The Ascension of the Lord

Acts 1: 1-11; Mt 28: 16-20

The Ascension must have been an astonishing event. As an actual happening it is attested in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, as well as in the Acts of the Apostles. (Some would discount Mark's version). In Acts, we witness Christ's last moments with his disciples, and in this week's Gospel of Matthew, we hear his final command to them, “ Go out to the whole world, proclaim the Good News.” And yet, what we read about today is not the end. It might be the end of Christ's physical life on earth and the end of the Gospels, but it is the beginning of mission. The reason for this is the coming of the sustaining Spirit of Christ at Pentecost, in fulfillment of his admonition to his grief-stricken friends, “Unless I go, the Paraclete will not come.” Christianity proclaims a Spirit that stays, lives and works with us. The eternal nature of that spirit is found in the promise at the end of Matthew's gospel today: “Know that I am with you always, to the end of time.”

In my mind, ascension is something particular to Christ and to the disciples' experience. So, in terms of our own faith and understandings, what does Ascension mean for us today? We will not ascend – we will die and then rise with Christ. We will know the corruption of the grave, but then we will follow Christ in his resurrection as we have followed him on earth. However, with a bit of creativity we might see ascension as an act of humanity, of rising above that which binds us to the earth and to decay, as Paul said.
On the wall of Wilson Hall, in the University of Melbourne, there is a magnificent mural by the artist Tom Bass. It depicts man, his feet mired in the swamp of creation, striving to ascend to the heavens, his arms reaching upwards to the stars, and his face turned to the sun. The mural says that by our own will and effort, we can rise above the mud of our creation, above our present earthbound situations and become something wonderful, something we never imagined we could be.

Today's second reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians speaks of the gifts and talents that God grants each and every one of us. These gifts may remain dormant until we develop them. Then, given opportunity and motivation, our gifts and talents will transform us and those around us.

In my time as a missionary in Vietnam, I saw many young people, struggling to survive in a country too poor to provide anything more than a hand to mouth existence. Young people pumping up tyres, begging, selling lottery tickets, recycling plastic. No chance for their God-given talents to come out. But I also know young Vietnamese who, upon being given the opportunity of freedom, education and opportunity in another country, developed and blossomed and became something they could only have dreamed about. By their own efforts they were able to rise from the ground of their birth, and reaching for the stars, shone like suns in the heavens.

We have young refugees and asylum seekers living with us in our land. Knowing that God grants everyone gifts and talents without exception, then how can we refuse to help these young people to make a go of it in Australia, and to realize their dreams of a better life, for themselves and their families? Remember this sentence from the Letter of John, "My dear people, we are already the children of God; but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed."

Christ's ascension can be an archetype for our lives. We, too, can rise to the heavens, if we only try. On the way, we can help others to realize their dreams and achieve their goals. Opportunities are many, but time is short. That is why there is no time to lose, no time to stand gazing into the sky.