final coming, the Parousia.
Verses one to eleven, introduce the second volume. They provide a transition from the second period to the third. There is really no new material here. They elaborate on the final scene in Luke, Luke 24: 36-53. There the ascension took place on Easter evening, just as in John 20: 22 the bestowal of the Spirit took place on the same day as the resurrection. Luke knows this as well as the other evangelists. Yet, he also records that those same events happened more than once, that there was an extended period of resurrection appearances, that the Lord “disappeared” from the sight of the disciples several times, but that they eventually came to an end. In all of these instances, Jesus appeared from glory, not from some in-between realm, some intermediate, earth-bound state. Nor are we to think that during those forty days the Holy Spirit was not present and active. This is Luke way of story telling. He likes to finish one story before beginning another, although he knows as well as anybody else that things overlap, that more than one thing is going on at the same time.
The subsequent church has benefited from Luke’s separating the moments of salvation history, even though they occurred more as one continuous movement rather than a series of disconnected moments. Our liturgical year is based on Luke. We highlight, without isolating, various moments like Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, etc. and celebrate those moments over a year’s duration even though we know in fact that they are really one movement of God on behalf of his people. This enables us to concentrate on one aspect and glean from that concentration deeper insight into the entire meaning of the Christ event.
In verse one, In the first book, Theophilus: This is the second of a two-volume work. The first volume is the Gospel according to Luke. None of the other gospels has a sequel. It is written in the light of the delay of the Parousia. Indeed, it is the answer to that delay, showing that the Holy Spirit is the continuing presence of Jesus-in-power on earth in the church he established. Both volumes are dedicated to the same person, Theophilus, a Greek name meaning “dear to God,” a rather common name at that time. However, despite the fact that such dedications were common form in contemporary literary circles, it is impossible to know whether this refers to an actual person, perhaps a financial patron, or a common dedication to all who are “dear to God.” In any event, this volume will be an account of what Jesus continued to do and teach after his ascension, thanks to his gift of the Holy Spirit.
In verse two, until the day he was taken up: Luke, that is, the author of Luke and Acts, is the only New Testament writer to specify the end of Jesus’ ministry by the ascension. In this verse he does not, however, specify the actual day. In Luke 24: 50-53 he depicts the ascension as taking place on the evening of the day when the empty tomb was discovered, i.e. Easter evening. However, in Act 1: 9-11 he depicts it as occurring after an interval of forty days. These two seemingly conflicting “dates,” will help us understand the ascension properly. The ascension forms the hinge between these two volumes.
After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles: To Luke “the apostles,” means the Twelve Judas will be replaced by Matthias to bring the number to full complement. Though “apostles,” means a broader group as well, including Paul, Luke prefers to limit its use to refer to the Twelve. Thus, through this special instruction between the resurrection and the ascension these “apostles,” become the official transmitters of the gospel that Jesus himself preached, stressing the Spirit-guided apostolic character of the Christian gospel.
In verse three, appearing to them during forty days: Luke tells us there were many postcrucifixion appearances of Christ before they finally ended. This agrees with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 5-8. The term “forty days,” need not be taken precisely. It refers to an extended but limited time, roughly six weeks. While it has symbolic meaning as well, e.g. Moses was instructed by God for forty days on Mt. Sinai, the main reason for specifying it seems to be to make it fit in between Passover and Pentecost, the Jewish feast occurring fifty days after Passover and the day of the dramatic giving of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the apostles.
And speaking about the kingdom of God: Luke tells us the subject matter of Jesus’ postcrucifixion instruction. This term, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, or simply kingdom, appears 55 times in Matthew and 14 times in Mark, only 5 times in John, 38 times in Luke, and 6 times in Acts. Yet, the term is never explained! In both Old Testament and New Testament it refers to God’s rule or dominion, God’s kingship, over all. However, with sin, God’s rule is contested and under attack, at least, until the ‘day of the lord” when he will be completely victorious. When human kings arose in Israel they were regarded as vice-regents of the only real king, God, representing his sovereignty on earth. This gave a political meaning to the term “kingdom of God,” never intended in Scripture. When the monarchy became extinct, the political hopes of a restoration remained strong. However, the prophets, especially Deutero-Isaiah, emphasized the spiritual meaning, namely, God’s making known his will and Israel carrying it out as his servant, eventually leading to complete sovereignty through free will obedience, rather than political domination. This “eventual outcome,” began with the coming of Jesus Christ, a day begun but not yet ended. The judgment of the world, the final and perfect manifestation of the divine kingdom, will coincide with the final coming of Christ, at the end of the day, as Matthew 6: 10 puts it: when God’s will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. Between the two comings, the beginning and the end of the day, the people of Christ live temporally and temporarily in this present age while spiritually they belong to the heavenly kingdom and enjoy by anticipation the life of the age to come.
