Ascension (Fr. Guiliano)

“Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy Ascension Day! Happy Feast! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia.

I have often found that today’s feast provides a moment of confusion for Episcopalians. What are we celebrating today? Is today’s feast about a man shooting into the sky like a rocket ship – as NT Wright once put it sarcastically? Or is it a superfluous feast, one we could do without? I once had a theologian in Cambridge tell me that there was little difference between the Resurrection and the Ascension, and so he didn’t really see the point of the day’s observances. He told me this after the Ascension Mass was over, and I kept thinking, If there was no point, why did you come to church today?
 
Sometimes our patterns of life say something our minds cannot. As ever, one of the blessings of the Anglican tradition is that the liturgy of our church speaks eloquently; our prayers and our traditions speak eloquently, and they can tell you more than the typical theologian, however educated he or she may be.

Hymn 215 said almost everything already. I could go sit down. See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph. The hymn reminds us that this is a feast of royal investiture, a feast of evident victory, a feast of acclamation, as Christ ascends as conqueror of death, and all the angels praise Jesus as their heavenly king.

Words from verse 2 remind us who and what we praise: "He who on the cross did suffer, / He who from the grave arose, / He has vanquished sin and Satan; / He by death has spoiled his foes."
  
And, then, from verse 3: "Thou hast raised our human nature/  on the clouds to God’s right hand. / There we sit in heavenly places, / there with thee in glory stand.
 
What do we celebrate in this feast? Not just the union of God and humanity, which we celebrate at Christmas. Not just our confidence in sins forgiven, granted on the cross on Good Friday. Not just the transformation of our nature, and the beginning of the renewal of the earth – death being swallowed up in victory. That is something to celebrate, but we have been doing so for six weeks of Easter and a seventh lies ahead. We celebrate more tonight: we celebrate the exaltation of our human nature with Jesus. He is placed at the right hand of God; we are there with him. He has begun his universal reign; we reign with him. He has been glorified by the Father; we are glorified with him.
 
We know that in Jesus our true life and our true identity are made manifest, and so we are to fix our eyes upon him always, knowing that we receive from him power and blessing. He is the source of our hope. And in him, enthroned above, we inherit all the spiritual treasures of heaven. Set your mind on things that are above.

We inherit every blessing in Christ. This truth is dramatized in our Gospel reading. Jesus opens the minds of his disciples to understand the Scriptures. He commands them to wait for the promise of the Father: that is, the Holy Spirit he is sending. And as he leads them out to Bethany, he blesses them, and that is their final image of Christ.

Think of it, his hands lifted in blessing as he ascends. It should be our image, too. When we turn to God in prayer, we should see this image in our minds. When we ask for God’s blessing, we should see him, already there, his hands raised in benediction, his heart full of kindness and love.

We inherit every blessing in him. We are also “clothed with power from on high.” What a mysterious phrase. What kind of power are we receiving? What are these new clothes?

We might approach this question in several ways. This power is, first of all, brought to us by the Holy Spirit of God, that Spirit that fills the earth, that gives life and breath and wisdom. It is the Spirit that inspired the prophets. It is the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. The Letter to the Ephesians has this prayer in Paul’s mouth: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power."

And he goes on: "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…"

God’s power, which raised Jesus and exalted him, is at work in you. That is the kind of power we are receiving, with which we are clothed in Christ…an immeasurable power, the very power of God -- in you. The power that made worlds, the power of resurrection.

What is that power for? What do we do with hit? Well, it is not for ourselves. We don’t get the power of God in order to make kingdoms for ourselves, or even tiny little fiefdoms. We don’t get the power of God to wield it over others, to be little tyrants, to do whatever we want. That’s not the power of God; that’s not what Christ did.

We receive the power of God, that we may witness to Jesus. Our reading from Acts brought this home. The disciples ask Jesus: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”
 
He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

It is not given to you to know everything God is doing. But you have been given the power to testify to Jesus, to represent him to others, to tell his story, to live his life. You have been given the power of resurrection: you may live a renewed life, a life of repentance and faith, always shaking off the dead things of the past that you may receive the fresh things of the future. You have the power of God in you, which has made worlds: the future is open. Things may change -- for the better -- to the glory of God.

Heaven stands open and the Son of Man lifts his hands in blessing over you. What lies ahead that cannot be achieved? Only seek him. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Seek those things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.