Ascension Day
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Ascension Day: The occasion on which the risen Christ is taken into heaven after appearing to his followers for forty days (Acts 1:1-11). The Ascension marks the conclusion of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances. It is the final elevation of his human nature to divine glory and the near presence of God. The Ascension is affirmed by the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds. The Ascension is celebrated on Ascension Day, the Thursday that is the fortieth day of the Easter season. It is a principal feast of the church year in the Episcopal Church.
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A literal reading of the ascension story might leave us looking up toward heaven in an attempt to get one last glimpse of Jesus. The difficulty is that we sometimes think of heaven as another place, as there are places in the world. The logic that follows this way of thinking is that if Jesus ascends to heaven, then he must go to another place.
But the ascension is about presence not absence. Jesus has not left us. Rather Christ has filled us. Former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple said, “The ascension of Christ is his liberation from all restrictions of time and space. It does not represent his removal from earth, but his constant presence everywhere on earth.” Christ now fills and sanctifies all time and space. The grace of the ascension is that “Christ is all in all!” (Col. 3:11). The unity of humanity and divinity revealed in the incarnation is brought to fullness in the ascension.
Jesus disappears in his ascension beyond the clouds, not into some geographical location, but into the heart of all creation where he dwells in his glorified humanity. The ascension reveals that in Christ’s humanity, all humanity has been enthroned next to God. It is our “eternalization,” and from that moment on our homeland is in heaven. Through the ascension Christ is still present but in a different way—an interiorized way. He is no longer physically in front of his disciples but rather within them.
The Rev. Michael K. Marsh. A Homily on the Feast of the Ascension
But the ascension is about presence not absence. Jesus has not left us. Rather Christ has filled us. Former Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple said, “The ascension of Christ is his liberation from all restrictions of time and space. It does not represent his removal from earth, but his constant presence everywhere on earth.” Christ now fills and sanctifies all time and space. The grace of the ascension is that “Christ is all in all!” (Col. 3:11). The unity of humanity and divinity revealed in the incarnation is brought to fullness in the ascension.
Jesus disappears in his ascension beyond the clouds, not into some geographical location, but into the heart of all creation where he dwells in his glorified humanity. The ascension reveals that in Christ’s humanity, all humanity has been enthroned next to God. It is our “eternalization,” and from that moment on our homeland is in heaven. Through the ascension Christ is still present but in a different way—an interiorized way. He is no longer physically in front of his disciples but rather within them.
The Rev. Michael K. Marsh. A Homily on the Feast of the Ascension