In verse four, While meeting with them: The verb used here, Greek synalizomai, literally, “sharing salt,” can also mean “eat, sharing a meal.” Luke 24: 42-43 tells us that the risen Christ ate in the presence of the disciples. That does not mean that he needed material food and drink for sustenance, but that he wanted to convince them that he was really present and not a mere ghost or phantasm. Though the text is unclear we need not rule out that such meals were also Eucharists.
Not to depart from Jerusalem: Scripture, and Luke is no exception, puts geography at the service of theology. Luke opens his account in Jerusalem, the capital of Judaism, and closes it with Paul in Rome, the capital of the world, to indicate the geographical spread of the gospel coincides with the theological plan of God. Jerusalem is the focal point, the city, symbolizing the “attitude,” from which testimony will be carried by witnesses to the end of the earth. The first volume ended with the command to remain in the city until the giving of the Spirit, the “power from on high,” Luke 24: 47-49 and the second volume opens with the same injunction, calling the Spirit “the promise of the Father.”
In verse five, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit: To the Baptist’s prophecy, recorded in Mark 1: 8, “he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, both Luke 3: 16 and Matthew 3: 11 add “and in fire.” Luke will immediately combine these symbols in his Pentecost account according to Acts2: 1-4, of the baptism of the apostles. The “more powerful one,” is not just the earthly Jesus of Nazareth, but the risen Christ, who makes know Spirit baptism. The Spirit will be the dynamo behind all the witnesses do or proclaim.
In verse six, restore the kingdom: This question reveals how difficult it was even for the apostles to give up the false hope that Jesus was going to restore the earthly kingdom of national independence and even supremacy to Israel as a state. Remember Cleopas made a similar remark on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24: 21. There were kings in Israel during the era before the Assyrian, 8th century BC, and Babylonian, 6th century BC, captivities of yore. There were kings during the recent Hasmonean period before the Roman occupation of Judea under Pompey in 63 BC and even puppet kings of the Herodian dynasty in Roman times down to Jesus’ day. The hope of a political restoration loomed large. This marks the final mention in the New Testament and gives the definitive answer: only the Father knows the fate of Israel as state; the kingdom of God is much greater and not political.
In verse eight, my witnesses in Jerusalem…and to the ends of the earth: This charts the course of the spread of the kingdom of God throughout the world and provides a rough outline of the book. It begins with the ministry in Jerusalem in chapters 1-7, spreads to all of Judea and then Samaria in chapters 8-12, and travels throughout the known world ending up in Rome, the capital of that world, in chapters 13-28.
In verse nine, he was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight: “Was lifted up,” is the biblical way, called “the theological passive,” of saying “God lifted him up.” The cloud is a stage prop, frequently used in the Scripture to signify God’s presence, power and glory, hidden under or behind this phenomenon, a cloud, half-earthly, half-heavenly. Luke wants to tell us that this was the last visible appearance of the Lord to his disciples after a period of forty days duration following his resurrection. The Lord had “disappeared,” from the sight of his disciples before, e.g. at Emmaus Luke 24: 31, but this will be the last time for them. He will appear once more to Paul on another road at a later date and it will be Luke who tells us of this event as well. However, his point here is that this ascension of exaltation marks the end of the Period of Jesus in order to inaugurate the Period of the Church with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the Holy Spirit has been present in the earthly Jesus all along. Now he will be freed from the body of Jesus, but not from the body of Christ, his Church.
In verse ten, While they were looking intently: The ascension is Luke’s way of referring to what other and earlier New Testament writers have called Christ’s exaltation. He stresses the visible perception of Christ’s leave-taking, the visible perception of Christ becoming invisible, to his exaltation. Though no one saw the actual act of resurrecting, his disciples did see the actual act of Christ ascending. Five different verbs are used to make it clear: “looking on,” “out of their sight,” “staring,” “looking,” and “saw.”
