Peace be with you.
Friends, we come to the great Feast of the
Ascension of the Lord, now right at the end
of the Easter season in anticipation of Pentecost,
and I’ll explain that connection.
I love this feast, and I think we should do
a little theological reflection on it
because it’s key to understanding the dynamics
of the Christian life.
Now, how shouldn’t we understand the Ascension of the Lord?
As though he’s gone up, up, and away.
So the Ascension means that Jesus has gone up into the sky
and now he’s far away somewhere.
See, think about that image of the sky
or the heavens or “up there.”
Well, that’s not really any different than this world.
It’s just another element of space and time.
But the Bible and the great tradition use the sky
or what’s “up there” or the clouds
to symbolize the properly transcendent.
I mean that which goes beyond our ordinary world
of space and time, our ordinary experience.
It’s the realm that’s proper to God.
So for example, we speak about
God being eternal.
We don’t mean that God just goes on and on.
That’s like a vampire, lives forever,
that’s not what we mean.
Eternity is to be outside of time,
is to be above time.
We speak of God as being everywhere.
Well, not like God is an oxygen that’s everywhere on the earth.
It means God is above space,
he transcends space.
So when we speak of Jesus ascending to heaven,
we’re not talking about a space journey.
That’s what I’m trying to get across.
We’re talking about the translation of Jesus from this
dimension of space and time now into the dimension of God.
But see, mind you, if Jesus went on a space journey
and is now way up there beyond the solar system,
well then, yeah, he’s a long way away from us.
But if what we mean is, no, he’s gone into
this higher realm,
he’s actually closer to us,
more available to us than he was before.
Let me give you an example here;
this has always helped me.
Think of a square, a triangle,
and a circle on a two-dimensional plane.
So there they are.
Now, if I were to introduce a third dimension,
well, that square becomes a cube
and that triangle becomes a pyramid
and the circle becomes a sphere.
It’s not as though the circle has been lost;
rather it’s now been brought up to a higher pitch of existence.
Another dimension has been introduced,
which makes its being richer.
The same with the square becoming the cube.
It hasn’t disappeared; it’s enhanced, etc.
That’s a way of getting at what the Church means
when it speaks of Jesus now ascending into heaven,
taking into that realm something of the earth.
So taking this human nature, our humanity,
and now translating it into this higher pitch of existence.
You see now why the Ascension of the Lord
should not just be seen as this kind of one-off miracle.
“I guess long ago Jesus went up into the sky.”
No, it’s talking about something that pertains
to all of us because that’s our hope.
That’s our hope.
Not, again, the escape of the soul from the body,
but rather the resurrection of the body,
the resurrection of the flesh,
the elevation, if you want, of this lowly body
to be a spiritual body, as Paul says.
That’s it.
That’s what I’m talking about.
A spiritual body, meaning like
the square that’s become a cube,
like the circle that’s become a sphere,
now at a higher pitch of existence.
Where the Lord has gone, we hope to follow.
He’s the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep,
as Paul says.
That’s why the Ascension is a feast of hope for us
as we look forward to this resurrection of the body.
So that’s kind of the general sense of
what I think the Ascension means.
Here’s how N.T. Wright puts it, the Anglican biblical scholar:
that something of the earth has now been brought to heaven,
that heaven and earth have met.
See, the biblical vision is not
“let’s get rid of the earth”
or “let’s escape from the earth as quickly as we can.”
That’s not biblical.
That might be Plato; it’s not the Bible.
The Bible is heaven and earth meet.
Think of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down to earth.
That’s that same idea of heaven and earth meeting.
That’s what the Ascension is all about.
Okay, so with that in mind, let me just say
two simple things about the ascended Lord.
We say the ascended Lord is
sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Now, again, don’t think of literal chairs
up in the sky; it’s a symbol.
The one who sits at the right hand of the ruler
would be something like a governor or prime minister.
The ascended Jesus who sits at the right hand of the
Father is now the one who is ruling in the Father’s name,
who is now directing affairs upon the earth.
Now, everybody, now read
the Acts of the Apostles.
That’s exactly what that book is all about.
We’ve heard the story of Jesus,
all the things that he said and did.
Now, risen and ascended to this higher pitch of existence,
seated at the right hand of the Father,
Jesus now directs the operations of his Church.
