Yes, the Ascension is a weird story. But it is more than a moment. In the Ascension, we receive our purpose, conviction, and ultimately, our hope.
why the Ascension is essential to the story
Ascension Day C | Luke 24:44-53
Years ago, when news broke that Mel Gibson was going to make a movie about Jesus, it received a lot of attention. He still had the Oscar gold of Braveheart on his name and hadn’t yet revealed some deep-rooted anti-semitism.
And at the time, there was a lot of talk about it within the religious community. One of the big points of conversation among theologians was the intrinsic value and theological problem of making a movie only about the Passion.
There is a kind of modern Christian short-hand for the metaphysical-theological event of the Christ which places the crucifixion and the resurrection as the climax and resolution of the story. But they actually do more than that: they make these two parts the summary of the whole story.
The entirety of the Christ Event then becomes the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So theologians back in the early 2000s were upset that they would only tell “half” of the story. It’s like offering the world only The Empire Strikes Back with no The Return of the Jedi.
But the summary of the gospel isn’t only the death and resurrection.
So a better example would be like summarizing The Lord of the Rings by saying “It’s the story of two hobbits who climb a volcano to destroy a ring.”
That assessment: that the death and resurrection, our Good Friday and our Easter, are the whole story: is itself a modernist revision. Albeit one that our creedal tradition has certainly led us to.
Playing Third Wheel
Of course, we know this. The Passion and Resurrection make up no more than a third of any of the canonical gospel narratives.
But listening to our ancestors, we can learn that our focus on only the death and resurrection of Jesus is a modern invention.
The Nicene Creed, for all it doesn’t say, doesn’t speak only of death and resurrection of Jesus. It starts with the creation and the begetting of Christ, the death and resurrection and ascension and the continued leadership of Christ. And then, the Spirit, the church, and our participation in an ongoing resurrection.
Each of our Eucharistic Prayers speaks directly of the death, resurrection, and ascension.
The Ascension has always been a theologically important and necessary part of the Jesus Event story. So why does it play the third wheel?
Three reasons, I think.
1) We are obsessed with personal salvation.
Christians have always worried about what would happen to them when they die. But this modern hyper-focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus as the essential elements of our faith is also an outgrowth of this obsession.
In other words, we make the entire purpose of Jesus into the super specific vision of God’s whole purpose as being about personal salvation. Jesus’s death and resurrection become a necessary atoning sacrifice for me. All of the other is the unimportant means of getting us to our redemption.
We can see this obsession throughout the church. While it is popular in our liturgy and throughout Catholic and Mainline denominations, it is really popular in evangelicalism.
2) The Ascension seems absurd.
A flying Jesus? How weird is this moment? Seriously. How long do they watch him disappear?
Our post-Enlightenment brains are hyper-critical, cynical, and obsessed with the actuality of occurrence. So if we make it through the gauntlet of personal salvation and begin to think more deeply about the life and mission of Jesus, we still have the obstacle of this other kind of literalist thinking.
3) The Ascension just doesn’t have the same juice.
Maybe this is the real reason we don’t get the day off of school. And we don’t make this a day of obligation. Nobody is having Ascension dinner with their families tonight or exchanging Ascension presents.
It’s a weird holy day. We don’t think it is central to our theology, our brains don’t know what to do with it, and we’d much rather forget about it.
So why are we even here?
Because we’re doing it wrong.
Turn back to the gospel reading.
Jesus draws their attention, not to him, but to God. He says to them that everything in Scripture that talks about him “must be fulfilled.” Not because it is a literal necessity. Think about it. It must be fulfilled because this is part of the bigger divine project. So together, the death and resurrection aren’t the whole summation of the events, are they? It took knowing Jesus to make that worth a hill of beans. And the divine project needs a bigger purpose.
Then Jesus opens their minds to the Scriptures. And there we will see the Messiah will die, rise, “and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations”.
The Ascension isn’t just a weird story or an afterthought response to what are we supposed to do with Jesus walking around? This is the transfer of power.
This is the moment they get the mission.
The necessity of the Ascension isn’t just about getting Jesus out of the world, it is more importantly how Jesus gets out of their way.
There’s this strange convention in Disney movies I never noticed until it was brought to my attention. The main characters, particularly in classic films, almost always lose their parents. Often in the opening scenes. From Cinderella to Anna and Elsa, Mom has to disappear so that they can learn how to be a hero on their own.
Another variation of this idea is in Spider-Man’s origin story. The last thing Uncle Ben says to Peter Parker is “With great power comes great responsibility.” Later, Peter comes back to find Uncle Ben murdered. It takes Peter time to realize that Ben has given him the essential life instruction. Or what that really means.
The true beauty of the Ascension is that it occurs between the two biggest heavyweights in the church calendar: Easter and Pentecost. There’s no way it can compete with the resurrection and tongues of fire. But it’s not supposed to.
This is where Jesus gives the final instruction: proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins. He blesses them. And then gets out of their way.
Other Holy Days are the action sequences that get the blood pumping. But Ascension Day is that quiet moment when we learn where the hero’s motivation comes from. A moment that will linger well past the flash of the fight choreography. The scene of emotional depth and sustainable conviction.
The Ascension is supposed to be the thing we all know. When Jesus says This is what you are to do. Now go!
The Funny Thing is Jesus means it.
So I can’t leave you with a detailed action plan. I can’t do the work of offering next steps for you. And really, I can’t even tell you what Jesus “really means” by this.
Because he doesn’t leave behind an action plan. Or tell his disciples to write one.
Jesus doesn’t order the people into those who get all the great ideas and others who go out and do them.
He gets his disciples together and says that God has this great story about repentance and forgiveness and we get to be a part of it. Go tell everybody about it. And then he gets out of the way.
So I don’t want to be in anybody’s way! Because we all have a story about God’s grace to tell.
May God’s grace be with you, God’s power be within you, and may the story of God’s redeeming love be in your heart and on your lips. Amen.