Sermon for the 29th of May - Feast of the Ascension - Daniel Gable
This feast which we celebrate today, the feast of the Ascension, is, I would argue, an important episode in our redemption and salvation, which, sometimes, isn’t as talked about as it should be.
Everytime we partake in the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember this day, along with Christ’s Death and Resurrection in the Eucharistic Prayer. Likewise, all three creeds; Nicene, Apostles, Athanasian, mention this in our statements of faith.
I’m sure, for the Apostles and other members of the church who were present, it would have been quite a mind-altering event. Here is Jesus, who, 40 days ago rose from the dead, and now flying up into the clouds.
Pope St Leo the Great preached:
Even the blessed Apostles, despite the signs they saw and the sermons they heard, were fearful when the Lord suffered, and did not accept his resurrection unhesitatingly. So much did his ascension influence them, however, that all fear was turned to joy. Their minds contemplated the divine Christ at the Father’s side.
But, with all this said, the Ascension can sometimes feel like it’s just stuck on at the end of a sentence. So, why is the Ascension such an important event to celebrate?
The Italian mystic and Doctor of the Church, Saint Catherine of Siena, talks about the Ascension as being a bridge. And I think this is quite a good train of thought to follow, as it indeed acts as a bridge in several ways.
Firstly, it is the final act of the Resurrection. Christ has spent 40 days of his Resurrected ministry, appearing to his Apostles and Disciples, continuing to teach them about Scripture; the law, psalms, prophecies, all which relate to him. He brings them his peace and grace, and gives them assurance of the hope of the Spirit. In this way, his entrance into Heaven marks the end of not only his Resurrected, but of his earthly, ministry.
However, at the same time, this act is the narrative bridge between Jesus earthly ministry, and the beginning of the actual Church. Whilst we celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, the labour of this birth is found in the Ascension. Jesus, in opening his follower’s minds to the Scriptures about him, has faith in them that they can now begin their own proper ministries as The Apostles – this connecting nicely with the other book St Luke wrote - the Acts of the Apostles. And whilst they are only human, Jesus assures them that the Advocate, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit will be with them as guide and helper.
The second way that this day acts as a bridge is that between Earth and Heaven. We might say that the Ascension is the last brick of the bridge.
In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus says:
In my Father’s house there are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.
But likewise, earlier in John it says:
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.”
Whilst these two verses may seem at first paradoxical, they are rather a clear intent of our salvation. Peter, the Apostles, we ourselves, can not follow Christ where he first went because it was the dominion of death, that which he harrowed in his own death, and destroyed death by rising to new life, which is what we celebrate in Easter joy. We cannot follow him there because it is itself dead.
Jesus has Ascended to heaven, and we, being partakers of his death and resurrection through Baptism and Sacrament, have the grace to follow him.
Christ’s ascension is the final part of the bridge, which allows us to enter to heaven through and by and with him because Death has no power over us.
The ascension is much more than Jesus rising up to heaven, it is part of the victory over the world of sin and death, and the assurance a place being prepared for us, and the faith of Jesus returning again and bringing us there himself, to dwell in the eternal light of the never ending Sabbath with God.