ascension day great preaching resource Feasting on the Word, "I suspect no other festival in the Christian year is less emphasized than the ascension of the Lord." Christopher Keating makes a similar point in his blog post today. Presumably there is just something too strange and unbelievable about the story of Jesus being "lifted up" or "carried up" into heaven. It's more than a little embarrassing to sophisticated, well-educated modern Christians to be asked to take seriously this story that is clearly based on a cosmology we have long since abandoned, where heaven is up there above the firmament. It is too reminiscent of cute tales about children trying to figure out whether the Space Shuttle can go far enough up to bounce off the Pearly Gates.
But it's not really any stranger than the story of the Resurrection, and only slightly less strange than what we believe happens at Pentecost, when tongues of fire landed on the disciples and the Holy Spirit gave them power, including the ability to speak in other languages. The important thing is not the means by which these events occured--finding a scientific explanation for them wouldn't make them any more powerful to those who already believe or any more palatable to those who do not--the important thing is finding meaning in these events, both in the life of the Church and in the hearts and minds of individual believers. Ascension is sometimes lost in between those two great days of Easter and Pentecost, and especially gets tacked on to the events of the Resurrection in the popular imagination. Even our Creeds read in such a way that it could sound like two parts of the same event: "On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father." Actually, though, there's a theological argument to be made that Ascension should be coupled with the Incarnation.
At the beginning of his earthly life, when he was first conceived by power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ humbled himself by becoming fully human, without losing his divinity. In the Ascension, when his life on earth comes to an end (not in death, which was not the end, but in exaltation) Jesus Christ is glorified, without losing his humanity. This has profound implications for the rest of us, for what it means to be a Christian but even more so for what it means to be human. The Catholic Encyclopedia has a nice summary of the themes of the day: In the liturgies generally the day is meant to celebrate the completion of the work of our salvation, the pledge of our glorification with Christ, and His entry into heaven with our human nature glorified. Another article in Feasting on the Word, this one by John McClure, puts it more poetically. Luke's portrayal of the event is showing us a picture of the humanity of Jesus taken into the heart of God, and in that picture we see all of humanity taken up into God's heart, perhaps more deeply than ever before. [...] As the world changes, we confront new forms of insecurity. We experience oppression and sometimes violence. We confront suffering and death. We long for healing and wholeness. We work for justice. Through it all we carry with us this vision of our real value to God, of the Human One, who made himself at home with our humanity, for a time taken up into God, sustained, valued, and held, before returning home to restore the world.
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