(Homily for the Solemnity of Ascension Year B)
By means of
today’s event, Jesus finally bids farewell to his disciples and apostles,
although his departure is not a definitive separation from his people, but the
beginning of a new presence. The Ascension
of Jesus to Heaven that we are celebrating today, concludes his earthly life, and yet opens a way for another type of
presence. However, narrating this great event the Evangelists seem to do so
with discretion. Mathew in his Gospel did not talk about it explicitly, he only
said that “the eleven went to Galilee on the mountain that Jesus indicated to
them.” In today’s Gospel Mark says: “And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken
to them, was taken up into heaven; there at the right hand of God he took his
place” (Mk. 16:19). Analogously,
Luke in his Gospel (Lk. 24:46-53)
and in the Acts of the Apostles (first reading) expressed that: “He was assumed
into heaven, he was elevated on high, before their eyes and a cloud covered him
before their gaze” (Acts 1:9). This entails that the visible presence of
Jesus on earth has paved way for his presence in another modality. At
the celebration of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus into heaven, it is very easy
to allow oneself to be carried away by the imagination and fantasy of thinking
that it has to do with some sort of levitation or a physical phenomenon.
Instead, here we are before a mystery, a
truth of faith that we are called to believe, and not a phenomenon to be
explained away with the human sciences.
The Gospel of
Mark (Mk. 16:15-20) almost made a leap, thus instead of the
Ascension, paid much attention to the mission of the Apostles. Before going
to the Father he orders them: “Go to the whole world and preach the gospel to
all creatures”. Therefore, believing in the Good News and accepting baptism in
the name of Jesus will be indispensable for salvation. Indeed, here begins the
mission of the Church, her universal mission by the will of Christ because the
Good News is to the “whole world” and to “all creatures”, and the proclamation
of the “Good News” will be accompanied and confirmed with “signs” and
prodigies, which will be revelative of the presence of Christ (they will cast
out demons, they will speak new languages).
St. Mark concludes
his narration with an interesting annotation: “while they (the apostles) going
out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by
the signs that accompanied it” (Mk.
16:20). They apostles conformed themselves to the trust accorded to them by
Jesus, for they carried out their mission with courage and ardour. Jesus on the other hand, was never found
wanting in manifesting his presence, thus rendering their words of preaching efficacious
and certain of this divine assistance, the Church has to continue to propagate
in time, the mission entrusted to the apostles, to ensure that the Good News
resounds in every time and in every angle of the earth.
In all, towards the end of today’s Gospel passage, St. Mark in brief reports
the event of the Ascension thus: “And so the Lord
Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven; there at the
right hand of God he took his place” (Mk.
16:19). And upon reflection on the event of Christ’s Ascension
into heaven, we deem it fit to make three considerations talking about the
event in connection to us, thus:
1)
It
confirms our faith in Jesus Christ. Christ is truly risen. He is
alive. He is with us. In his words: “I will not leave you orphans” (Jn. 14:18), “I am with you always;
yes, to the end of time” (Mt. 28:20).
2)
It
revives our hope, for one day we shall be where the Risen Lord has
preceded us to be at the Father’s right hand, “Anyone who proves victorious I
will allow to share my throne, just as I have myself overcome and have taken my
seat with my Father on his throne” (Rev.
3:21).
3) It stimulates our Christian sense of
duty and responsibility: “Go into all the world and preach the
Gospel to the whole creation” (Mk.
16:15), “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts
1:8b), “why are you Galileans standing here looking up to heaven” (Acts 1:11a).
The first reading (Acts 1:1-11) situates the
event within the context of encounter (appearances) between the risen Lord and
his apostles. Therein, He told them not to leave Jerusalem in view of the
Father’s promise: the Holy Spirit. But they showed lack of understanding
towards the admonition of Jesus. Then they asked: “Lord, are you at this time
going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts
1:6). This question reveals their
mistaken view of the person and mission of Jesus. In their minds Jesus
would do something to drive out the Romans and restore power to Israel. In the
same manner, many of us today, do not understand properly His teachings. The question of the apostles was off point,
however, Jesus used the opportunity to educate them on what to do after the
Ascension, thus in response to their question about restoring the kingdom
to Israel, Jesus said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority. But 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” (Acts 1:7-8). Thus, we are not to sit and fold our arms, instead we are to do
something: “you will be my witnesses …” In all, Luke’s version of the Ascension
event in the Acts of the Apostles, looks forward to the future, that is, to
the inauguration of the mission of the Church and the final return of the One
who ascends: “he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from
their sight…This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come
back in the same way as you have seen him go to heaven” (vv. 9.11). And after the Ascension the disciples returned to
Jerusalem and went to the Upper room, where they remained in prayer with the
disciples and some women including Mary the mother of Jesus (cf. 1:12-14). They were in prayer for
the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In the second reading (Eph. 4:1-13) St. Paul unlike the
Synoptic does not record simply that “he was carried up…”, or that “he parted
from them”, but that he was raised above
all things: “The one who went down is none other than the one who went up
above all the heavens to fill all things” (Eph.
