"He ascended into heaven"

Hey, it’s the Feast of the Ascension!

I like this:

Consider this. Suppose Jesus was resurrected and returned to earth. But like any person who has come back from a near death experience, after a brief period of euphoria, things would have returned to normal. The days would have passed like those of any other life … and the years and the decades, to be followed as it is for everyone of us, with death.

Resurrection without the Ascension is a one day wonder, soon to fade. As it did for Lazarus who came back from the dead only to be remembered as the passive figure in one among many miracle stories of the Bible.

With Jesus the story does not end in this way. As the creed attests, “he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.”

Visually the scene is dramatic. A body defies the force of gravity and ascends towards the sky until it disappears. But behind the visual imagery, there is a still more stunning reality.

When the gospel writer refers to the “right hand of God,” that phrase would have been understood to mean not that God has a left hand and a right hand, but rather that God is powerful and active. Speaking of the hands of God is the biblical writer’s way of saying that God is present in the here and now, taking part in the stream of events that touch us all. The right hand in particular is the hand of vitality and power. Those seated on the ruler’s right hand share in the ruler’s power and authority.

It’s not Christ in outer space, but the Christ within that counts.

Further, since one of God’s remarkable features is omnipresence, this means that in the Ascension Christians affirm that Christ, too, is present now, at all times and in all places, whether one is conscious of the divine presence or not.

To affirm that Jesus has “ascended” connotes his continuing activity in and through all the miracles of daily life. Whereever the work and will of God are done, that is where we see the spirit of the living Christ at work.

And how is the work of God to be done in this world? As many a gospel hymn expresses it, “we are the hands of God.” The community of faith consists of those who consciously or unconsciously carry out the will of God by doing the work of Jesus in the world today. And the work of Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; it is the work of peace, of justice, and of loving kindness.

Affirming that Christ has “ascended” as the Church does when it celebrates the Ascension constitutes a declaration that Christians are called be a visible and active in the world today, representing the will and the ways of God to all of humanity.

If by the Ascension it is understood that Jesus disappeared from view to reside in some distant, supernatural realm never to be seen or heard from again, the meaning of the holiday is lost completely. Understood correctly, the Ascension means that the Spirit of the living Christ rules in the hearts, the minds, and the wills of those who dare to call themselves his disciples now.

This is the only way that Christ’s victory over death will ever be complete. The miracle is completed in the community where Christ’s love reigns. This happens both within and outside the walls of any church. And thus is Christ’s own prayer fulfilled, and God’s kingdom has come “on earth as it is in heaven.”