Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Ascension Is Intimacy With The Risen Lord

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Ancient Greek philosophers spoke about two worlds— the world of appearance and the world of forms. Plato, who was the father of this idea, postulated that the world we live in, the physical world, is not really the “real” world, it is rather the world of appearances. The real world, he said, is the world of Forms. For him, the material world is imperfect and ever-changing, but the world of Forms or the realm of true reality is perfect, unchanging and eternal. And between these two worlds, there is a sharp division. In other words, there is no meeting point between the material world and the spiritual world, between the realm of appearance and the realm of Forms. Many people, knowingly or unknowingly, have this Greek thought pattern. Even some of us who are spiritually minded tend to think of salvation as an escape from this world of suffering and tears to a disembodied state called “heaven.” The problem with this thought pattern is that it is not consistent with the Bible. 

Now, the Bible does speak of “heaven” and “earth,” but not as two unrelated entities, sharply dichotomized, sharply divided and opposed to each other. The Bible sees “heaven” and “earth” as two interacting, interfacing and interpenetrating fields of force. Yes, heaven is the realm of God and the angels, but it touches upon and calls out to earth, which is the realm of humans, animals, plants, and planets. Salvation therefore is the meeting of heaven and earth, so that God might reign on earth just as he reigns in heaven. In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In that prayer we can see that it is not about fleeing and escaping from the earth, but rather that earth and heaven might come together. 

In the Resurrection of Jesus, the first Christians saw the beginning of the marriage of heaven and earth; they saw it as the commencement of the process of reconciling earth and heaven. They saw the risen Christ as the heavenly ruler of the nations, the one who would bring the justice of heaven to this world. That was why they went to the ends of the world announcing this new state of affairs, that Jesus is Lord! Just before his Ascension to heaven, Jesus declared, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Notice the interesting link between Ascension and Pentecost: in the Ascension, something of the earth goes into the heavenly realm, and at Pentecost, something of heaven— the Holy Spirit— invades the earth. These two great events are a foretaste of the great reconciliation of heaven and earth. What is the privileged place where this coming together of heaven and earth happens? The Church! Check this out! In the liturgy of the Church, in good preaching, in the lives of the saints, in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, in everything we do here in St. Bridget Church, in the parish council meeting, finance council meeting, staff meeting, liturgical committee meeting, trustees meeting, in choir rehearsals, in children liturgy, faith formation class, in our fellowship meals, etc. we are making possible the coming together of heaven and earth. 

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples on numerous occasions. He did this not just on a single day, but on several days between his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. Strictly speaking, we don’t know every single time that Jesus appeared to his disciples during the 40 days sojourn after his resurrection. John’s Gospel indicates that the Gospel accounts were not a complete historical record of Jesus, “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which were not written down in his book” (Jn. 20:30). However from the accounts of the Gospels, Jesus is recorded as appearing ten times to his disciples in his resurrected body. But those appearances end at the Ascension when Jesus is fully transferred into God’s dimension. 

This is what Ascension is not: it is not Jesus going up and away. It is not the going away of Jesus. We are not here to celebrate the day when the first Christians said goodbye to Jesus. That’s not what Ascension is about. To go into God’s dimension means leaving this dimension of space and time and entering the realm that can touch upon all space and all the time. In his lifetime, Jesus the eternal Son of God was limited by space and time. He can only be in one space at a time. But God can touch upon all space and time. So, the risen Jesus is not able to be present to the whole life of his church anywhere and at any time. But what does that presence look like? It looks like his active direction of the Church. Before the invention of military planes, manned and unmanned drones, military commanders used to get up to a high ground in order to survey the whole field of battle. Technically, this is called reconnaissance. The risen Jesus has gone to this holy place, God’s dimension and is now able to survey the whole field of operation of his church. Part of the composition of the creed is that the ascended Jesus is “Seated at the right hand of the Father.” What does that mean? To be seated at the right hand of the authority was to share in that authority’s power. So, the ascended Jesus is now reigning with God the Father. Together he and the Father direct the church. How? Together, they send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit sends charisms into the church and directs the operations of the church. So, Ascension is not about the disappearance of Jesus, like I previously said, we are not here to celebrate the day the disciples said goodbye to Jesus. Our Risen Lord has not disappeared from us. He has not left us as orphans to fend for ourselves. In fact, in his farewell discourse, he said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). Jesus is still with us but he is now in position of command with the Father.

With the ascended Jesus now in position of command, he is able to send the Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit unleashed upon the Church, the Church is able to do its work. Everybody hear me now! Ascension is not desertion and abandonment. It is not the flight of Jesus from earth to heaven. Rather, it is the feast of intimacy with the Risen Lord. Jesus is very active in the Church; he is still directing the Church today. As we celebrate the feast of Ascension, consider how the Lord is directing you. In what ways is he directing you? What are you hearing from Jesus? What charisms (gifts) has he sent to you to equip you to do his work? Some of you have been commanded by the Lord to be part of the 12 apostles from St. Bridget representing our parish in the ongoing synod of our Archdiocese. We are moving in the next stage of forming small groups where rather than being preached to by your priests and deacons, you preach to each other, you listen to each share our faith. When that time comes, more people will be invited by Jesus to join this small group. The goal of the synod is the goal of the church from its inception to the present day, and that is, to make disciples for Christ, to awaken the spiritually asleep in our midst, and to make our parish community a privileged place of intimacy between heaven and earth. 

God bless you