The Ascension of our Lord – Year C
The Ascension is a liturgical Solemnity celebrated by all the Christian Churches. It falls on the fortieth day after Easter Sunday. Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine make reference to it, but it was probably Saint Gregory of Nyssa who influenced the propagation of the feast. Since it falls on Thursday, in many countries, this Solemnity is transferred to the following Sunday. With his Ascension into heaven, the presence of the “historical Christ” comes to an end, and the presence of the Body of Christ, the Church, is inaugurated.
This Sunday’s Readings
First Reading
Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11
Jesus is taken up to heaven in the presence of the Apostles.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 47:2-3,6-9
Sing praise to God as he mounts his throne.
Second Reading
Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23
God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand.
Gospel Reading
Luke 24:46-53
Jesus is taken to heaven and the disciples remain in Jerusalem awaiting his sending of the Spirit
Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
This is the second description of the Ascension we read today. However, it differs from our first reading in that it marks the end of the gospel of Luke. So as Jesus departs he reminds them that they are witnesses to his ministry and to his death and resurrection. The final piece of this drama will unfold when he sends them the promised Holy Spirit through which they will be clothed with ‘power from on high’. Then after seeing him depart they return to Jerusalem, full of joy, continually praising God in the Temple. The themes of the joy, the praise of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit have been to the fore throughout Luke’s gospel, and it is only fitting that he should end his first volume on this note of fervour with the disciples eager to undertake their task.
Background on the Gospel Reading
Today is our liturgical celebration of the Ascension of the Lord, when Jesus was taken to heaven on the 40th day after Easter. In Cycle C, our Gospel is taken from the conclusion of the Gospel of Luke.
There are similarities in the reports of Jesus’ Ascension found in the Synoptic Gospels—Mark, Matthew, and Luke. In each account, Jesus assigns his disciples the task of proclaiming the Gospel to the entire world. There are also notable distinctions. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, the disciples are sent by Jesus to baptize as well as to preach. In Luke’s Gospel, however, this commission to baptize is absent. Instead, Jesus directs the disciples to return to Jerusalem to await the fulfillment of his promise to send them the Holy Spirit. Curiously, only Mark and Luke actually report Jesus’ Ascension into heaven. Matthew’s Gospel concludes with Jesus’ promise to remain with his disciples forever. Only the Gospel of Mark notes that Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of God. In noting this, Mark teaches that Jesus’ Ascension affirms the glory Jesus received from God after his death and Resurrection.
Those who believe in Jesus will be empowered to do what Jesus himself has done. Already in Mark’s Gospel, during his ministry, Jesus sent his disciples out to preach, to heal, and to drive out unclean spirits. Now, they are sent again to do these things and more. From his place with God in heaven, Jesus helped his disciples, and he continues to help us as we try to live as his followers.
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
He opened the Scriptures
It was Jesus himself who made himself an “Educator” for his disciples: “Thus it is written: that the Christ should suffer….” The disciples had just met the Risen Lord Jesus. They had eaten roasted fish with him. In the light of this Event, “he opens the disciples’ minds” to help them understand that what had happened was part of a plan of love, of the plan of salvation.
Clothed from on high
Jesus’s going away coincides with the gift of the Holy Spirit who will make the disciples capable of being witnesses to what they had seen and heard, and to do so with joy: they “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.” The disciples abandoned the fear and timidity that had led them to distance themselves from the Cross. Now they found the courage to continue to make the marvelous works of the Lord Jesus present through their joy and courageous witness.
Conversion and forgiveness of sins
The content of their witness was the joy that God is love, he is Mercy. That is the force that can help us change direction, abandon a life of sin and orient ourselves toward a qualitatively better life.
Toward Bethany
The city of Bethany is located to the East of Jerusalem. It was there that the Glory of the Lord was expected to return (see Ez. 43:2; 11:23). Now, Jesus is preparing to ascend to the Father, but not before having led his disciples “outside”. This is a gesture that recalls the action of God when he liberated his people Israel. The evangelist Luke tries to make a connection to that episode, making us understand that everything finds it completion in Jesus.
A new way of being
The text from Acts offers us some theological-spiritual coordinates to understand the mystery we are celebrating. The text says in Acts 1:11 that Jesus “was taken up”. It places emphasis that it was an action of God. A cloud “took him from their sight” (v. 9) recalls the image of the cloud on Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:15), the cloud above the ark of the covenant (Ex. 33:9), and lastly, the cloud on the Mount of the Transfiguration (Mk. 9:7). Jesus’s Ascension into heaven, therefore, is not a “separation” but a different way of being. He explains why the disciples were “filled with joy” (see Lk. 24:52). Because Jesus died, rose, and now ascended, the gates of Heaven are open, the gates of eternal life. The “cloud of faith” that envelops our lives today is not an obstacle, but a way through which we can have a living and true experience of Jesus, since we have the certainty that if he has risen and ascended into heaven, the same destiny awaits us, since he is the first fruit (see 1 Cor. 15:20).
