Ephesians 1:17-23; Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23; Luke 24:44-53; Psalm 47
May 29, 2022
Lloyd Penner
This Sunday, 40 days after Easter, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. In the Bible, 40 days is highly symbolic-it means completeness. Jesus has completed his task on earth. He has shown that he is alive and now it’s time for him to continue his work with the Father in heaven. I found it interesting that for the Orthodox Church, the Feast of the Ascension is one of the most important events in the church calendar. The drama of salvation is about to begin a new and very important stage. In his last words to his followers, Jesus says that after he has ascended to heaven he will send the Holy Spirit who will empower his followers. Their task will be to bear witness to the resurrection and spread the good news to the ends of the earth. As for Jesus, he will sit at the right hand of the Father and exercise authority over all earthly authorities as well as being the head of the church. And then at some future time he will come again. This is a brief summary of the Biblical story of the Ascension and the church’s traditional interpretation of that story.
Jesus was not the first person in the Jewish tradition to have ascended to heaven without dying. Three of the most well-known Biblical figures to have done so were: Enoch, Moses and Elijah. Even before Jesus was crucified, he gave a strong hint to his disciples that his later ascension was part of the plan. In Luke 22:69 Jesus says, “the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of God.” One commentator goes so far as to say that the Ascension is a theological necessity.
Because after he died on the cross the spirit of Jesus descended into hell where he defeated the powers of evil. He then arose from the dead and 40 days later ascended to heaven where he now reigns as the cosmic Christ. In other words, the Ascension was an essential part of the God’s plan to defeat evil and save all peoples.
But what does all this mean for us today. What are the connections between the Ascension and the life of our church community as well as our individual lives? Where do we find ourselves in the story? The fact that Luke, the author of Acts, places the Ascension at the end of this Gospel and again at the beginning of the book of Acts is very significant. It means that everything that happens in the history of the early church is connected to and to some extent dependent on the Ascension. Indeed, Jesus had said that he must leave this earthly realm in order for the Holy Spirit to come and it is the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that gives birth to the community of faith. Grain of Wheat is part of this story and therefore we are connected to the Ascension.
The Ascension is also important in another way. It is as the ascended Lord that Christ provides the church with spiritual gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers and more. Indeed, for Paul the Ascension is an essential part of his theology. In the Ephesian passage we heard earlier, Paul states that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at the right hand of the Father is at work in us who believe. Do we really believe that?
The author of the book of Hebrews adds to our understanding of the Ascension. In the passage we heard read, the resurrected and ascended Christ is depicted as the high priest who through his work on the cross has enabled us to enter the inner sanctuary of the heavenly temple -the place where God dwells. “Therefore” as the author of Hebrews says in chapter 4 “since we have a great high priest, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” What are our needs at this moment? I encourage us to name them and then bring them to the throne of grace. There, the risen and ascended Christ will meet with grace and love. Amen.