Ascension of the Lord (Year C) – Homily
The Ascension of the Lord
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (6)
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53
We just heard of Jesus’ Ascension twice in the readings. The gospel reading comes from the very end of the Luke’s Gospel. The first reading is the very beginning of the Acts of the Apostles.
Both of these books were written by Luke. They are not separate stories. Acts is not just a sequel to Luke’s Gospel. They are one story, printed in two volumes.
The Ascension of the Jesus is the transition point. Why the Ascension?
While, as Luke writes in Acts, “In the first book, Theophilius, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up.”
The day He was taken up is, of course, the Ascension. Luke’s Gospel tells what Jesus did on earth.
The Acts of the Apostles begins with the Ascension as the moment that leads to a new stage. In chapter two of Acts we hear of what happened at Pentecost. The disciples received the Holy Spirit. From there, the Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church and the proclamation of the gospel.
In telling the story of Jesus’ Ascension, Luke explicitly says that after his Resurrection, Jesus spent forty days continuing to preach and offer many proves.
Today is forty days from Easter. This is why we celebrate the Ascension today but why forty days?
It reminds us of the forty years the Israelites spent in the desert. It reminds of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. It is a time of reflection and processing what happened to Jesus in his Crucifixion and Resurrection as the fulfillment of many prophecies of the Old Testament.
While they had spent these forty days reflecting, after Jesus had ascended, it was still not yet time for them to go out to proclaim the gospel.
Jesus specifically told them to “wait for “the promise of the Father”.” They were to wait for the Holy Spirit. Only then were they to go out to “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” as witnesses to all that Jesus had said and done.
After giving his disciples these explicit instructions, Jesus “was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.”
Luke is careful to say not that Jesus was just taken from their sight. That could have left all the disciples (and us) wondering where Jesus went.
It was very important for the disciples and it is very important for us to know where Jesus went. He was taken up into Heaven. That alone is important for us. Jesus did not abandon us. He did not go off to a cave and hide. No, He returned to Heaven where He had come from as the Son of God.
He did not just return to Heaven in general. No, when Jesus returned to Heaven, He mounted his throne where He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
It is important for us to know that Jesus sits on his throne so that we know him as our king.
It is important that we know Jesus is seated at the right hand of our Father because it is from that seat that He intercedes for us.
The disciples would then spend ten days in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They would spend this time in prayer (Acts 1:13-14). They would use this time to appoint Matthias to take Judas Iscariot’s place as one of the Apostles (Acts 1:15-26).
In ten days we will celebrate Pentecost when the disciples received the Holy Spirit. From there, the disciples began to proclaim the gospel.
We have received the Holy Spirit in Baptism and have been sealed with the Spirit at Confirmation. I encourage you to think in the coming days of Jesus is calling you to do.
At Easter, we revealed our new plan. Goal #4 is to recruit more volunteers for we cannot fulfill God’s plan for us without more volunteers.
What gifts has God given you? Maybe you have never felt called to volunteer in ways we have asked. Please let us know what gifts you have and how you believe God is calling you to use your gifts. Then, we will see what God brings of them.