Church on the move
We do not await the last day idly, nor do we close ourselves in our own homes. But, as Jesus reminds us, we await the last day dedicated to a mission that reaches the ends of the earth. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7ff). We are fortified by Jesus’s promise: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19), where Jesus is our God, God-with-us (see Ex 3:12), Emmanuel (see Mt. 1:23; Is. 7:14).
And even if the disciples’ faithfulness failed at times, God’s faithfulness towards us never fails. This is why the journey of the community and of every disciple of the Risen Jesus is always open to new perspectives and possibilities, for nothing is impossible for God.
The “feet” of the missionary Church reaching “all peoples”
Romeo Ballan, mccj
The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven can be seen under three complementary aspects. First, as a glorious manifestation of God (1st Reading): there is the cloud, the men in white garments, references to heaven… (vv 9-11); Second, as the epilogue of an undertaking that is difficult and paradoxical, but successful (2nd Reading); Thirdly, as the sending of the Apostles (Gospel), as “witnesses” on a mission as big as the world: to preach, in the name of Jesus, “to all peoples repentance for the forgiveness of sin” (v. 47).
The paschal event of Jesus lies at the root of the joyful hope of the Church and of the “serene trust” of the faithful to be one day “in the same glory” of Christ (Preface). This undertaking of the Apostles and the optimism that drives the missionaries of the Gospel are rooted in the certainty of being bearers of a message and of an experience of a successful life, thanks to the Resurrection. Above all, it is a totally successful life in the Risen Lord, but also, even though still partially, a successful life in the members of the Christian community.
The Apostles and the missionaries of all times become “witnesses (of Christ)in Jerusalem and in the whole of Judaea and Samaria and to the furthest ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8; Lk 24:48), in a process that starts progressively from the centre (Jerusalem) and spreads into an area as vast as the whole world. In fact, the whole world is the field into which Jesus, just before ascending to Heaven, sends his disciples and witnesses (Gospel): “to all peoples” to proclaim conversion to a merciful God who forgives sins and saves (v. 47).
The mission of witness is radical and effective, as it is shown by the history of evangelisation, from its beginning (Acts of the Apostles) to our days. It is entrusted to people who are mature in age and faith, but also to young people. The missionary commitment of the youth is rooted especially in the sacrament of confirmation. It is an important stage of their Christian journey which prepares them for their faith-witness and mission. Confirmation has to lead the youth to apostolic commitment and to be evangelisers of other young people. The Pope keeps saying so whenever addressing young people: “Be apostles among the youth”.
The closing words of the Gospel show the launching of the Church in mission – a Church in a permanent state of Mission! – to continue the work of Jesus, everywhere and always. Looking up to heaven (Acts 1:11), the final aim that inspires the great journey of life, does not distract or weaken the effort; indeed, it stimulates Christians and evangelisers to look on the world with love, to be concrete in their commitment according to situations, to be generous and creative for the life of the human family. It is necessary to avoid every alienating spiritualism and to remain well rooted in history, the ground on which Christ works out our salvation. It is a mission to be implemented with hope and realism, sustained by “the power of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:8). In the certainty of the perennial presence of Christ who blesses his followers, looks at them with benevolence and fills them with “great joy” (Lk 24:50-52). Ascension does not mean absence of the Lord, but a different way of being present (Mt. 28:20; Mc 16:20): everyday He works with his disciples and corroborates through signs the Word that they proclaim.
In some representations of the mystery of the Ascension, a cloud enshrouds the body of Christ but shows his feet: symbolically, they are the feet of the missionary Church, the feet of the Christians, men and women evangelisers who, on the roads of the world, take the Gospel to all peoples: to every person, group or category, to young and elderly. They announce the Gospel by their life and words, using the most modern media of social communication (printed matter, films, videos, internet, sms, blog, websites and other forms of digital messages), which offer new opportunities for evangelisation and catechesis. They are the Mission’s new ways and challenges!
He is always beside every person
Fernando Armellini
Introduction
With the coming of Jesus in the glory of the Father has anything on earth changed? Outwardly nothing. The lives of the people continued to be what it was before: to sow, reap, trade, build homes, travel, cry and party, as usual. Even the apostles had not received any reduction on dramas and anxieties experienced by other people. However, something incredibly new happened: a new light was projected on the existence of people.
On a foggy day, the sun suddenly appears. The mountains, the sea, the fields, the trees of the forest, the scent of the flowers, the songs of the birds remain the same, but the way of seeing or perceiving them is different. It also happens to one who is enlightened by faith in Jesus ascended into heaven: he sees the world with new eyes. Everything makes sense, nothing saddens; nothing more scares.
