30 May 2019 -- Ascension Day

Ascension Day  — 30 May 2019

Trinity – 12:15 pm

Acts 1:1-11  |  Psalm 93  |  Ephesians 1:15-23  |  Luke 24:44-53

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.  [Ephesians 1:20-21]

In the Nicene Creed, which we shall say in a few minutes, we profess:  “On the third day [Christ] rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and in seated at the right hand of the Father.”  It’s not clear how strictly literally we are to take that.  “The right hand of the Father” is clearly metaphorical.  (God the Father does not literally have a right hand.  Or a left, either!)  

But that the risen Christ now reigns in heaven with God – well, even there we are flirting with the boundaries between the literal and the metaphorical.  (I was recently reading a piece by our old friend and former fellow-parishioner, Professor/Father Thomas Williams, in which he talks about our God-language as often metaphorical, and literal only by way of analogy.)

But, however we understand it, that the risen Christ now reigns in heaven with God is a core belief that runs throughout the New Testament.  (“Risen,” “reigns,” “heaven,” and even “God” are all words that we could spend all afternoon unpacking.  But, as Arya says, “Not today.”)  In his final discourse to his disciples in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus tells them that he is going to his Father to prepare a place for them, and in his meeting with Mary Magdalen on Easter morning he tells her that he must ascend to the Father.  St. Paul tells the Romans, “It is Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.” [8:34]  In the letter to the Philippians Paul quotes from an early hymn:  “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.”  [2:9]  In the letter to the Colossians we hear – and will hear again in a few minutes if I remember! – the Easter summons, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the thinks that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”  [3:1]  The First Letter of Peter speaks of Jesus Christ, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God.”  [3:22]  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of Christ, who “when he had made purification for sins…sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” [1:3]  He goes on to write about how Christ “entered into heaven itself, now to appear before the presence of God on our behalf.”  [9:24]  And of course a few minutes ago we heard in the Letter to the Ephesians, “God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,” [1:20] 

What we refer to as “The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ” is obviously central to our Christian faith right from the first generation of believers in the first century.  And yet this fundamental reality is recounted as an event only once in the New Testament.  Well, twice.  But by the same writer,  (St. Luke.)  And you will have noticed in the readings today (I hope!), Luke doesn’t tell it quite the same way.  And, we might note, he is writing two to three generations later, for whatever that’s worth.

So what are we to make of that?  Well, I’m not really sure.  I hope when I get to heaven I can look up St. Luke and ask him, “Hey, what’s this with these two narratives – narrative stories which nobody else tells?  And they’re not the same!  What’s with that?”  To which Luke may respond, “I am so tired of everybody asking me this question!  I should just post something on Facebook!”  I could go on at length about what Luke may be up to with his use of the literary forms of “gospel” and “Hellenistic historiography.”  But, again, as Arya says, “Not today.”

The meaning of Ascension Day is best summed up, I think, in the Collect for today:  “Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things:  Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages.”  Jesus had to leave 1^st-century Judea so that he might be present in 21^st-century Iowa – and everywhere and everywhen else – now!  Or, as Jesus himself says to his disciples at the conclusion of St. Matthew’s Gospel:  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  [28:18-20]