The Ascension of the Lord

With hindsight and the benefit of the Bible, as well as 2000 years of Church teaching, we are able to understand the progression from Resurrection to Ascension to Pentecost. This understanding was not so easy for the early disciples of Jesus as they experienced these events.

For a few moments, let us mentally put ourselves among the Apostles. There we are, experiencing each event for the first time, and we are afraid. We cannot yet fully understand why Jesus, our teacher, great healer and wonderworker, had to die such a terrible death. We had begun to see that he had been sent by God, and yet he was suddenly taken away from us, suffering a horrible death. We wonder if we might be the next ones to be arrested, tortured, and crucified.

Then comes the third morning, and the women are telling us that the tomb is empty – the body of Jesus is gone! Gathered together in the Upper Room, we do not know what the future holds when suddenly Jesus is right there in our midst! He shows us the wounds in his hands and side – he even eats a piece of fish. We are amazed, and still afraid.

Later, we remember what Jesus had said before about sending another Paraclete, but something else must happen first. Several days pass, and we are gathered once again on a hillside in Galilee, only to witness Jesus rise into the sky and disappear into a cloud. In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 28:19-20), the final words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before ascending into heaven were: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” What does it all mean? How can we possibly do what he asks of us? Where do we go from here?

Where, indeed? If we return to the present day, we recognize that our mission as modern day Christians is really no different from the mission entrusted to the Apostles on that hillside as Jesus rose from their sight. We are to spread the Gospel message to the ends of the earth, and ensure that those who believe are baptized, for the Lord has told us: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Proclamation of the Gospel is critical to our lives as Christians, and remember that this is accomplished as much by our actions as by our words. Recall well the words of St. Francis of Assisi who said: “Proclaim the Gospel always, and when necessary, use words.”