In addition to the fatality, the miseries, the errors of persons, the Lord who builds his reign is seen. An example of this completely new perspective could be the way to consider the years of life. We all know, and maybe we smile, of octogenarians who envy those who have fewer years than themselves. They are ashamed of their age. Well, they turn their gaze to the past, not to the future. The certainty of the Ascension reverses this perspective. While the years pass, the Christian is satisfied because he sees the days of the definitive encounter with Christ coming soon. He is happy to have lived, does not envy the young ones but looks at them with tenderness.
Gospel reflection – Luke 24: 46-53
We are able to study and learn about the material things, being able to apply intelligence and perspicacity. The secrets of God instead escape us; they are inscrutable; he alone can reveal them.
If we come to Jesus, if we retrace the steps of his life guided only by human wisdom we are faced with a deep mystery. We grope in the dark. From beginning to the end, what happens is a mystery. The same mother, Mary, is surprised and amazed when God’s plan begins to be implemented in the child (Lk 2:33.50). In faith, she has to “put together,” as anchors, various events (Lk 2:19) in order to discover the puzzle of the Lord. How to grasp its meaning?
This question the Risen One answers in the first verses of today’s Gospel (vv. 46-47). He—says Luke—opened the mind of the disciples to understand the Scriptures: “Thus it is written….” The light that illuminates the events of Easter can come only from the Word of God proclaimed by the prophet. In the Bible—Jesus says—it was already foretold that the Messiah would suffer, would die and rise again.
It is hard to find such explicit statement in the Old Testament. However, there is no doubt that what has changed the minds of the disciples and made them understand that the Messiah of God was very different from what they had expected. The texts of the prophet Isaiah speak of the Servant of the Lord as “despised and rejected, a man of sorrow and familiar with grief … he will live long and see his descendants…. For the anguish he suffered, he will see the light” (Is 53:3, 10-11).
Another event—says the Risen One—is announced in Scripture: “Repentance and forgiveness in his name would be proclaimed to all the nations” (v. 47). Hence the reference to the biblical text is clear. It alludes to the mission of the Servant of the Lord: “I will make you the light of the nations that my salvation will reach to the ends of the earth” (Is 49:6).
According to the prophet, it is the duty of the Messiah to bring salvation to all nations. How will this prophecy come about if Jesus limited his activities to his people if he offered salvation only to the Israelites (Mt 15:24)?
In the second part of today’s Gospel (vv. 48-49), he answers this question: Jesus will become “light of the people” through the witness of his disciples. It is a task too superior to human capabilities. To carry out the mission of Christ good will and good quality are not enough. One needs to rely on his own strength. That is the reason for the promise: “So remain in the city until you are clothed with power from above” (v. 49).
It is the announcement of the sending of the Spirit, the One who will become the star of the age of the Church. In the Acts of the Apostles, its presence in key moments and its assistance in the decisive choices made by the disciples will be often remembered.
Luke’s Gospel ends with the story of the Ascension (vv. 50-53). Before entering the glory of the Father, Jesus blesses the disciples (v. 51). At the end of the liturgical celebrations in the temple, the priest came out of the holy place and pronounced a solemn blessing on the faithful gathered for prayer (Sir 50:20). After the blessing they returned to their jobs, confident that the Lord would bring to fruition all their efforts and all their hard work. The blessing of Jesus accompanies the community of his disciples and it is the promise and guarantee of the full success of the work, which is about to begin.
The final appeal could only be but to rejoice: the disciples “returned to Jerusalem full of joy” (v. 52). Luke is the evangelist of joy. Already on the first page of his Gospel, we read of the angel of the Lord who says to Zacharias: “He will bring joy and gladness to you, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Lk 1:14). Shortly after, in the story of Jesus’ birth, the angel again appears who says to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid. I am here to give you good news, great joy for all the people” (Lk 2:10).
The first reason why the disciples rejoice, despite not having the Master visibly present with them, is the fact that they understood that he is not, as his enemies thought, a prisoner of death.
They have had the experience of his resurrection; they are certain that he crossed first the “veil of the temple” that separated the world of people from that of God. So he showed that everything that happens on earth: successes and mishaps, injustices, suffering and even the most absurd events, such as those that have happened to him, do not escape God’s plan. If this is the destiny of every person, death no longer causes fear; Jesus transformed it into a birth to life with God. This is the first reason to deal with hope even the most dramatic and complicated situations.
The light of the Scriptures made them understand that Jesus did not go to another place, has not strayed, but remained with the people. His way of being present is no longer the same but is no less real. Before Easter, he was conditioned by all the limitations to which we are subject. Not anymore and he can be close to every person, always. With the Ascension, his presence has not diminished; it has increased! Here is the second reason for the joy of the disciples and ours.
Fernando Armellini
Italian missionary and biblical scholar
https://sundaycommentaries.wordpress.com
