Homily Easter (A) Ascension Sunday - You Will Receive Power

Homily

Today is the Solemn Feast of the Ascension

- Jesus has taken our flesh up to heaven, where he is enthroned forever

- He sits at the right hand of the Father,

- and his resurrected, human body enters into everlasting, divine glory

- Jesus is Christ the King, Lord of heaven and earth forever!

And I’m happy for Jesus (really, I am), but what about us?

- the Church remembers and relives this sacred mystery of Christ’s life today,

- And so we must make her own the burning question of the apostles:

- “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom?”

Do you feel the desire and expectation behind that question?

- You should!

Did you ask him this morning, as you rose from your bed…

- Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom?

- You SHOULD!

I imagine Christ might say to us what he said to those bright-eyed apostles:

- I won’t say that at this time I will restore the kingdom

- But I will say this: YOU will receive power…YOU will be my witnesses.

Wait! What does that have to do with the question?

- Jesus, maybe you didn’t hear me.

- I asked: will you. YOU. at this time. restore the kingdom?

And Jesus replies, “Maybe you didn’t hear me?”

- You. YOU will receive power…YOU will be my witnesses

- In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Those words sound familiar.

- They sound like today’s Gospel, where Jesus said,

- All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

But did you catch the mistake that Jesus made?

- There’s a logical fallacy here. You never noticed?

- All power…has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples!

- See the problem?

Jesus, if you have all the power, why don’t YOU, therefore, go make disciples!

- That would make sense! Jesus let me help you; I studied logic.

You laugh, but some scribes really thought they could improve the Word of God.

- They actually omitted the word “therefore” (oun in Greek) in some manuscripts

- Others were more subtle and creative: they changed oun to nun: Go now and make disciples (at least that blurs the connection, right?)

- But my all-time favorite is the ms that inserts a verse from John into Matthew’s Gospel: As the Father sent me, so I send you…Go, therefore!!!

- But I’m afraid there’s no denying the fact: the best and oldest mss all say: Go, therefore.

See, it’s outrageous what Jesus says

- How do we make sense of the fact that he sends us when he has the power?

- If he wants to send us, fine. But he should at least be logical and say: I’ve got all the power. Nevertheless, you go!

But he didn’t.

I think, we gloss over this little word, but I think it’s massively important.

- At one prominent university in Rome, it says on the chapel wall

- (much like you have I thirst here)

- Go and make disciples (poreuthentes matheteusate)…Sorry, that is NOT the Gospel

- Go, therefore, and make disciples

I know what you’re thinking, Fr Andrew has lost it.

- Too much time in his room.

- He needs to get out more.

I don’t think so. And I think today’s liturgy backs me up.

- All of the readings underscore the theme of power, authority

- And not just the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles or the Gospel of Matthew

- Paul said it in his Letter to the Ephesians: God seated him at his right hand in the heavens, 21 far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion…

- The Psalm 47:2 said it: The Lord is a great king over all the earth…

Yes, but finish the sentence…

- Psalm 47:3: He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.

- Eph 1:22: And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

That’s it!!! That’s the secret that makes sense of the Gospel.

- Christ is the head; the church is his body; his fullness fills us up

- So rewind the tape. Let’s hear it again

All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me (the risen Christ, the head, who is united to the body, the church, which he reigns)

So… all power in heaven and on earth has been given to the church of Christ, i.e, to you)

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations!

That’s better, Jesus, why didn’t you say it like that!

- I did: Behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.

- Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us!

- All power is his, yes. But he is ever with us, so we are never powerless.

- We have his power… such was his promise.

When the HS comes, you will receive power…

- To be your soldiers, your entrepreneurs, your business leaders, your marketing experts?

- NO! You will be my witnesses

WITNESS to my RESURRECTION

- Notice he did not say eyewitnesses (au-TOP-tai); he said you will be my witnesses (martyres)

- We are the ones who proclaim him with our words.

- We are the ones bear witness to his power, by imitating his life and love.

- In our flesh, we bear witness to his suffering, death, resurrection… and ascension

Does your life bear witness to the glorified, ascended King of kings?

- Do people look at you and think…what glory!

- It’s really true! Christ is surely risen. He has truly ascended?

Before you answer…remember. When was Christ’ Ascension?

- When did he start his ascension?

- I hope you won’t say the first chapter of Acts.

- And I hope you won’t say the last chapter of Luke.

The word ascension appears in Acts 1 and Luke 24, but it first appears in Luke 9:51,

- Jesus begins to ascend when he begins to march toward Jerusalem.

- It says that “when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

- DAYS is plural, and it includes his being lifted up on the Cross

CCC 662

The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it.

So we too have already begun our Ascension into heaven,

- Even as we walk through this value of tears

- In Christ-Emmanuel, we have been given power to reproduce his Paschal mystery in our lives.

- In Christ-Emmanuel, we have been given power to carry our cross and die to ourselves.

- In Christ-Emmanuel, we have been given power to rise to new life, in unity, charity and holiness.

- In Christ-Emmanuel, we have been given power to evangelize and make disciples of all nations

- In Christ-Emmanuel, we have been given power to build up the Kingdom of God

We have the same power of Christ because we have the same Spirit of Christ!

Today, Christ takes up his throne, but he has not abandoned his footstool.

- He is king of heaven and earth

- Enthroned in our hearts, he reproduces his life and love in us

- That we might perpetuate his mission until he comes again

- and his kingdom is at last definitively restored

But does anyone still desire to see that day?

Who yearns to be a missionary of his charity?

Who longs for his love and life and power to surge through them?

May they come to this table where he fulfills his promise:

I am with you always even to the end of the age.