The Ascension of Jesus ~ Artist: Eleanor Dixon Stecker
Our Father...
St. Luke tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven, Forty days after his Resurrection. Forty is a biblical number that means simply, a long time. We don't really need to know more than that. It may seem that we have a long time to "get it right" whatever that is. And as we get older, time seems to go by more quickly — like the sand in an hour glass seems to pour through as it nears the end. Truth be told, while I may have a long time, I don't have forever.
Hail Mary
To say Jesus ascended suggests first he had descended. He descended into death, yes, but he also descended into the place of our own deepest interior un-doing. He descended to bring life and light to the inner place of white superiority. Descended to the inner place where we think our kind is best and everyone else is "other" or "them." It is a sad place. Ungodly. Un-Christly.
Hail Mary!
As Jesus departs he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, the power from on high, will be given to us. It is the same Holy Spirit Jesus received at his baptism. The Holy Spirit is God's engagement with us today. Have I forgotten this? What do I do with this Spirit-Gift? It's easy to be Spirit-filled from 8 to 9, or 9 to 10, or 10 to 11 on Sunday morning. But what about the rest of the week?
Hail Mary!
The Holy Spirit gift is likened to the wind. Wind can be wild. We don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going to go. Do I detect this spirit-wind in my life today? Where is it taking me? What new place? Not a vacation dream spot, but the new place for love and service. What next engagement with the divine?
Hail Mary!
The apostles witness Jesus' departure. They must have felt a terrible loneliness. The loneliness is intensified by not knowing what the future without Jesus will bring. I might pray for the Ukrainian people who are feeling devastating aloneness? Many millions are now refugees while others are left behind. How could this be allowed to happen? How could cities be reduced to rubble? How could such brutalizing violence happen in the 21st century? How alone!
Hail Mary!
Notice that the artist has wisely included as many women as men in the Ascension event. Mary, the Mother of Jesus is pictured, and the myrrh bearing women of Easter morning. These women are the first witnesses to the Resurrection. The gifts of each person are needed for Christ's purposes. If we're a church known for exclusion, we're in a very wrong-headed place.
Hail Mary!
For forty days the Risen Jesus has eaten with his disciples. He has shown himself to them, allowed them to touch him, even place their hands in his wounds. Then he departs. returning to the right hand of the Father within the inner Trinitarian community. As he departs, he entrusts the mission of love to us. It is a challenging mission, requiring energy, creativity and risk.
Hail Mary!
We are spiritual beings with bodies, not bodies in search of a spiritual life. Yet some Christians are essentially worldly people — thinking with the world, shopping around in the world, arguing about the world. Some clergy are so worldly, Pope Francis has likened them to pagans. A spiritual person doesn't simply heap up pieties and wave dogmatic and moral credentials, but sees the world through Christ's eyes, and becomes a whole human person as Christ is a whole human person.
Hail Mary!
The apostles (our ancestors) are sometimes a silly, wrong-headed and contentious bunch. Some parishes just move the furniture around, debate changing the hymnal (yet again), even fight over the placement of a statue, making polite conversation at polite meetings and social gatherings. But when Jesus ascended, leaving us Spirit-gifted and in charge, he had more than this in mind. What radical thing is my parish doing? Radical comes from Latin word radix meaning root. How are we so rooted in the Gospel of Christ that we're doing something brand new that makes a difference?
Hail Mary!
When Jesus ascended, a cloud took him from the apostles' sight. A cloud appeared when Jesus was Baptized and again when he was Transfigured and became white, like snow with the sun shining on it. It is a gloriously hopeful scene in a world of disaster and tears. Is hope still alive in me, or has it been knocked out of me by all the bad news? Have I even become a cynic? Not a few Christians have.
Hail Mary!
Glory be to the Father...
