With today’s feast of the Ascension we know that we are getting close to Pentecost and the end of our season of Easter. For those who were Jesus’ companions and followers, the Ascension marked the end of the time when he was with them to eat and drink and make conversation. His Ascension is the end of an era, the end of his presence among them. But it was also the beginning of something. We can only wonder at how they felt when he left them. The readings we have listened to today don’t give us any sense that they were sad at his going – sadness was more the mood at the time of his death. This time they seem to be more overcome by fear and paralysis. They just stand and keep gazing into the sky. An angel interrupts their gaze and tells them what they have to do.
So this moment of the Ascension becomes a moment of instruction for them. If we take notice of the words Jesus speaks to them and the words of the angel, we can learn just how important this moment of Ascension was. First, they are to go back and wait for the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ work is now finished, and he is going. But the gospel he preached will continue to take root in the world. The Holy Spirit will make Jesus and the gospel present. This is why Jesus’ leaving them is not a moment of sadness, because in a mysterious way he will be more present to them. His presence will not be limited by space and time; people of all times and places will be able to encounter him. So the disciples wait for the Holy Spirit as God’s gracious gift to the world.
The second thing that Jesus teaches the disciples just before he leaves them is that when the Holy Spirit comes they will receive power and will be his witnesses in the world. We might wonder what this means – after all haven’t they been with him for a long time and been instructed by him so that they already know his teaching and are empowered by it. Yes, they have learnt a lot from him, but the new learning that now awaits them is to translate on a daily basis the gospel message of Jesus into their own world. The power they will receive will help them shape the world as God wants it to be. This sounds an impossible task and perhaps even a silly dream. But the point is that it is God who is creating this new world and shaping it; it is the Holy Spirit who abides in the world and in the hearts of believers. The power they receive is the Spirit who renews and recreates their own hearts. Their lives will give witness to this Spirit.
This brings us to the third thing the disciples learn, as the angel tells them that Jesus will return. The angel is telling them that they now live in an in-between time. We can use the image of baking a loaf of bread to understand this. The time from Ascension and Pentecost until the second coming of Jesus is like the time when the bread is in the oven baking. At the right moment the bread comes out of the oven and is ready; it is there for the life of the world. We live, as it were, during this time when the bread is being baked. Taking it out of the oven is for the future. The disciples – and we as well – live in this time when the world is being prepared for its fulfillment in God. The point about the second coming of Jesus is not so much about working out a time or a date when this will happen. It is the angel’s way of saying that Jesus himself will complete the transformation of the world and reign over it. It is what is called elsewhere in the Scriptures the new heaven and the new earth. It is not about escaping from this world – which is the point of the image of the disciples gazing into heaven. Rather it is about the transformation of this world by God – which is the point of saying that Jesus will come back to usher in this new creation, to bring heaven to earth.
The disciples went back and waited for the Holy Spirit. This week we wait for the celebration of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. As the disciples waited they watched the world around them. No doubt they noticed its joys and hopes as well as its anxiety and grief. This was the world that the Spirit would transform, and it was the world into which they were called to be witnesses.
As we celebrate the Ascension today I believe we are called to see our world through eyes enlightened by the Holy Spirit. This means that we should allow ourselves to see the good things that are positive signs of the Holy Spirit transforming our world. These are the things that show up the highest dignity and grandeur of human beings. But just as importantly, we should allow ourselves to notice the ugly things that show up the worst in human action. These remind us that we are still waiting for the new creation. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to become witnesses in these situations to something different, namely that human behaviour can be better, that human dignity demands more, and that something new and different is possible.
Fr Gerard Kelly