4:10). It is the dominion of Christ
over all things. Indeed, for St. Paul he ascends for our sake: “On each one
of us God’s favour has been bestowed in whatever way Christ allotted it. That
is why it says: He went up to the heights, took captives, he gave gifts to
humanity” (vv.7-8).
The
Ascension into heaven is a full participation of Jesus to the life of God,
as the God-man. Indeed, the Ascension Event does not inaugurate a period of
distance or complete absence of Jesus from his people, rather, it inaugurates a
new type of presence. For He says: “I will not leave you orphans, I will return
to you” (Jn. 14:18). In fact, he has
promised “It is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the
Paraclete will not come to you” (Jn.16:7).
And not by chance that Mathew ended his Gospel with the great and reassuring
promise of Jesus: “Look, I am with you, till the end of time” (Mt. 28:20). The new presence that Jesus begins with the Ascension Event entails an
invisible but real presence, which he actualizes through the coming of the Holy
Spirit. Therefore, the Ascension Event stimulates us equally to believe
that Christ is really present in his Church, for the Holy Spirit continues to
work in the Church and in every single Christian. From this moment begins the “time of the Church”, of her mission in the
world, as orchestrated in the first reading: “Men of Galilea, why do you stand
and look up to heaven?” (Acts 1:11a)
This was the question that “the two men in white” asked the apostles, who were
gazing at Jesus as he ascends, as if to
call their attention on the need of not wasting time on nostalgic regrets. It is not a time to observe Him like a
bystander, rather it is time for and of action, time of realization of the
Kingdom of God that Jesus has inaugurated on earth, and as such, time of
witnessing!
Furthermore, the Ascension of
Jesus encourages us to look up, towards that sure destination that awaits us,
where Christ preceded us to go and prepare a place for us. It helps us to
learn that we are with Him on the path to glory, even though we maybe imperfect
and limited, but upon consideration that we are members of his Body, the
Church, of which He is the Head, and inasmuch as He is enthroned in heaven, we
belong there, for where the head is,
there the body will be also. Therefore, we cannot but live in hope of going
one day to occupy the place Christ has prepared for us with the help of divine
grace, for this St. Paul prayed in the second reading: “May he enlighten the
eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how
rich is the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people” (Eph.1:18). May the Lord truly illumine
our mind, revive our faith and reinforce our hope, so that we may be able to
attain this glorious hope. And this gaze towards our glorious destination
should not make us to become inactive in the present reality, it should not be a sort of analgesic that
will relieve us from the present responsibilities and maybe pains, rather the
consciousness of it has to propel us to live as disciples of Christ always and
every where. For we will be able to reach our place in Paradise in the measure
we engage ourselves in realizing here on earth, deep within us and in the
world, the Kingdom of God, which is a Kingdom of peace, justice and love.
In all, the first
reading and the gospel bring clearly to light the main message of today that the ascension does not mean that Jesus
has gone from us, even though he is no longer visibly present, but he is
still with us. Above all, the experience of the Ascension is a confirmation of
the promise of Jesus “I will go and prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2-3). It is the assurance of
the coming of the Holy Spirit “If I do not go away, the advocate will not come
to you” (Jn.16:7). The Newtonian law
of Gravity seems to have relevance within the framework of the Ascension event
“whatever goes up must surely come down”. Applied to the Ascension we believe
that he will come down as he ascended as Luke told us (cf. Acts 1:11b). It was an end and a beginning at the same time
for the disciples. May the Event of His Ascension into Heaven reawaken our
faith, our hope and our Christian sense of duty! Amen!!!
Happy Ascension to You All!!!
(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)
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