Ascension: June 5, 2011 (a Sunday) Lectionary # 59
1:17-23. Matthew 28:16-20:
Luke is the Evangelist who gives us the foundation for this celebration of
the feast of the Ascension. He actually has two references to it that look
at two different times for the Ascension. Our celebration after Easter
either on the forty day's after--always celebrated on a Thursday, or as we
now celebrate it on a Sunday after the sixth Sunday of Easter in order to
make the celebration more accessible to people who can get to Church only
on a Sunday.
The account in Acts is the one that we turn to on this Ascension Sunday and
it is a primary revelatory text that gives us the continuation of the
Paschal Mysteries that result in the glorification of Jesus in heaven. The
text as are all New Testament and Old Testament text has many of the themes
of Luke and in commentaries verse 8 receives a lot of attention: "But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth." This becomes our spiritual path during this season of Ascension
and Pentecost and makes us the ambassadors of witnessing to the Good News
of Jesus in whaterver locale we may be. The ends of the earth are reached
by Christian believers today and they, like Jesus, are to announce that the
Kingdom of God or the reign of God is at hand, that is, is present now.
Jesus has no other voice nor hands than ours. The Gospel of Matthew
emphasizes this mission even more emphatically and thus complements what
Luke is narrating.
These texts are among the oldest chosen for liturgical celebration and they
are focused on Jesus leaving this earth and entering heaven to send us the
promise of God--the Holy Spirit. Theologically we know that the Father and
the Son send the Spirit upon us and that Spirit is one of love, peace, joy,
and unity.
Jesus tells the apostles of his time that they are to remain in Jerusalem
and await for the coming of the Holy Spirit and Luke will then again be the
Evangelist who tells us about that event in his Acts of the Apostles
chapter two. We learn of the "forty days" from our present account in Acts
chapter one, verse three. All of the followers of Jesus listen to his
words and return to an upper room where they await the promises of Jesus
and prepare for the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit by being together in
an upper room. Mary the Mother of Jesus is in the midst of the gathering of
one hundred and twenty persons. They pray and patiently await the coming
of the Holy Spirit.
Our own pondering over of the Ascension needs to go no further than to
meditate upon the text in Acts that we have for this day. Luke is giving
us the clearest description of the Ascension of Jesus and the meaning of it
for the emerging Christian community. We do the same spiritually through
the liturgy where we celebrate the KAIROS of non-chornological time (
CHRONOS).
Why does Luke have two accounts of this day and why does he have one
happening on the very day of Christ's resurrection and the other in Acts
some forty days later? Paraphrasing Fr. Karris, a key commentator on
Luke-Acts, we learn that Luke's view as an early Christian historian and
theologian-evangelist continues in the finest custom found in the Hebrew
Scriptures (the Old Testament) where several traditions may describe an
event and may even contradict one another, but the inspired writers desired
to lose nothing of what was handed down in the oral traditions that came to
them. We see this Old Testament habit in Luke who tells us why he is
writing a Gospel and this holds equally for his Acts. ( Luke 1:1-4).
Inconsistencies evaporate in such an outlook for spiritual events and
realities. Luke is showing us how God's will is directed and was
manifested in the course of events.
Jesus' Ascension is the fulfillment of his historical life here on earth
after his resurrection. Now, today, is the moment for new beginnings for
the churches which the apostles have left behind starting in Jerusalem with
the small community of believers who were Jews to the outreach given to the
twelve apostles and reaching out to the ends of the earth where the
Gentiles populated the rest of the territories. Their mission is universal
and so is ours, but we focus on our own parishes and communities where we
have some responsibility to serve and to witness to who Jesus is today. It
is the same message Jesus began in Mark 1:13-14: the reign of God or the
rule of God is to continue throughout all ages even to the end of the world
which we know nothing about nor ever will till we enter KAIROS and leave
CHRONOS. We are to preach what Jesus has given us and to live out the
Paschal Mysteries each day with the good and the bad situations we
experience. The Holy Spirit is our guide and comforter. "Come, Holy Spirit
and enkindle in our hearts the fire of our Baptism and the ensuing action
of being creative agents of God's renewal for all of humankind. Amen.
Alleluiah.
posted by Fr. Bert SM at 4:00 PM
<< Home