Two men dressed in white garments: The same thing happened in Luke 24: 4 to the women at the empty tomb. Eventually in Luke 24: 23 the “two men” are identified as ‘angels.” The white garments are stage props to signify their otherworldly nature. This echoes the description of Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration, discussing with Jesus the “departure,” or “exodus,” he was to fulfill in Jerusalem Luke 9: 30. In Jewish tradition both Moses and Elijah were believed to have ascended into heaven as well.
In verse eleven, Men of Galilee: These are Galileans, northern Jews, in Jerusalem, in the south, being addressed as belonging to that region of Judaism called “Galilee of the Gentiles. The term is meant to include all Christians, men and women, Jew and Gentile, slave and free.
“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?”: In Luke 24: 5 the same sort of question was asked: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” The Galileans are told that they have important work to do and are not to linger too long. This echoes the transfiguration scene where Peter says he would like to build three monuments to this awesome experience, that is, to stay there. Jesus brings them down from the mountain experience to face the cross, yet now assured of Christ’s glory and eventually their own. The function of the heavenly messengers is to interpret the meaning of the experience.
This Jesus…will return: Jesus first came as a baby. The final coming will be as the exalted Lord. The timing is unknown, but the event is certain. Jesus’ earthly role has come to an end. From now on he will be seen no more in visible form and will exert his influence on humanity and the world from heavenly glory and through his Spirit.
Sermon
God took on our human state in order to save us from ourselves by showing us what a human life could be if we just listened to him and did things his way. He let us mistreat him, ridicule him, beat him up, spit on him, nail him to a cross, kill him in the most humiliating and painful way known to man at the time. In doing so he was letting us see- by pondering one human life, one human being- the ravages of sin, man’s inhumanity to man. God was showing us what sin looked like from his point of view, what he sees when he looks upon all human beings. He let us see that the marks, the wounds, the scars and scabs of life are the result of human beings insisting on being their own god.
Then, God showed us the “exalted,” state that humanity can enjoy, not by or because of their own doing, but by and because of God’s doing, grace. He showed us a “risen,” Christ so that we could see a “risen” humanity, indeed, what each of us could look like and live like and love like, if, and only if, we let God be our God. That the risen Lord continued to be present to, with and among his followers is testimony to God’s continuing love of and interest in his human creatures, even after they continue to insist of sinning, sinning to the point where they try to kill even God himself. And even after Jesus Christ, God incarnate, had done and taught all he could or would, even after he returned to the state of his divinity, he still stayed with us through the bestowal of his very Spirit. It is that Spirit that makes our own “exaltation” possible, really guaranteed, provided we let God be God in our lives. Of course, we can reject the Spirit, ignore his promptings. And they are promptings. They are not enforcements.
Even though Jesus has given us his Spirit, we still relate to him as a human being. Thanks to God becoming human and living a human life within a human body, even though we can no longer “see” him, we can still imagine him as a human being. It is really hard for us humans to wrap our arms around the Spirit of God. Actually, it is as impossible as “embracing,” the wind. No, the wind embraces us. However, we can, in our imagination now, hug God! When we pray we can speak to God in much the same way we would speak to a friend or lover. We can imagine him right there with us or, at least, speak with him as we do someone on the telephone. We hear the caller’s voice and imagine what he or she looks like, especially if we know the person. It works the same way with Christ. We have heard his voice in and through his word and we imagine a human body attached to that voice. Oh, we know it is imagination, but it is not imaginary. Jesus Christ did walk this earth in an earthly body and even though he now has a glorified body, he is still both human and divine. True, his humanity now is the humanity of the future, the eternal future, a humanity all of us who follow him will enjoy. Not only do we enjoy his voice, his word, we enjoy union and communion with him in the Eucharist. We both eat and drink with him and eat and drink him!
Despite God’s unfathomable distance from us, despite his transcendence, he is also close to us, also immanent. Psalm 47, the responsorial psalm for Ascension, exalts his “exaltation,” as king of all the earth, indeed the universe, and any other universes there might be. However, this text exalts the connection, the living relationship and unbreakable bond between the earthly Jesus and the heavenly Christ, one and the same reality experienced in different dimensions. Both dimensions are true and both must be kept simultaneously in mind when relating to the Lord Jesus.
