Walking with Jesus: The Ascension of the Lord B

For Sunday, May 12, 2024

Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 4:1-13, Mark 16:15-20

The awaited time has come. We’ve all experienced this in some way: Perhaps it was a family trip, the car was loaded, and we started out. Perhaps it was the most exciting day of our lives: marriage or ordination to priesthood. Perhaps it was … we can fill this with so many personal experiences. It is very good and necessary to put this day into our religious life-experiences. Where did it all start? We can say at Creation. Where did we hear about this? From Moses. Jesus added the finishing touches and established our home as heaven.

So our history started with Moses, who was chosen by God to lead His chosen people to the Holy Land as he describes in the Pentateuch — the first five books of the Old Testament. In the first book, Genesis, Moses describes creation, the beginnings of the world and the creation of humanity, forming His created humans into God’s people. In the second book, Exodus, Moses recounts the enslavement of the Israelites and the plagues of Egypt ... after which he leads them to the revelations from God, the Ten Commandments, and their wanderings to the borders of Canaan, the Holy Land. The third book, Leviticus, records God’s speeches to Moses that take place during the Israelites’ exodus, emphasizing ritual, legal, and moral practices rather than beliefs. Numbers, the fourth book, has a long and complex history. Its final form is possibly due to a Priestly editing of a Yahwistic source made around 5 B.C. It begins at Mount Sinai where the Israelites receive their laws and covenant from God. The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The fifth and last book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy, consists of three sermons Moses delivers to the Israelites on the Plains of Moab shortly before they enter the Promised Land. It is full of directions on living as God’s people.

Everything leads up to God’s eternal plan for His creation. This continues through the books of the Old Testament, leading us to understand God’s love for all and how He has chosen and formed a special people — our ancestors in faith — leading up to the culmination of God’s plan in sending His only Son, Jesus. Paul states this in Ephesians 1:22-23: “He [God] put all things beneath His [Jesus’] feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.”

Theologians say the Ascension is the final victory of Christ; His death is the completion of His work on Earth. It marks His becoming Lord and King over all people in His eternal reign in heaven, and represents His final exaltation and glorification and the promise of heaven to all who believe in Him and follow His commandments. This is His victory — and this is unique among ALL religions. All other religions, no matter how valid their starting point and their value as true means of opening hearts to God, must impart hope for believers to pass through the zero point of death. So if their faith doesn’t lead to a hope beyond death, it's not worth following. And the sole life beyond death is heaven with GOD. The bottom line is that Jesus alone rose from the dead and ascended to God who accomplished this successful transition to the eternal goal of all — life with God.

In John 14:6, Jesus tells his followers at the Last Supper: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This is the cornerstone of our faith:

• God created the world out of love.
• God created all people to live in His love.
• When people love, they fulfill the plan that God is love. God wants and needs people to love so that all can come to heaven, which is eternal love for people who believe in Jesus and live His commandments and love.
• On this feast of the Ascension, we proclaim Jesus as our Lord and the only way to life with God forever.
• Today we continue the roles the apostles received in the last words of Mark’s Gospel: “The apostles went and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” [Mark 16:20] We are needed to be people of love.

The Ascension tells us that Jesus Christ — who ascended into Heaven in His body — carries on what He started through His community of believers. He teaches through apostles and evangelists. He ministers through prophets, mystics and pastors. He continues to hear and comfort, forgiving and including all in His love. He has not left us alone; He has helped us through each other as believers and proclaimers who live love. The end of life in heaven is promised.

St. Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962, with these profoundly stirring words: “In the present order of things, divine providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which by people’s efforts and even beyond their expectations are directed toward the fulfillment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs.”

So I reflect on:

• Sometimes it's easier to stand around and look at the sky than it is to get to work.
• Sometimes it seems as though Jesus will never return and God’s plans for creation will never be fulfilled.

Sacred Space 2024 states:

“Jesus said farewell to the apostles and was welcomed home by the Father. Jesus has completed His part of the mission and handed it over to the disciples to carry forward. As their successors may we bring good news and healing wherever we go.

“Jesus was taken up into heaven. His apostles were to take up HIs message and proclaim it. May we not be taken up with incidentals but set out to raise hearts in hope, sharing in the fruits of this day.”