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.
