The Ascension of the Lord (observed)

Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter.  It is the last Sunday in the season prior to Pentecost, which concludes the Great Fifty Days.  But much of the church also observes today as “Ascension Sunday.”  Ascension Day, of course, occurs forty days after Easter.  But the feast falls on a Thursday, so most congregations do not celebrate the event on Ascension Day proper.

So, many churches will tip their hats to the occurrence today.  I suspect that a number of congregations do not spend a lot of time considering The Ascension because we don’t know what to do with it.  Luke’s Gospel and the Book of Acts carry accounts of Jesus’ departure from the Earth.  But that having been said, a lot of people are at a loss to comment further.  It carries a bit of the conservative “The Bible says it.  I believe it. That settles it” approach.  Truly, what else is there to say.  Not many evangelistic messages carry with it an exhortation to “Grab hold of that ol’ Ascension faith.”  It’s hard to say – without a lot of other unpacking – “Jesus ascended, why don’t you?”

But I read a commentary once (and I would never be able to find the reference again, nor identify the source) in which the writer said that The Ascension was the necessary conclusion to the gospel narrative.  We can’t go to Jerusalem today and see Jesus.  A story where the resurrected Jesus disappears after having made a handful of revelations and then the church never hears from him again doesn’t pack a lot of punch.  But if Jesus bodily ascends before witnesses after telling them that he will return, well then, you’ve got yourself a story.  That is not to say that the commentator believes The Ascension to be a fiction.  The position is more that Jesus’ departure in this way is fitting, even appropriate.

Our credal language also offers some insight.  The Apostles’ Creed, for instance, reads in part:

          (Jesus) suffered under Pontius Pilate,

          was crucified, dead and buried;

          the third day he rose from the dead;

          He ascended into heaven

          and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty;

          from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead…

Grammatically, the flow of the creed hinges on the Ascension statement.  All of the language up to that point has been past tense.  But, the consequence of “He ascended into heaven” is that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God.  From that station Jesus’ activity moves into the future: “from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”

With The Ascension we move from past event to present activity to future hope.  From our credal point of view, it is The Ascension that moves our faith from history to present-day reality and coming fulfillment.

So, I hope some of our folks spend some time with this day’s celebration.