Be honest.

When it comes to Jesus and GOD and that metaphysical cocktail of intense love and monogamous boredom all shaken together then poured over the rocks of existential longing, you hear the death and resurrection as the whole story. For us, it isn’t Romeo and Juliet, it is Crucifixion and Empty Tomb. That is the whole story.

But it isn’t.

Do you even notice the Ascension in the Eucharistic Prayer each week? Share on X

On Good Friday, the bleeding happens with the beating and we wail and moan and tear our clothes with gnashed teeth and our beloved hangs there for three hours. And we, like Peter, can’t look the whole time. We start fast-forwarding to the tomb and the angels and the love! Oh, how GOD loves the world! It isn’t about a dead man on a cross in the end, it is about life! Thank GOD!

Then 40 days later comes the third partner: the trinity of Christological completeness: Ascension, bounding to us like the best friend at the school dance.

Hey guys! Isn’t this place fun?

{both staring at the floor.}

Why isn’t anyone dancing? Let’s dance!

{Ascension starts dancing awkwardly. Crucifixion and Resurrection join in half-heartedly.}

The Ascension is totally the third wheel. And we all know it.

1. We forget it is there – To the point that our churches forget to celebrate it. In the Episcopal Church, the Ascension is one of 7 principal feasts. We are required to do church that day. But since it’s a non-Holy Week weekday, many of us don’t. And have you even noticed that it is mentioned in the Eucharistic Prayer each week? No? Me neither.
2. Our theology is dualistic rather than trinitarian – We speak of GOD’s great revelation in the Jesus Event as being about 1) his death and 2) his resurrection. That’s the event. That’s the big ball game. Those two. The Ascension plays second-fiddle, like the Incarnation (Christmas).
3. These two parts are mirror images – The Crucifixion is historical, literal, and disturbing. The Resurrection is irrational, metaphysical, and surprising. The Ascension, however, is part metaphysical and irrational and disturbing and literal.
4. It is hard to believe – The events of the Ascension, when staged are just weird and wonky. It is a mess of literal and figurative imagery all balled into one confusing moment the modern mind intuitively rejects.
5. It lacks the same resonance – It isn’t the death of a loved one or the destruction of death. It isn’t sobbing or tears of joy. It’s like Jesus saying to his friends at graduation “I’ll see you later” and then leaving town forever. Or at least until the 25th reunion.

And yet we always root for the third wheel, don’t we? We want them to be happy. Maybe not with the principals, but with someone suited to them. Someone who can appreciate them for who they are and what they offer.

The third wheel has a place in the story. They are a principal in their own. They move the story. They humanize the story. They inject that sense of longing or confidence, that sense of stability or support, or they make their friends more lovable in their loving of them both.

For the faithful, this third wheel, the Ascension, has real value.

The Ascension resolves the physicality of the Resurrection and gets Jesus out of the story.

The Ascension transitions us from obsessing about Jesus and toward doing the things Jesus has commanded us to do.

The Ascension actually gives us permission to move on.

A Third Wheel Theology

What does it do to actually take on the Ascension as an integral part of our Christology? Not just the hat tip toward it like we know we’re supposed to. But to make it of serious equal (or near equal) weight. And here, let’s retire the love and relationship image before we hurt ourselves.

What changes in our theology if it isn’t just Crucifixion and Resurrection: the flip sides of death and new life and Jesus’s victory over death?

The death-and-new-life equation becomes this: death – new life – departure.

The story stops being a zombie story, ending when reanimation happens or ending at the new beginning. The story isn’t merely the victory over death, but the next day – what happens after as well.

As I prepared two of our young people for confirmation this spring, I invited them to think about “Day 2”. I invited them to think of “Day 1” as their confirmation day. That’s the day they make the adult affirmation of faith, are presented to the body of Christ as a candidate for confirmation, and the bishop lays her hands upon the candidate’s head and invites them into a life in ministry. That’s Day 1.

Day 2 is the next day. The day after you’ve made the commitment. The day after you’ve said you’re turning your life in a new direction and living in a new way.

It is the rubber hitting the road. It is the map firmly in hand and the fuel tank filled.

It is the time to put that faith into action.

It is the very thing we are making that commitment to do. Confirmation is not just the moment, but the promise of living after it.

So what if Ascension, which we celebrate 10 days before Pentecost, is the completing of the Christ Event and the preparing for the Holy Spirit Event? What if the cross and the tomb are useless to us as any kind of theological statement if they don’t include a departure and a Day 2?

What if Crucifixion and Resurrection literally have no power at all if they don’t create a next step: us, living, doing that work and fulfilling our promises?

What if the Ascension means way more than Jesus going away. What if it is the moment the teacher hands over the dry erase marker, looks at the board and says

I’ve taught you all you need to know.

It’s your turn.