I’ve used the image before but it’s helpful.
It’s not really true anymore militarily,
but if you go back to maybe the nineteenth century,
it was still true that the soldier, the general,
tried to get a position on the heights,
tried to get up to an elevated place,
and there he could survey the whole field of battle
and direct operations.
Well, think here of the ascended Christ
at a higher point of vantage,
where he can now govern and direct his Church.
But read the Acts of the Apostles.
What do the Apostles do?
What are their acts?
Well, they’re exactly what Jesus did.
He preached, they preached.
He healed, they healed.
He suffered, they suffered.
He won the victory, they win the victory.
The ascended Christ, the general of the army,
the one seated at the right hand of the Father,
is now the one who is animating his Church.
Now, the Ascension is related to Pentecost,
I said, and here’s why.
What’s the means by which Jesus is directing his Church?
The Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, whom he sends,
whom he sends into his Church,
that his Church might continue his work in the world.
Now, see what’s wonderful, everybody, when you read
the Acts of the Apostles in light of this idea,
is you realize it’s still true.
It’s still literally true.
Just a couple nights ago, as I record these words,
I’m in Confirmation season,
and I’m confirming kids all over my diocese.
What’s Confirmation but the stirring up
of the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit coming into these young people,
stirring up his gifts, that they might do
what Jesus did,
that they might proclaim boldly,
that they might, with courage,
face down evil and accomplish good,
that they might win the victory,
that they might suffer for the sake of the kingdom,
all of that.
What was true in the first century is true today.
The ascended Christ sending the Spirit to do his work.
That’s one dimension of the ascended Christ.
Here’s a second one.
And to get this,
you’ve got to go home, get your Bibles,
and open up to the Letter to the Hebrews,
this wonderful, mysterious text,
written certainly by someone who was deeply acquainted
with the Jerusalem temple because it’s all about
temple worship and sacrifice and so on.
But here’s his basic insight:
For centuries earthly priests,
on the day of atonement,
would bring animals for sacrifice
into the Holy of Holies.
Throughout the year, priests would facilitate
the sacrifice of animals,
the pouring out of blood and offering to the Lord.
Good? Yeah, good.
These are commanded by God.
But did they accomplish their purpose?
No was his answer.
Why?
Well, because the blood of cattle and goats and sheep
is not sufficient
for righting the wrongs of the world.
What alone satisfies the Father?
Answer:
the sacrifice of the Son.
Jesus now on the cross, the lamb of sacrifice.
We say, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world.”
So think of all the lambs and sheep and cattle
and so on that were sacrificed.
Did they take away the sin of the world?
Well, not definitively.
They were anticipations, they were foreshadowing
of this one great sacrifice of the cross.
Now, because the one who performed that sacrifice
is not just a human figure,
not just a rabbi or a teacher or a social reformer,
but is the very Son of God,
that sacrifice has an eternal dimension.
Here’s the climax of the Letter of the Hebrews:
that sacrifice on Calvary
now takes place eternally
in the heavenly temple.
So yes, on Mount Calvary in around the year 30 AD,
but because it has an eternal dimension,
it’s taking place forever
in the heavenly temple.
Listen, it’s the resurrected and ascended Christ
who is eternally presenting
this sacrifice to the Father.
In space and time, yes, in the year 30,
but now eternally in the heavenly temple.
Every time we attend Mass,
we are communing with this eternal sacrifice of the Son.
What takes place on the altar
—how important that is, by the way,
not just the table.
It is that, but also an altar;
it’s a place of sacrifice
because we represent the sacrifice of Jesus,
uniting ourselves to the eternal sacrifice
present in the heavenly temple.
It’s powerful, mystical stuff,
I realize that, and if we think of the Mass
as just a religiously themed jamboree or
a chance for us to get together and
hear stories about Jesus,
I mean, that ain’t enough.
That’s not a sufficient understanding of the Mass.
The Mass is a link to heaven.
It’s a link to the risen and ascended Jesus
who is presenting his sacrifice
eternally before the Father.
That wouldn’t be possible unless
the Ascension were true.
So think about that now, everybody, as we celebrate
this great feast.
Not of Jesus’ absence, no, on the contrary,
of his more intense presence to us
as the one directing our operations in the world,
terrific,
and as the one with whom we are united
every time we celebrate the Mass.
And God bless you.