Ascension Day

" I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. To each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions. He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. Then the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in faith and become mature. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is Christ.' [Ephesians 4: 1-14].

Today is the Feast of the Ascension. The Ascension occurs on the 40th day after Easter. I like the symmetry of this, since Lent is also 40 days.

But I get confused on the chronology here. Remember, I am a "new Christian". A dear friend used to say to me, "We are baby Christians, only babies in our faith."

Resurrection. Ascension. What do these terms really mean? I have heard my whole life, 'Jesus is our Savior'. What is a Savior and why do I need saving?

I know that Good Friday commemorates the day of Jesus' death. Witnesses at the Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and the Apostles, saw Jesus breathe His last. Then they wept as they saw Him in the tomb. He really had died a human death.

On Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene saw the stone in front of the tomb rolled away-- and the tomb was empty! Had someone stolen His body?

Where had Jesus gone? The Apostle's Creed says, "He descended into Hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead." I have always resisted this line of the Creed so completely! Jesus was holy and pure, without blemish. WHY did He have to go to Hell? I take comfort that He eventually ascended to Heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father. But, why did He have to descend to Hell at all?

According to Christian belief, Jesus really did experience a human death. He suffered and died and was buried. [See the Apostle's Creed]. From there, He descended to the realm of the dead. He was not there for His own sins, as He was sinless. In the realm of death, he freed those righteous souls who had gone before Him, and who, before Jesus' coming, had no opportunity to rise to Heaven. 

After Jesus rose again from the realm of the dead, He was resurrected, on the third day (Easter). Various apostles saw Jesus after His Resurrection. They were terrified. Was He a ghost?(Related posting, "The Truth of His Wounds", April 13, 2012). But Jesus ate a meal with them. A ghost does not eat. He showed Thomas the hole in His side and the punctures in His hands. A ghost does not have wounds! No. Jesus had been resurrected. That is, He came back to life.

The child-like part of me wants Jesus to walk this earth with me forever. He did stay on earth after He died, to prove the miracle of His Resurrection. But he stayed only for a time. He tells Mary, "Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet gone back to my Father [John 20:17].

Jesus is seen again on the Road to Emmaus. ( Related posting, "Emmaus", May 7, 2011). Gradually, as the encounter Jesus again in their everyday lives, the apostles begin to believe in the miracle of the Resurrection. Every time I study these Scriptures, I like to think that I am gradually increasing my faith that Jesus is not truly gone!

After 40 days of Jesus being sighted here on earth, He ascended to Heaven. This is the Feast of the Ascension. Jesus is now united into One, His human person with His divine person. He is now seated at the right hand of His Father.

There are many miracles here. The fact that He died a human death and went to the realm of the dead-- and yet came back-- is one. I had a relative who said to me, as her health seriously declined: "When I die, stick me in the ground and forget it!" I flinched at that. My whole being recoiled: Nooo! I cannot believe that after a life of crisis, trauma, toil, sadness and so forth, that we die and merely go into the earth; or that we go to the realm of the dead forever. I need more hope than that. I need a Resurrection.

Another miracle is that Jesus walked among the apostles after His death. He did not go straight to Heaven. He came first to minister to them in their utter grief. I have felt sad so much of my life. I have always wondered, if I am not strong enough to comfort myself, could Jesus come to ME? In a word, yes. In John 20:19, when the apostles were hiding in a locked room after the Crucifixion, in grief and for fear of the Jews, Jesus walked through walls to get to them!

No less than astonishing is that Jesus descended into the realm of the dead, to rescue souls that had already passed from this earth! Jesus is our Rescuer, both on earth and even after our death!

I have had rescue fantasies so much of my life. Perhaps it is part of being human. Perhaps it is part of being female. More likely, it is because of the traumas I suffered as a child. In my play, I would pretend that my Barbie doll was a princess in distress. My Ken doll would always rescue her. But who would rescue me from this life I was trapped in?

I was captive to my family members' mood of the moment. My mother would be kind one moment, cruel the next. When I was a young child, my family would take me to church. But when I reached age 14, my mother said, "We don't go to church." I was '"as an infant, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there, by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of [people] in their deceitful ways." [Ephesians 4: 14].


Gradually, I have increased my faith, so that Christ has built up His spirit in me and I have become mature. [Ephesians 4: 12].   I am no longer a child.  Instead, I speak the truth in love. And that Truth IS Love. I do not have that inner wellspring of Love that others have gained, who grew up with a family rooted in gentleness, patience, humility and faith. But in speaking in Truth, by living in Love, I "will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is the Christ." [Ephesians 4: 15].

And if I falter, if I lack core feelings of worth, if I am sad, or lonely or in despair, I know that Jesus will walk along with me, even if I can hardly recognize Him at times in my pain. I know that Jesus will walk through walls to come find me. I know that He will descend to the depths of the realm of death, if only I believe in Him and follow His command to love others.

(Related posting: "Ascension of the Lord, June 1, 2011).

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