A few years ago, there was a woman in my Mom’s congregation in Etobicoke whose husband passed onto glory just a few weeks before Thanksgiving. It was, of course, a very different gathering for the family that year, but they were all there to support their Mom. By Thanksgiving Monday, she just wanted to be alone and the family respected her wishes. Now, this woman is generally unemotional; an ‘A’ type personality,a businesswoman, straightforward in all matters. That Monday, as she was heading to her bedroom for a nap, the phone rang. It was her deceased husband. They talked about where he is, about the peace he feels, and he encouraged her to get on with living. Of course, she thought she was losing her mind and told no one. She soon started attending a grief counseling course and about a month into the course, met one of the other course participants while out for a walk. She felt that she could trust this woman and told her about this strange event. The other woman’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Finally she said, “You too?!” She had also had a phone call from HER deceased husband!!
Impossible, right? Just two desperately grieving women who happened to have the exact same experience. We know that this isn’t possible.
Let’s review.
1800 years ago, we knew that the world was flat; 300 years ago, we knew that the sun went around the earth; 220 years ago, we knew the smallest particle was the atom; 70 years ago, we knew smoking was harmless because most doctors chose the Camel brand; 26 years ago, we knew that paparazzi chasing celebrities were no more than annoying; and last week, we knew the Pentagon is actively investigating UFO’s after its release inexplicable footage. I wonder what we’ll know tomorrow?
Luke concludes his Gospel with the description of Christ’s return to His heavenly home from whence He came as a baby in human form. And He returns home in His human body. ‘Impossible’, we exclaim. The laws pertaining to physics and gravity and matter make this no more than a shared dream or an hallucination, that all 11 happen to be experiencing at precisely the same moment. OR, our God is far greater and more powerful and mysterious than anything we could possibly imagine!
In the verses just before those that we heard today, Jesus appears to the Eleven, beginning with a blessing of peace, as is His nature. But the disciples are pretty freaked out; they’re not used to Jesus’ sudden comings and goings. Jesus knows that they’re frightened and confused so He offers them proof: “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bone as you see I have.” Then Jesus very specifically asks to have something to eat; they give Him some fish which He eats while they watch. Ghosts and hallucinations don’t have hunger, and they certainly don’t have digestive tracts and intestines. This is their Friend Jesus, the real deal, the wholly human, fully functioning Man.
So how did He ascend to His Father? Verse 51 is clear: “while He was blessing them,”... let’s just ponder that phrase for a moment. In the act of blessing, of expressing upon them His love & strength, He is raised up and brought close to God. Could it be that while blessing others, we, too, are closest to God? There’s another sermon in that phrase for all of us. But I digress.
Back to verse 51: “while He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven.” To the question, how?, the short answer is, we don’t know. Biblical scholars and archeologists and theologians for centuries have been trying to explain how this happened, the actual mechanics around Christ’s ascension. Did Jesus’ body change as He transitioned from here to there? Does the notion of ‘body’ mean something different in God’s heavenly home? Is matter & molecule far more malleable than we think possible? Or is God’s home an actual physical location somewhere in the universe? We know that after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to and engaged with many people, in His physical form. Then after 40 days, there is no known record, Biblical or otherwise, of His life continuing on earth. He left and went Home. We just don’t understand how.
We DO know that the disciples were witnessing the moment of Jesus’ crossover - no pun intended - from here to there, from earthly to heavenly realms that somehow overlapped and their distinct realities merged as the disciples watched. Now some of us may be thinking, ‘way cool!’, totally accepting of God’s other-worldly power to act directly upon our physical reality and bring Jesus home to Himself. And others may be thinking, ‘absolutely no way, that’s bunk; there’s another perfectly rational explanation for what Luke describes.’ If the Ascension is too much for you, you’re in good company → there are many dedicated Elders & church leaders who simply cannot believe in the resurrection & ascension of Christ’s physical body. And for others, the Ascension is a readily accepted part of your faith.
Wherever you stand, I would encourage you not to get stuck there. God’s Word will continue to confront us with stories and truths that challenge and mystify. Let’s please not etch something in our minds as ‘impossible’ or limited to literal, because faith is fluid → there is much much more depth & truth that the Spirit is longing to show us in scripture, if we’re open to receive it. How did Jesus spend those last precious minutes with His disciples, or maybe hours - we can’t be sure. “He opened their minds” to understand the scriptures. This group who had been traveling with Him for 3 years, hearing Him teach everyday, witnessing the miracles, THEY needed Christ to open their minds to a broader, deeper, richer understanding of all that they thought they already knew.
The other question that comes up around the story of the Ascension is, Why? Why not just stay and live immortally on earth, teaching and healing and showing us the Way to live by His very real & present example with us through the centuries? We don’t know the mind of God but we can trust that God & His Son & Spirit ALWAYS have our best interests as their priority. So what is best for us? To sit back and watch how it’s done, to defer to Jesus everytime we struggle with something, ‘Oh yah, that’s too hard, He’ll do it’. Is that why He came, to just handle everything for us so we never have to learn for ourselves, we never individually grow into the responsibilities of faith, or corporately grow to enjoy the blessings of a supportive, trusting body of believers around us to encourage & strengthen one another through life’s struggles? Maybe He left so we’d learn to share and to serve, to lean on and to lift up one another by following in His way? I don’t know why He had to leave [I’m going to ask when I get there]; but I do know that He needed to take His place with His Father, and that He is rightfully the Lord of all, and that by His ascension, He assumes the place of honour for the loving power of His sacrifice to conquer death, once for all.
Who’s to say what kind of home Jesus returned to? I imagine a place where emotions are real, where joy is a colour and hope makes music, where love surrounds us like dewy soft breezes and grace smells like roses, and the wisdom we’re not meant to know yet is hot to the touch!
Everyone is entitled to their beliefs and no one is wrong, or foolish, or faithless if we happen to hold a different understanding of the events in scripture. I’m one of the ones who is very comfortable with, even excited by the mysteries of God’s power. Others are driven to discover the Why & the How?, and follow that path on their faith journey.
But I encourage us all to keep an open mind, and heart!; make room for the Spirit to move & to lead and who knows what we may see and learn! Thanks be to God for our differences that keep life interesting, and thanks be to God for the blessing of grace among us, so we may be united as a faith family, the Body of Christ continuing to thrive on earth. In the Name of our Lord, Amen.