Homily on the Feast of Ascension of the Lord, Year B

Ascension Of Jesus And Its Implications

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Feast of Ascension of the Lord, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Towards the end of the Easter season and in anticipation of Pentecost, we come to the great Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. Too often we read the Ascension as the moment when Jesus left us and went away to heaven, where we hope to join him some day. But the Ascension of Jesus should not be understood as Jesus going away from his disciples and from the Church. Ascension is not Deus absconditus (God absconding, running away and going into hiding) event. It should not be seen as Jesus’ escape from a wicked world that betrayed him, denied him and crucified him. Jesus has not ascended to detach from us. Ascension, rather, is Jesus assuming his position as the leader of the Church’s life and activity. 

For the Greek philosopher Plato, salvation is an escape from this lower world considered a prison to a higher world of ideas. In the Platonic sense, heaven and earth are two separate worlds detached from each other. But that’s not the biblical understanding of heaven and earth. For Ancient Israel, heaven is the realm of God and angels, and earth is the realm of human beings, animals and plants. However, they are not in extremely separate metaphysical spaces; rather heaven and earth touch upon each other. They interlace and interrelate with each other in all sorts of ways. So, the purpose of salvation is not so much to escape from the wicked world, rather the transfiguration of earth by heaven. In the Our Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This prayer comes from his Jewish roots and deep Jewish sensibilities. In that prayer, Jesus did not pray for an escape from the earth, but rather the coming together of heaven and earth: Lord, may you reign on earth, just as you reign in heaven. The great prophet Isaiah expresses this very idea when he prays, “Lord, may your glory cover the earth, as the water covers the sea.” More to it, even the resurrection of Jesus is not the escape of his soul from his body. All the accounts of the resurrection speak about how embodied the Risen Jesus is. Standing before Thomas, Jesus obliges him to touch him and to see his wounds. In Luke’s Gospel, he eats and drinks with them after he rises from the dead. He also tells them that he is not a ghost and that a ghost does not have bones and flesh.

Sisters and brothers, the Ascension of the Lord is not a space trip up to the sky or a 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. Notice that the Ascension is followed by Pentecost— that is, the descent of the Holy Spirit. With the Ascension of Jesus, something of the earth goes up in the heavenly realm, and with Pentecost, something of heaven comes down to the earthly realm. As the Church— the mystical body of Christ and the community transformed and transfigured by Christ, our job then is to continue his work of bringing heaven and earth together. A great singing at Mass harmonizes with that of angels in heaven. A life-giving hospitality makes the friendship of heaven and earth concrete. A good preaching echoes the voice of God (vox Dei) in the Communitas Christiana (Christian community).

In the light of all I have said, I would like to look at some of the implications of this great Feast. First implication. The Lord’s Ascension into a higher realm of existence gives us a great great confidence that he sees us. In the course of his public ministry, Jesus 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. With his Ascension, the risen Jesus  is able to be present to the whole life of his church anywhere and at any time. 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. Jesus is not aloof up in heaven. He’s not hibernating until he returns again. Jesus knows and sees what is happening today. He is still leading and caring for his people, especially in the midst of their suffering and persecution. 

At the trial of Jesus, Pontus Pilate declared, “Ecce Homo!” “Behold the Man!” (John 19:5). When the Risen Lord appeared to his Apostles and with Thomas present, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” Both declarations are true. Jesus is fully human and truly divine. After his crucifixion and death, he rises with his human body. He also ascended with his human body. The second implication therefore is that Christianity is the greatest humanism ever proposed. There is no philosophy— ancient or modern that offers greater and better humanism than Christianity. Christianity proclaims the divination of our humanity, that in Christ, our humanity is raised up, enhanced and rendered more beautiful, more radiant by the presence of God. Modern culture thinks that religion is oppressive and that it denies our humanity. But that’s not just true. With incarnational confidence and faith in the risen and ascended Lord, we proclaim that Christianity proposes the greatest possible humanism. Check this out! Jesus goes to heaven but not exactly as he came. He came as the Son of God, but now goes to the realm of God as the Son of God, the Son of Man and the Son of Mary. He came as the Son of God, but now returns as our friend, “I no longer call you slave but friends.” In one sense, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, but in another sense, he is not the only begotten of the Father. How come? Through his own suffering, death and resurrection, he has ransomed and begotten each of us as sons and daughters of God. Through his redemption, we all have become God’s adopted sons and daughters. We have become brothers and sisters of the Lord.   

Third implication. The Ascension of Jesus reminds us that our present existence is not the final and the greatest form of existence. There is a higher realm, a higher pitch of existence. And it is far better than what we now have. From the lips of Jesus we hear, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be” (John 14:2-3). A Christian is a pilgrim. We are on a journey, and when someone begins a journey, he or she wants to get to the destination. So, the hope of the Christian pilgrim is the destination of heaven. Heaven is our goal. In heaven, our tears will be wiped away by God. In heaven, all limitations will be gone. In heaven, we are going to have joy, perfect joy, peace, perfect peace, health, perfect health. It will be a total life of enjoyment. 

The fourth implication of the Ascension is that we have been given a mission to announce in words and actions the good news of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Mark we read that before Jesus was taken up into heaven, he commissioned his disciples with these words, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). In many parts of the world and especially here in America, the gospel is being preached freely. But the all important question to ask ourselves today is this: what kind of gospel are we preaching today? Whose gospel are we proclaiming? Is it a gospel that lacks substance? Are we preaching sermons that lack the good news of Jesus Christ? As messengers of Christ, do we still have the Message? Truth be told! Some Christian preachers spread hatred, bitterness, division and conspiracy theories that harm the Body of Christ. But the most effective way to obey the Great Commissioning injunction is proclaiming the truth of Jesus in words and deeds. Jesus reached out to all people regardless of where they were. That we should do. 

God bless you!