Ascension Of Our Lord
LUKE 24:46-53
This reading is the end of the Gospel of Luke. After post-resurrection appearances experienced by the two disciples en route to Emmaus and an appearance to Simon (Peter), Jesus appears to the Eleven and others with them. They were frightened, thinking that they saw a ghost. Jesus showed them his hands and his feet (the wounds of his crucifixion). He invited them to touch him and see that he is real, "for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." As further proof of being the same Jesus, but now in a post-resurrection body, he eats a piece of grilled fish in their presence. St. Augustine (5th century) gives an odd spin on the grilled fish, "Grilled fish means martyrdom, faith proved by fire." Did he dislike the taste offish? Cyril of Alexandria (5th century), referring to the digestive process, and how that works in Jesus' risen body, says, "The believer will not admit these quibbles into his mind, but leaves the matter to the power of God."
So much for the preliminaries to the gospel of the ascension. The risen Christ assures his disciples that what happened to him was necessary. Why? Because "it is thus written that the Messiah (Christ) must suffer and on the third day rise from the dead...." The often used formula, "It is written," means that it is contained in the Scriptures (the Old Testament). By adapting Old Testament statements to interpret the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, Luke and all New Testament writers concluded that the death and resurrection of Jesus had to happen. "It is written," therefore it must come to pass.
Luke incorporates three favorite themes into Jesus^ brief homily to the disciples, "It is written... that repentance ^(^forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed to all nations beginning from Jerusalem." The three themes are repentance, forgiveness of sins, and proclamation to all nations, that is, the Church is universal. A collection of Old Testament texts could be lined up that would have served as proof to Luke and others that these three themes were foreseen by God, expressed through the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms (the three divisions of the Old Testament), and therefore must happen.
Jesus commissions them to put into effect the three themes noted above, when he says, "You are witnesses of these things." Those few words are the foundation of the Acts of Apostles, which is the second volume of Luke's gospel. In Acts he demonstrates how the proclamation was to proceed through the Apostles and especially through Paul. They will not be left alone, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you." This promise was given in Luke 12:12,".. .the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." The Acts of Apostles begins with preparation for receiving of the Holy Spirit and the event itself on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, appropriately a harvest feast.
Jesus commands them to remain in Jerusalem until they receive the "promise of my Father." Jerusalem as a starting point is important for Luke. Of this too it can be said that "It is written." For this obligation Luke surely relies on Isaiah 2:3, "Out ofZion (the hill on which the temple was built) shall go forth the Law (Torah), and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Finally Jesus leads his disciples out of Jerusalem to Bethany - located on the Mt. of Olives, only a short distance from Jerusalem. This too was "written." See Zechariah 14:4, "His feet (the Lord's) shall stand on the Mt. of Olives."
With raised arms he blesses his disciples, "While he blessed them, he stood apart from them, and was carried up to heaven." What Luke describes in greater detail in Acts 1 and 2, he has here condensed into a few sentences. Thus we can explain how the resurrection, a brief meeting between Jesus and his disciples, their commissioning, and the ascension can all happen in one day in Luke9 gospel, and in fifty days in his Acts of Apostles. The ascension of Jesus should not be understood as a movement from one place (the earth) to another place (heaven), but as an affirmation that Jesus, now with the human nature he shares with us, has returned to the Father's glory, as he says in John 17:5, "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory I had before the world was made."
ACTS 1:1-11
As noted above in the commentary on the gospel reading, Luke details here in Acts what he had condensed at the end of his gospel. He addresses his patron Theophilus. Writing materials were expensive. A wealthy individual would often sponsor a scholar/author. Here in Acts Jesus is separated from his disciples by a cloud, a sign of God's presence. The two men in white who were with Jesus at the Transfiguration, who were seen by the women of Galilee at the empty tomb, are once again present to witness Jesus' departure.
EPHESIANS 1:17-23
Paul elevates Jesus to the dignity of God. He is "seated at the right hand of God in the heavens...." Now the meaning of the ascension of Jesus: He is "above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named not only in this age but in the age to come. He has put all things under his feet, and made him the head over all things...." This is the true meaning of Jesus' ascension, and not movement from place to place.
