Today, the Church celebrates the solemnity of Christ’s ascension into heaven. On this seventh week of Easter, the community stresses the important, life-giving need of fulfilling the Gospel dream, commissioned by Christ before ascending into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, namely of proclaiming the Good News universally.
Indeed, before leaving his disciples the Risen Lord told them:
“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:46-49).
From Christ’s reassuring declaration mentioned above, the following points clearly and vividly emerge: (1) Christ’s Paschal mystery was fulfilled according to the Scriptures; (2) Its saving power is to be shared among all the nations, starting of course from Jerusalem, the city where the Scriptures were fulfilled, so that those who repent will be forgiven; (3) The disciples are to be the first evangelisers of this message; and (4) Their mission will be kicked off by the arrival of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. Therefore any authentic missionary endeavour has to be God’s initiative from its head to its toes.
The Lukan version of Christ’s ascension is replete with meaning.
To begin with, for the Lukan community the Gospel is not simply a lovely fairytale to be cherished and then disposed of after one has made ample use of it. Neither is it a hope that is hidden and then utilised when necessity calls for it and then neglected or put in a corner because its use has expired. On the contrary, the Gospel message implies a novel way of life, an active living witness of the joyous reality of God’s salvation that is currently at work in our history. But it can only be accessed if the persons who hear the kerygma and accept it by changing their modes of thinking and behaving and adopt instead the lifestyle and mentality of Jesus Christ.
Another interesting fact about Christ’s ascension is that when Christ “was carried up into heaven … [the disciples] returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God” (Luke 24:51-53). This is so strange! Normally when someone we love takes leave of us we are deeply hurt and sad because we would not have the joyous opportunity of seeing his/her face once more. We would cry because we feel the loss of enjoying his/her affection as well as the comfort that person’s presence radiated on us in the past.
But with Christ things happen differently. As Pope Francis explained in his general audience of 17 April, “with the look of faith, they [the disciples] understood that, although removed from their eyes, Jesus always stays with them, He does not abandon them and, in the glory of the Father, He sustains them, guides them and intercedes for them.” In God, Jesus enters the immanency of this world, governed as it is by space and time, in a special manner. His physical separation from the world’s history spiritually intensifies his spiritual union with it. Thus, his apparent physical distance from what is seen becomes his supreme immersion into the day-to-day business of his people in an unseen mode. Thanks to his ascension, Christ broke all ties with his earthly friends in order to make himself more available to all those who genuinely seek his help at any hour of the day! Christ’s departure brings about more nearness and separation heightens communion all the more. What an inherent paradox! Yet how right it is to be joyful and celebrate his ascension! By sitting at the right hand of the Father, Christ is with us till the end of time!
By ascending Christ showed us that God’s reign consists in omnipresent power and authority. Do I believe that He is holding my life in his caring hands?
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
SAN GWANN