The Ascension of the Lord (Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20)
I would like to share a story that happens immediately after Jesus ascends into heaven. The angel Gabriel is standing there and sees Jesus walking around heaven. He says, “How come you’re home early? What happened?” Jesus says, “Well, I was going to stay a long time with these people but what they did was take me out and crucify me and now I’m here.” So, Gabriel says, “You mean you failed? You failed.” Jesus says’ “Well, not exactly, because before I left, I did have a little time and what I did was I prepared. I prepared this group of disciples whom I love and who love me. I prepared and told them everything I knew and sent them out in my place.” I said to them, “Now you go and tell everyone in the whole world, tell them that God has forgiven them everything. Teach them all the things I taught you: how to forgive, how to care, how to love and all these things.” So, Gabriel, being somewhat cynical, says, “Suppose they fail?” Jesus just kind of shrugs his shoulders and says, “I have no other plan.” Yet, we, like the disciples on that mountain watching Jesus ascend, don’t want the change, the mission Jesus has given. Their hearts are probably saying, “Can’t we just go back to how it was with you just preaching, teaching, and doing miracles like you used to do?” Well, it seems to me that, as much as the apostles wanted to move backward to the way things used to be, and as much as you and I might want that in our own lives, particularly since these weeks of this pandemic, God always moves forward and never backward. God always wants us to move forward with him because he always wants to take us deeper and further into his love and into his life. As an example of this, let’s look at the resurrection. Often when you and I speak of the resurrection of Jesus, we say that he came back to life. In a certain sense, that is true; but, I think it is actually more accurate and better to say that Jesus did not so much come back to life as that he moved forward to life. When Jesus rose from the dead, he was transformed and moved forward into a new life of resurrection and glory, forward into a new creation that awaits all of us. For example, if you look at Jesus’ resurrection appearances in the gospels, it is obvious that he did not go back to his pre-resurrection body. Rather, he moved forward to his glorified, post-resurrection body in which he could appear and disappear, pass through locked doors, and, at times, be unrecognizable and the later recognizable. Jesus did not go backward to his old body or his old life; he moved forward into a glorified body and into a transformed life. In all of resurrection appearances, Jesus makes it clear that he wants his disciples to move forward with him and not backwards. During his resurrection appearances, Jesus came and went unexpectedly. So, there were periods of time when Jesus was simply not physically around the way he was before his death and resurrection, and the disciples did not know what to do with this. Jesus was trying to wean them from depending on his constant physical presence and lead them forward into something more. This was a new reality for them, and they didn’t seem to like it. For example, remember the story where, at some point after the resurrection, Peter tells the other disciples that he is going fishing and they go with him? What they were actually doing was trying to go back to what they were before, to what they were comfortable with – fishing. They wanted to go back to their old lives as fishermen and to their old ways of thinking and being. But the risen Jesus appears to them on the seashore and says, “Oh no you don’t. You cannot go back to being fishermen, that reality is gone. I am calling you to move forward; you are now disciples and no longer simply fishermen.” Today’s feast of the Ascension is about Jesus making his final “break” with his disciples. Jesus is showing them that he is no longer going to be with them physically, he is still going to be with them always, and, in fact, he will be with them in a deeper and more powerful way than ever. He wants them to move forward beyond where they used to be, and beyond their comfort zones, where they simply watched Jesus do all the work. He wants them to move forward into a new reality, into a new life where they will be Jesus. He said to his disciples in today’s Gospel: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” In other words, he is saying, “Now you are the ones who will have to serve and teach and heal and forgive. From now on, you are my presence in this world.” My brothers and sisters, the Ascension signals the end of Jesus physical presence and ministry in the world, and, at the same time, it signals the beginning of the Church’s presence and ministry in the world. The Ascension moved those first disciples forward into a new reality and it has moved forward the entire Church since then into that same new reality. That new reality is that WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST. On this feast of the Ascension, Jesus is saying that same thing to you and me that he said to his disciples. He wants to move us forward; he wants to take us deeper and further into his love and into his life. The Ascension reminds us that Jesus is not just with us; he is not just in front of us leading or next to us walking with us. Of course, he is doing all these things, but he is also in us! In fact, you and I are Jesus! The Ascension is the beginning of the Church being the Body of Christ, the presence of Jesus in the world. You and I are the Body of Christ. Do you understand that? Do you accept that reality? Unfortunately, too many of us Catholics are like the disciples; we just want to be left alone; we want to be comfortable. We want to go backward to a passive religion where we let Jesus and other people like priests, deacons, nuns, and parish staff do all the work and we can just watch, appreciate and, perhaps, even applaud now and then, as long as we can stay where we are and remain passive. Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is not a request; it is a command. It is not something Jesus said to only those chosen few but to all of us. We have to let go of the mentality that says: “All I have to do is go to Mass for an hour each week or whenever I feel like it, and leave my dollar in the collection. Don’t ask me to do anything else.” Through his Ascension, Jesus is calling all of us to move forward with him, not backward. He wants each one of us to be his presence in this world. My brothers and sisters, God always moves forward and never backward. We are the Body of Christ!