That is what makes talking to Jesus and walking with him so much fun. He is so unique, so different from every other person or experience of our lives, yet he is so approachable. This exalted Lord is still so down-to-earth, so easy to relate to, to talk to, to work with, to play with, to pray to, to laugh with and, yes, to cry with. Yet, for all that, he has gone invisible so that we will trust in him without giving up our own responsibility for our actions and inactions. He does not want to be taken for granted or to violate our free will. We are still free to violate his will, but he will not violate ours and force belief or trust. For forty days he taught his friends. He did not force them. He impressed upon them, not imposed upon them, his vision and bestowed upon them his Spirit, the power to live that vision.
Disciples of Christ are never finished learning.
After the resurrection, Jesus continued to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God.
After Pentecost the Spirit of Jesus continues to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God.
The ascension marks to end of Jesus’ physical, earthly, bodily presence in the world and to his disciples, but not his spiritual presence.
Jesus will return after an undisclosed period of time in order to judge the world and those in it.
Worldview: We no longer believe the universe is like a tri-level house, with hell in the basement, earth on the first floor, and heaven on the top floor. The people who wrote the Bible did believe that was the way the world was- flat, with a basement and an upstairs. Even though we still might talk that way, we realize that reality and the structure of the universe is quite different. So, when we read that Jesus ascended into heaven and it is described as something like taking the escalator to the top floor, we can erroneously believe that since there is no such thing, there was no such thing as ascension into heaven because “heaven,” is not really a place “up there.” There really is no “up there.” The doctrine, mystery really, of the ascension is cast in time-conditioned ways of speaking about Christ’s transit to his Father’s presence. Even speaking of God in terms of “Father,” Son” and “Holy Spirit” are human ways of speech, since the reality of God is one, though the ways God’s reveals his reality to us are multiple. We should not confuse the vehicle, the means, for communicating this truth with the truth itself. The truth is cast in a pre-Copernican conception of the universe. Though the conception is now obsolete despite the fact that the vast majority of people in the world still hold to it, the truth it expresses is eternal. Christ is now fully present in eternity and chooses to be present in time and on earth in ways different from the human person, Jesus, of long ago. Christ is God; always was God; and always will be God. He has discarded the humiliation of his human experience and now has assumed the robes, the throne, of exaltation, wherein he reigns over the universe as he always has. In other words, we are no longer to look for Jesus of Nazareth on earth, nor for his earthly body. We will find neither, strictly speaking. However, spiritually speaking, we will find both. His body is now the church, the “collective body,” of those who follow him and his physical body is now to be found in the Eucharist. Only God can do this, of course. Other humans do not have the power to transform, transfigure or transcend themselves or the human condition or the world at will. Though they can do so in a spiritual sense, they cannot do so without the grace of Christ. When someone “lifts off,” in an airplane, that person leaves the earth’s surface and so “ascends into the heavens.” Or, at least, so it appears to the human eye. Thus, Christ’s ascension should not cause us to be skeptical. He did it in a cloud admittedly, a metaphor for God’s mysterious, enveloping presence; we do it in a plane. The difference is that most of us return to earth within hours. Jesus will not return for probably centuries, maybe even eons in earth terms. He entered into the same realm from which he came, the realm of eternity, and which, from his divine side and stance, never ever really left. The mystery of this event is much more important than its history, its historical facticity. Nonetheless, Luke is clear that this event is historically true and not just a metaphorical way of expressing deeper truths, though it is also that. All of us can easily imagine a time in the future when humans, either aided by props, vapors or whatever, or perhaps unaided by any such instruments, will be able to lift off the earth and defy the laws of gravity. That physical fact would not constitute “ascension into heaven,” however. What happened to Christ will happen to us, though we know not the time frame. No matter how much better our conception of the structure and functioning of our universe might become, the truth that the ascension teaches “transcends,” this or any other universes there might be. This truth rests upon the “science,” of God, not the science of man. It will never be outdated because it has little to do with dates. In his wisdom and mercy God has let some of us actually see and the rest of us believe in their testimony that Christ remains alive because he is God himself and that we will one day leave earth as well and ascend into his heavenly presence. How our leave-taking will happen, we happily leave up to him. Amen.
