4 Things We Can Learn From The Ascension

The Ascension of Jesus matters.

The story that we heard today is not just the end of Jesus' time on earth. It's not just him saying goodbye to his disciples and then heading home to Heaven.

The Ascension, this story and this feast, sets the tone for the Church's identity and mission until the end of time. From then until now - and until the Lord returns again - we know who we are and what we are supposed to do, and we hear it in today's readings.

There are four important lessons that we should learn from the Acension:

First, we learn about where Jesus goes and what he takes with him.

The very basic story of the Ascension is that Jesus returns to heaven, but that is more significant than it sounds. Jesus returns to heaven in his glorified humanity. He came and lived among us, as one of us, for over thirty years; now he takes that humanity with him back to the Father.

On our own, humanity cannot get to Heaven, we can't reach the Father; but now, one of us - our Head and our Source - has gone before us. Now, we who are members of his Body, the Church, can have confidence that where he has gone, we will go too. (CCC 661) The Son has gone back to the Father so that we, the adopted sons and daughters, can one day go there with him.

Second lesson: Jesus tells us about who he will send to us.

After the Ascension, Jesus is no longer on earth in the same way that he was before. The apostles don't have that physical, human presence of Jesus with them any longer; but, before he left, Jesus made a promise: he told them to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus' promise to the disciples when he ascends into Heaven is that he will not leave them alone - the last words of the Gospel of Matthew are "behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, the very Spirit of God, into our hearts so that we are never alone. 

God lives within us.

It's through this Spirit that we are baptized and confirmed; the Spirit makes Jesus present in the Eucharist at every Mass; and it's in the Spirit that we are able to pray to God. It's also the Holy Spirit that drives us in our mission as Christians.

That brings us to our third lesson: what does Jesus tell us to do?

If you look at the ends of all the gospels, as well as the first chapter of Acts that we heard today, you'll notice that Jesus' final words are almost always about a mission: "you will be my witnesses."

Jesus has gone before us to the Father, and he's sent the Holy Spirit down on his Church - now he calls his Church to go into the world and tell people about it. The Church is a missionary one by it's very nature - it's meant to be shared; so, if we are not sharing our faith, then we're not fulfilling the mission given to us by Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter where you live, what you do, or who you are - if you are a follower of Jesus, you are responsible for proclaiming the Gospel in your life. None of us can do that on our own, so we must rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom and courage we need to be good witnesses.

It's the Church's job to love and praise God, and to welcome the whole world into that relationship until …

… and here's our final lesson: Jesus will come again.

What do the two angels say to the apostles after Jesus has ascended into Heaven? “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Our lives will not go on forever. This world will not go on forever. In the end, whenever it comes, we will meet Jesus face to face.

For a disciple, that should not be a frightening idea.

We have our orders - to grow in holiness and love, to worship, to share the Good News - and that's what we should concern ourselves with for the rest of our lives. 

Let us live our lives for Christ - and live with the knowledge and hope that Jesus is in Heaven interceding for us to the Father; he's sent the Holy Spirit to be with us; he's given us a mission; and, in the end, we will be with him.

That's our faith, and when we remember and celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, we should be encouraged to go out and truly live it.