The Feast of the Ascension

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

“This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Introduction

Today is the Feast of the Ascension where we remember Christ’s bodily ascent into Heaven where he now sits on the right hand of the Father.

Our two readings are by the same author.

In the Gospel according to St. Luke, we see a brief description of the Ascension.

St. Luke’s more detailed description of the event is in the Acts of the Apostles which includes the promise of the Holy Ghost, the prediction of the expansion of the Church, and a voice from heaven which affirms the promise of Jesus’ Second Coming.

Both of these accounts of the Ascension, working together, teach us three important lessons for this day:

First, humanity receives eternal fellowship with God through the transfigured manhood of Christ.

Second, we have immediate access to God via Christ’s mediatorial priesthood.

Finally, we can anticipate and have assurance that Christ will return.

Eternal Fellowship

The Incarnation has, in modern parlance, come to mean merely the taking on of flesh by Christ as a distinct event, separate from the miracles, passion, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.

It is certainly true that the word incarnation means taking on a body but, if you read the Church Fathers on this topic — books like On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius or Why God became Man by St. Anselm — you see that the Incarnation is used more expansively to refer to the divinely ordained plan for salvation which is enacted by Christ in his incarnation, “his blessed passion and precious death, his might resurrection and glorious ascension.”

In taking on our flesh and uniting it to his divinity, the Son purged original sin and re-created human nature. In dying on the cross, he paid the debt that we could never repay and made union with God possible.

The Ascension then is a sign for us that Christ is vindicated and the gap between us and God has been bridged. Mission accomplished: Christ has done what he has set out to do.

In conjunction with this point, it should be observed that baptism is frequently mentioned at the Ascension:

In Matthew’s account of the Ascension, we see what has become known as the Great Commission: “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.”

In Acts, there is a contrast drawn between the baptism of John the Baptizer and that of Jesus and his Disciples: “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”

Baptisms by John were foreshadows of what would be brought about in the Church by the Holy Spirit because John was participating in Old Testament, Jewish purification rites.

The Baptism of Christ and the Church is trinitarian, something John wouldn’t have been fully aware of, and is of both “water and the Spirit,” as Jesus says in John chapter 3. Because his Baptism lacked the dimension of the Holy Ghost, it didn’t do the same thing as Christian Baptism.

Only Christian baptism creates unification with Christ, his Death, and Resurrection.

So in Baptism, we are united to God and the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ which affects our salvation, re-creating us in the Image of God.

Immediate Access because of Christ’s Mediatoral Role

The second thing we learn on the Feast of the Ascension, which is related to the first, is that Christ’s mediatorial priesthood gives us immediate access to God.

The Epistle of Hebrews refers to Christ as the Great High Priest.

In the Old Testament, the High Piriest offered sacrifices on behalf of the people.

Christ is our High Priest but his High Priesthood differs from that of the Old Testament in a few ways:

It’s not biologically passed down. Rather than being in the genetic priesthood of Levi which descended from Aaron, Christ is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, we’re told.

The second way Christ’s priesthood is unique is that he’s not perpetually offering new sacrifices. His one sacrifice is complete and is for the sins of the world.

Finally, in the Old Testament, priests would sacrifice victims on the altar. The victims were bulls, goats, and other animals. But Christ’s priestly sacrifice is of himself.

By ascending to the Father, Christ, who is the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world, is “seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord,” as Hebrews says, perpetually presenting himself as an offering to the Father on our behalf.

The Ascent into heaven, then, is Christ taking his place at the Father’s side to commence his act of continual offering and mediation for us. This is why the temple curtain was torn in two at the Crucifixion: we no longer access God through the Old Testament law with its ritual sacrifices but through the sacrifice of God the Son for us. It is through his blood we have access to the Father.

Anticipation of Christ’s Return

The final thing which stands out in our readings today is the anticipation of Christ’s return.

In our Acts reading, after Christ ascends to heaven, there is a voice which speaks, saying, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like mater as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Christ’s first coming is the beginning of a new creation but that new creation will reach its end point, it’s fullness at his second coming.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 speaks to this: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of c command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord int he air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

The image here is Christ depicted as a returning conqueror.

The faithful then meet him in the air as he enters victoriously.

This paves the way for the new creation of all things, as depicted by Revelation 21:1-5a, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning our crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”

So in his Ascension, we see the seeds of this promise: he will come again. Everything will be recreated. He will wipe away tears and death shall be done away with.

Conclusion

The Church calendar makes us walk with Christ:

At Christmas, we experience his brith.

During Lent, we walk with him for his 40 days in the wilderness.

Passiontide and Holy Week, we follow the footsteps of his Passion.

At Easter, we participate in his resurrection.

So here we conclude the cycle with the Ascension.

What the Church calendar has shown us is the mission of Christ in achieving our salvation.

So on this Feast of the Ascension, we can look back on this Christian year in the knowledge and comfort that Christ made relationship with God possible again through his priestly role, and, therefore, we can look forward to his returning when he will make all things new.

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