Lifted Up

 

 

Ascension

Cycle C

 

Lifted Up

 

The apostles didn’t know what to think. One minute their master was dead, then he just shows up every once in awhile when they least expect it. First he’s here, then he’s there, then he’s over there. What an amazing roller coaster of emotions they must have been on. Was he really not dead? Was he really going to stay this time? Why is he being taken from us again? How will we carry on without him?

 

Has that ever been your experience of Jesus? First he’s here, then he’s there, then he’s over there. Have you ever been confused about what you’re supposed to do next? Have you experienced the ups and downs of believing? The apostles didn’t have the whole story, didn’t understand the entire plan they still walked away rejoicing, because they trusted in the promise. They didn’t know how the promise would be fulfilled, but their experience of the risen Lord and their love for him was enough for them to believe. Have you ever had that same experience and felt that same joy in the promise, even in the face of unknowing?

 

Luke says Jesus was lifted up and taken from their sight. He wasn’t gone, they just couldn’t see him. Sometimes we lose him. Other times he seems to be hidden from us. Sometimes he chooses to seem far away to allow us to do things for ourselves. Other times he is right next to us and we cannot recognize him, as he was with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter evening. But most of the time I think we push him from our sight. He is hidden from us by our own sinfulness and unwillingness to bend our will to his. We hide him away because what he has to say can be offensive to our sensibilities. We’re embarrassed to bring him out into the open because we’re afraid of what others will say about us. And most of all he is hidden by our fear. We’re afraid that maybe he has left us here on our own. Maybe he’s not coming back.  Like the apostles, we’ve been hurt and have felt very alone so many times. It’s hard to trust. It’s easier keep him here, in the church, where we can come to see him every once in awhile. It’s safe in here.

 

But the promise is not safe. Jesus had to be lifted up on the cross before he could be lifted up into heaven. Jesus was lifted up, taken higher, exalted, glorified, given his rightful place, because he submitted his will to his father’s. And it is the same for us. St. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is like us in all things but sin. It’s not just that Jesus can truly relate to and understand our human condition, but that we also share in his divine nature. As he is, we will be. We will die and rise again on the last day. His resurrection and ascension will also be ours. We also will be lifted up and share in his glory.

 

What a wonderful promise of hope for us all.

 

In the ascension Jesus joined heaven and earth together. Just as the resurrection was the conclusion to Jesus’ death, the ascension was the conclusion to the resurrection. He ascended so that he could come again in glory. The ascension was not the end of hope but the beginning of hope. It may have been the end of Jesus’ physical presence and ministry here on earth, but not of his mission. He commissioned his disciples – us – to go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them everything he has commanded us, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We are to be his witnesses, even to the ends of the earth. It’s almost as if the angels present at the ascension were saying “Men of Galilee, what are you looking at? Why are you hanging around here? It’s time to get to work! Get busy!”

 

By giving us that commission he has honored and strengthened the thing that makes us truly human, our free will. He has honored us by making us coworkers in the vineyard. He actually said that we would do the same, and even greater things, than he had done. All in his name. He left behind a very small seed that has grown to spread over the entire world. We have gone and made disciples of all the nations. We have and do teach the world everything he had commanded us. We are his hands at work in the world, being the instruments of his promise. That small group of disciples has grown to truly transform the face of the earth.

 

The Holy Spirit allowed the apostles to continue to experience the risen Jesus in one other. After the ascension they did not split up and return to their old ways of life. They did not go off by themselves into the hills or take up their old jobs. They stuck together, as a community. They did and shared all things in common. They worked and prayed and hoped as community. They told stories of Jesus to each other. They broke bread together. They lived and died together. It seemed the natural thing to do.

 

Because it is. And that is why we also follow Jesus in community. Because we are all in this together. It is natural for us to get together each week and share Jesus stories, to break bread together. To pray and to hope together. To live and die together. We live out Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension every time we participate in the holy Mass. We lift our hearts to the Lord, the priest lifts the body and blood of Christ on high, and we witness the great hope of our own glorification into eternal life.

 

No, just like the apostles, we don’t have all the answers, but we have the promise. And that is a cause for great rejoicing for us as well.