Like most Baptists, growing up I didn’t think much about Ascension Day (coming forty days after Easter and the celebration of the completion of Jesus’ earthly ministry and return to the Father) and I don’t think the churches I was a part of did much, if anything, about it. Usually we went from Good Friday to Easter and then to Pentecost – the “Church’s birthday”. Of course, I was familiar, somewhat, with the stories at the end of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 24) and in the first chapter of Acts that mention Jesus’ departure and how “ a cloud took him out of [the apostles] sight” (Acts 1:10). But really for my church we were more focused on the Great Commission/ the Sending of the Church out into the world to be Christ’s witnesses than we were on how the Ascension connected to the rest of the Christ event (Jesus birth, ministry, Passion and Resurrection). I am sure that if I had been a part of a Catholic, Episcopal or Lutheran congregation, I would have heard more about the Ascension and Ascension Day.
Later, as a Pastor I began to think more carefully about worship and the Liturgical/Christian/Church Year and came to see that the Ascension was much more than a dramatic way to let the Disciples know that the comings and goings of Jesus and his appearances over the forty days following Easter were coming to an end. The Ascension has something powerful to say about hope and faithful endurance and the ongoing presence of Jesus and his identification with his people.
In recent years, I have come back more and more to the importance of the Incarnation – the declaration that God has come to us in human flesh in Christ. The traditional understanding of the Incarnation with its affirmation that Jesus (while maintaining divinity) really did take on full humanity reminds us of Jesus’ identification with us in all the stages and experiences of life.
In the Ascension, yes, Jesus is glorified and returns to the Father, but when compared to the pre-Incarnation Son there is something different about the second person of the Trinity. In his glorification, Jesus does not lose his human nature anymore than the Incarnation means that Jesus lost his divine nature. The Ascension reminds us that the humanity of Jesus is indeed taken into the heart of God. The Trinity is different.
The Incarnation and Ascension show that Jesus’ identification with us does not end with the completion of his earthly ministry. The compassion that we see on the pages of the Gospels that was evident in Jesus’ person and ministry continues as Jesus retakes his place in the fellowship of the Father and the Spirit. Jesus’ sojourn on this planet and his experience of the pain and joy, tragedy and triumph of what it means to be human changes Jesus and changes God. There is a new dimension to the compassion of God.
I have often been drawn to that passage in Hebrews 5 where the writer is completing a discussion of Jesus as the compassionate, merciful, and completely sympathetic Great High Priest (the one stands between humanity and God and intercedes on their behalf and is also an ever present, gracious source of strength and encouragement for those who call on him). The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:7-10).
This passage reflects texts in the Gospels that show Jesus praying in the garden just before his arrest and crucifixion. The reference to “his reverent submission” reflects Jesus’ willingness to do God’s will rather than his own (a theme throughout the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of John). The same is true with the reference to Jesus’ obedience and the fact that Jesus “learned obedience” through what he suffered/experienced. The writer goes on to say that because of his submission and obedience and suffering, Jesus was “made perfect.” As a result Jesus not only becomes a source of salvation for all who obey him, he (as the writer makes clear in chapter 2:14-18 and 4:14-16) is also a ready and able source of help and grace to all those who are undergoing trials and difficulties in their life.
The reference to “having been made perfect” has sometimes caused Christians to scratch their heads and ask: “If Jesus was God, how has he been made ‘perfect’? What did he lack?” The word translated “perfect” (teleioo) has the idea of “reaching a goal; completing a course; being mature; satisfying what was needed”, etc. In its context here, the writer emphasizes that the human experiences Jesus had, in obedience to God’s will, fitted him, qualified him for the role of Great High Priest. Those experiences of obedience and trials and suffering gave him an identification with humankind that made him the perfect confessor, comforter, encourager, and source of grace and mercy. And all of this is related to his humanity as much as to his sinless sacrifice.
The Ascension is not only the glorification of Jesus and the end of his earthly ministry, it is also the beginning of a heavenly ministry. As he intercedes, Jesus does so as one who has taken humanity into the heart of God. Jesus does not discard his true humanity in his glorification anymore than he discarded his divinity in the Incarnation. In fact, the experience of humanity enables Jesus to fulfill his role as the second person of the Trinity.
It is easy to get bogged down in theological precision and analysis and there is a time for that sort of discussion. But the Ascension, in spite of its strange cosmology and all the questions it raises for modern day believers, is an affirmation that one phase of Jesus’ work was completed and another has begun. The Ascension is indeed connected to the beginning of the Church’s mission to continue Jesus ministry in the world. The Ascension tells us that the Jesus whose mission and message the Church continues is still with his followers in all the conditions of life.
The theologian Shirley Guthrie has written: “The ascension tells us something about ourselves and how we stand with God. The risen Jesus who ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God is the one who was the friend and not the enemy of sinful people, who defended the cause of all who are helpless, poor, and oppressed. That means, to use the traditional language of the church, that all such people (every one of us in one way or another) have in the risen and ascended Jesus an “Advocate,” one who is on our side, in the presence of God. More than that, it means that the Jesus who shared our humanity has taken it with him into the very “inner circle” of the communion of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If Jesus lives in the very heart of God, then we do too, for he was one of us. If he made the cause of humankind his own cause, then we may be sure that it is God’s cause too.” (Christian Doctrine, Revised Edition, p. 408, note 3)
Easter reminds us that evil, death and despair do not have to have the last word. The Ascension reminds us that the same compassionate Christ we see in the Gospels remembers our humanity and does not only sympathize with us, he comes to our side to encourage, strengthen, console, empower, to be present. In those times when our minds are numb, our hearts are aching, our nerves shattered and there doesn’t seem to be a friend in sight, the Ascension reminds us that our friend Jesus cares with an intimate, knowing, compassionate connection in a way in which we may, if we want, feel the nail-scarred hand clutching ours.
