May
28, 2017
Ascension of the Lord
Acts
1:1–11; Ephesians 1:17–23; Matthew 28:16–20
There was this
story of an astronaut who had a successful travel to outer space. When he
returned to earth, he told his wife, “We’ve gone up to heaven, but we did not
find God there.” Obviously, the astronaut was talking about heaven from the
physical and material level. The heaven that can be seen by our bare eyes. But
is this the kind of heaven that Jesus refers to as we celebrate today the feast
of the Lord’s Ascension?
I invite
you to reflect on the meaning of this mystery in three points:
THE
LORD’S ASCENSION IS THE HOMECOMING OF JESUS TO THE FATHER. Our
readings today tell us that Jesus ascended not to the outer space.
He ascended not to the heaven that can be seen by our bare eyes. He
ascended to the throne of God the Father in heaven. He went back home to be
with the Father. What does this mean for us? My brothers and sisters, let us
remember that in the imagery of Church as Body of Christ, Jesus is our head and
we are the body. If Jesus who is the head of the Church is now in heaven, then
there is hope that we who belong to the body of Christ will one day be with Him in
heaven. Jesus has opened the gates of heaven, the gates of paradise for us.
Isn’t that beautiful? We are certain that there is a place called heaven, there
is a place called paradise because Jesus, our head, already went there ahead of
us to prepare for our homecoming. We are made for heaven. We are not made
for this earth. The Lord’s Ascension ignites our hope that we will one day
be at home with Jesus in paradise.
THE
LORD’S ASCENSION DOES NOT MEAN THAT JESUS HAS ABANDONED US. We oftentimes
see the Lord’s ascension as Christ leaving us -
that Jesus will go to a distant place where we can no longer see Him.
But the mystery of the Lord’s Ascension tells us that even without His physical
presence, Jesus continues to remain in us. But this time we need new eyes to see
Jesus. We need to see things in the eyes of faith to recognize His presence. Now that Jesus
is in heaven, we must understand that He also entered into a different kind of
existence. Now his presence cannot be limited only to one place. In every
adoration chapel throughout the world, in every sacrament, in every mass
celebrated, in every experience of love, in every help we extend to the least
of our brethren, in every prayer experience, Jesus is present. The Lord has not
really abandoned us. Jesus in the Gospel says, “I am with you always until the
end of the age.”
THE
LORD’S ASCENSION MEANS THAT JESUS IS WITH THE FATHER INTERCEDING FOR US. We
have this tendency that when we are in an exalted
position, when we are in power, we forget the misery of others. But
such is not the case with Jesus. He is now with the Father and as the Gospel
says “all power in heaven and earth has been given to Him”. What does He do
with that power? He uses this
opportunity to intercede for us, to empower us to continue His mission. What is
this mission? Jesus says: “Go out to all the world and proclaim the good news.”
Jesus did not send his disciples around the world as tourists. He sends them as missionaries to make
disciples. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone who
has a living relationship with Jesus the master. The mission is to lead people
to Jesus and develop a living relationship with him. How will they be able to
do that? Jesus knows we are powerless and weak, like His own disciples. So He
assures that He will continue to work with them. They will be able speak new
languages, expel demons, cure the sick NOT because they are talented but
because of Jesus working with them.
And so let us remember that in our mission, we must be humble enough to give credit not to ourselves but to Jesus who works in us. When God works in us and makes us his instruments, we can indeed accomplish many great things. The Lord’s Ascension is not about Jesus leaving us alone here on earth. It is about his homecoming to the Father. We look forward for the day when Jesus will welcome us home in heaven. As we continue to live our lives on earth, may we allow God to work in us in accomplishing our mission to lead people closer to Him. Amen.
And so let us remember that in our mission, we must be humble enough to give credit not to ourselves but to Jesus who works in us. When God works in us and makes us his instruments, we can indeed accomplish many great things. The Lord’s Ascension is not about Jesus leaving us alone here on earth. It is about his homecoming to the Father. We look forward for the day when Jesus will welcome us home in heaven. As we continue to live our lives on earth, may we allow God to work in us in accomplishing our mission to lead people closer to Him. Amen.
