Only Luke of the four Gospels tells details of Jesus’ leaving this world to return to the Father in eternal glory – and Luke tells it twice, first at the end of his gospel and then at the beginning of the Book of Acts, where it is a bridge between Jesus life and the history of the first days of the Church.
For those unable to attend mass on a weekday, reading the liturgy selections can be a commemoration of the Ascension.
The readings are available online here.
Acts 1:1-11
The opening verse of dedication clearly associates the book of Acts to the author as the Gospel of Luke. If you read Luke 24:50, you will see that the details of the Ascension differ slightly, and this alerts us to the Bible’s way of presenting truth. The literal details are not always what matters; a picture is presented to bring out the essence of an experience, often something that goes deeper than ordinary words can describe.
As he opens his new work, Luke also makes a link to the event near the beginning of the gospel which tells of the baptism of John and the promise that the ‘one to come after John’ would ‘baptise with Holy Spirit and with fire’.
In the time of Jesus’ ministry, most people expected the Messiah to restore the ‘Kingdom’, as an heir to the promise made to David of an everlasting dynasty. This would have required the overthrow of the Roman occupation. It was a hard lesson for the disciples to accept that the ‘Kingship’ Jesus promised would come through the suffering and death of the Messiah and would not include worldly power or a specific territory. Now that suffering and death of Jesus has been followed by his resurrection, the disciples are still eager to see a new earthly government. And possibly as they had shown earlier (Matthew 20:20ff, Mark 10:35ff), they still hoped for important posts for themselves. Jesus does not answer them with a date, but challenges them to think beyond their local concerns. They are to be part of a ministry that will extend to the whole world. They are not to expect royal honours for him or anyone, but be witnesses to all that Jesus did in his plan for a ‘Kingdom’ of repentance, love and healing. This will mean for some of his followers a real share of his suffering and martyrdom.
‘Two men in white’: at the tomb after the Resurrection ‘two men in dazzling garments’ are seen by the women to tell them of Jesus’ rising. These figures, though described as in human form, are understood as angelic appearances. In both instances, they bring a message from God to explain what has happened. Here the promise is that Jesus, who is now no longer physically present in his glorified body, will come back at an unnamed future time. This ‘second coming’ is something that we continue to profess in our Christian creeds.
Psalm 46/47:2-3, 6-9
The Psalm is most apt to this feast with the words of ‘God going up’. Historically this may have been a feast in the Jerusalem temple with processions celebrating ‘the enthronement of God in heaven’. (New Jerome Biblical Commentary) The call for all peoples to praise the Lord, not just the Hebrews, is seen in Jesus’ call in Acts for the disciples to be witnesses ‘to the ends of the earth’.
Ephesians 1:17-23
This Letter opens with a prayer-blessing that is poetic and hymn-like in its exuberance, celebrating Jesus’ place in heaven when he ascends to the Father. We have the promise of joining this eternal presence, and that also is a basis of a deep faith in this life. The note of joy is one that Pope Francis reminds us should be an important part of Christian life. The named aspects reflect beliefs of that time in various spiritual powers or personages like angels, and stress that Jesus is above everything that can be known or imagined, that his power in union with God is absolute. The naming of him as the ‘head of the church’ is a reminder that Jesus intends us to join him in this glory.
Matthew 28:16-18
After some weeks of hearing from John, we return to the gospel in focus for Year A. Matthew’s gospel ends with this short account of Jesus’ last resurrection appearance to a large group of disciples. ‘Arranged to meet’: The Jerusalem Bible translation is misleading – as if going to the mountain was some kind of mutual agreement. Instead, in verse 7 slightly before this, it was the angels at the tomb telling the women of his resurrection who prepare for this. The women are sent to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where Jesus would be there to meet them.
Mountains are rarely given a specific name in this gospel, but are always places of some significant event and therefore symbolic. This began with ‘the mountain’ in Chapter 5-6 as the site of his first preaching, then a mountain becomes a place of prayer (14:23). Also the ‘Transfiguration’ (17:1-15), and Jesus’ predictions about the end of the world spoken on the Mount of Olives which was symbolic as God’s return for judgement (24:3). So it is not surprising his final revelation and farewell would also be on ‘a mountain’. He commissions them to ‘make disciples of all nations’ – compare to the words in Acts. But he also stresses the sacrament of baptism, in words which unite Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Matthew does not describe Jesus leaving them, but concludes with words of infinite consolation and empowerment for us still living: ‘I am with you always….’ For this Gospel, ‘God with us’ is a key theme from beginning the birth of Jesus who is ‘Emmanuel’ (1:23) to these last words. We have been shown many ways in which we can know this presence, and the promise means there is no moment that God is not ‘available’ to us whether we make ourselves aware to this or not.
There are nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost. Luke says the disciples returned to Jerusalem and spent the time in prayer. The nine days became for Catholics a traditional time for special petitions, a ‘novena’ from the Latin word for ‘nine’. A simple prayer we can use in this time (or any time):
Come, Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with the fire of your love.
Joan Griffith