Let’s be honest. The Ascension is strange. But it is strangely important. And it could really help us now.
What we’re called to do now
Ascension Day | Luke 24:44-53
Also recorded as Episode 26 of the Make Saints podcast: “The Ascension”
Let’s get the annoying part out of the way.
The ascension of Jesus into heaven is kind of hard to wrap our logical little heads around.
It is not half as cool as Elijah’s chariot of fire. (Now that’s an exit!)
We’re tortured by whether this is a God-based gravity ray that pulls Jesus out into the cosmos or if he is flying away to some distant planet. Which then brings up the all too easy and all too inappropriate Superman comparisons.
The logistics of the Ascension make this a day so many modern Christians just don’t want to think about.
And when we do, we either dismiss the ideas as far-fetched or we dismiss the ancients for their ignorance. Neither is a particularly good look for people of faith.
Honestly, the Ascension tends to be treated like an inconvenience rather than the moment of glory it is.
In the way
The Ascension reminds me of a trope in fairy tales. This is particularly evident in classic Disney animated features, from Snow White and Cinderella to more recent ones like Frozen.
You have to get rid of the parents.
I’m sure you’ve noticed. All the main characters are orphans. Or they are orphaned by being separated from their parents like in Tangled.
But the easiest way to get rid of the parents is to have them die. Kill them in the opening scene. Then make the child live through that trauma.
In fact, death, loss, and all sorts of trauma abound in children’s stories. Stories we read in school like Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows. Movies we watched with our parents like Dumbo, Bambi, and The Fox and the Hound. These are all pretty traumatizing!
If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that adults were trying to traumatize us!
But what is at the heart of these stories is not the trauma. It is growth. Who the characters become because of the challenge before them.
And most importantly, how none of that would have happened if their parents were protecting them.
The Ascension is our traumatic event.
It is the figurative death of the parent. The thing that pulls Jesus away from the followers so that they can grow. And change. To become the true children of God.
And much like the characters in any of these stories, we spend the first half of our lives chasing perfection and living out our ego desires. As Richard Rohr points out, we can spend our entire lives in the first half of life.
We look at the literal, the rational, the self-centered version of faith. The one that focuses on what really happened and how this has to be real or a myth; incontrovertible and utterly defendable. And we do this to avoid growing up. To avoid becoming mature, faithful people who aren’t in control of the world around us.
Trying to rationalize the story of the Ascension is like a child trying to make sense of senseless violence. It isn’t the point. And it isn’t what we’re called to do. But it is what we get stuck in. We always get stuck in that.
Every time a young man murders children at a school or drives to a black community to massacre its elders, we try to make sense of the senseless. And so often we get stuck there. Because what we find isn’t sensible. And we knew that from the beginning. Because wise people told us it wouldn’t!
We go looking for sense because we want to avoid the trauma…and what it would mean to grow up.
Growing Up
In our context, growing up would involve dealing with white supremacy; and the fear that undergirds it. The economic, social, and religious priorities of a culture that chooses to not defend its children. While also choosing to not consider all children worthy of defense.
That we refuse to ensure healthcare, education, livelihood, safe movement to one another.
It is so like the reluctant hero spending the first half of the movie complaining about their trauma, running from responsibility, and pretending like they alone have nothing to offer. Life is all about consuming and avoiding.
Until they start to grow up.
The Ascension is our invitation to grow up.
It is the promise that we aren’t alone in this journey, but it is our journey. And we must show up for it.
Jesus gets out of our way. He’s stepping aside so each of us, you included, can step up.
Yes, he is being glorified, but in the same way, he is raising us up. It is our time to shine.
Ten days from now, we’ll have another principal feast. In that one, we’ll celebrate how the Holy Spirit comes to empower the faithful.
It is great for sure. But it’s also a bit like graduation day. Like the day they put the diploma in your hand, tell you to turn the tassel and they say: Now you’ve made it!
But everyone in that room knows they’ve already made it. You’re done with class. Grades are submitted. It’s all done. You’re done. And, of course, the formality is essential. I’m not saying it isn’t. But I’m saying there is that moment in between. And that is something like this one.
Because here they are, watching Jesus go. He’s passed the mantle onto them. It is their turn. They don’t know what that truly means yet, but they know it’s something. All nerves and anticipation. Excitement and trepidation. Waiting. Planning. Crying. Dancing. Scouring the internet for jobs…
That is the Ascension.
Not yet there. But heading in that direction.
Our Ascension
For us, beneficiaries of the Ascension and Pentecost, that moment may seem distant. It’s not. It is the crucible of all faith. And we all go through it. Some of us are going through it now. And some of us keep sending ourselves back into it because we don’t want to grow up.
But we don’t get to choose whether or not we age. Just whether we grow up. Graduate. Make something of this offer Jesus has for us.
To follow. Love. Share his peace with our neighbors. Make our neighborhood more just.
It is like learning to do the dishes. Or pay the bills. Adulting. You don’t have to love it. You just have to love your neighbors enough to do it. To be there for them.
This is why I love the Ascension. Jesus gets out of the way to show us The Way. Because after this, we have to figure out what to do. Which also means that if our children are scared, then we can also do something about it. And we already know what it should look like: a jubilee.