As he blessed them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
This great joy that the disciples experienced is ours also. For with today’s Feast Jesus returns definitively to the Father. As Paul explained to the Ephesians he is now seated at the Father’s right hand, far above every principality, authority, power and dominion. All things have been put under his feet. From now on, Jesus reigns with the Father in perfect sovereignty and freedom over the whole of creation. He is not bound by any created thing and gives his love in perfect freedom. What’s more, in Christ our human nature has been lifted up with him, while he waits for us, his body, to join him.
Jesus’ last instruction to the disciples was that they were to return to Jerusalem and to stay there “until you are clothed with power from on high.” Like the disciples we are called to use this period before Pentecost in prayer and joyful expectation.
Before he departed from them at the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples. “…Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. (Jn 14:13) The Father will send the Spirit in Jesus’ name (14:26). In this time we are to pray in his name, for it is only in his name that we will have a share in his glory.
To pray in his name is to put on the mind of Christ. For Jesus, the path of ascent is the path of descent, the way of exaltation is the way of self-emptying. As St. Paul says in the Philippians hymn: “…though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him…”
In his prayer at the end of the Last Supper in John’s Gospel Jesus prays, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son many glorify you...” (Jn 17:1) The path of glorification is again the path of descent and the glorification of the Father. Elsewhere he insists: “I do not seek my own glory” (Jn 8:50). In his whole existence he seeks only the glory of the Father, in total identification of the execution of his mission.
Von Balthasar highlights a threefold renunciation on Jesus’ part.
First, the renunciation of his own will: “I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.u (Jn 5:30) and “I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me (Jn 6:38). Second, the renunciation of the acting in his own power, “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing…” (5:19) and “when you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me (8:28). Third, the renunciation of speaking and proclaiming on his own authority: “…I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak (12:49)
Although the descent of Jesus is unique and incomparable, for as he says to Nicodemus, ‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.” (Jn 3:13), we can prepare ourselves to be lifted up with him by imitating him in his humility, poverty and obedience. This attitude of Christ’s is foundational for a life of prayer.
In the resurrection appearance and ascension narrative in Luke we can find more essential teachings on prayer. In Luke, the events of Easter are foreshortened so that today’s passage on the Lord’s ascension follows immediately upon his first appearance to the eleven gathered in Jerusalem. I would like to conclude with a focus on these passages.
When the risen Christ first appeared to the eleven, he says “Peace to you”. Given that the eleven represent the Church, the first lesson is that the visit of Jesus has this ecclesial character, it happens in his body the Church. It also has this character of surprise, it could not have been anticipated, predicted or compelled. It is always a free gift.
Jesus comes to us with a word of peace- a word of forgiveness and reconciliation, which was the purpose of his coming. His peace, however, is not our peace. But his desire is to bring us into his peace.
Our response, therefore, is inevitably that we are unsettled.
Luke tells us that the initial response to the Lord’s coming was that the eleven were “startled and frightened” and to suppose that they had seen a spirit.
When the Lord visits us in the events of our lives or through the Scriptures or personal prayer, we too can find ourselves “startled and frightened”, that is, whenever a long-accustomed way of seeing and interpreting reality has been unsettled, we seem to lose the ground under our feet, and we find we are unable to discern the Lord in it, or hear his word of peace. In these moments, he calls us to go deeper, to look, remain, wait, trust more, so that, as our guide, he may lead us through our incomprehension into a more penetrating grasp of his mystery. If we remain and are attentive, we will hear him speak a word of encouragement to our hearts such as the next words that he speaks to the eleven, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings arise in your hearts?”
As they come to see that it really is Jesus and not a spirit, Luke tells us in this wonderful phrase, they “disbelieved for joy and wondered”. The mystery of his presence still lies beyond what they are able to take in. They remain overwhelmed. Their faith is still in a process of being radically reconfigured, but they perceive enough that the confusion, sorrow, sense of loss and purpose, pain, anguish, loneliness and sense of abandonment are gone and an ecstatic joy and wonderment have taken their place.
In this new space they have been made ready to see and hear him anew as he opens up the scriptures to them, which brings us to the opening of today’s Gospel, “that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day” “and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem”. But to be able to penetrate these mysteries more deeply along with the nature of their mission, they must wait in patience and prayer for the gift of the Spirit.
Lastly, the comprehension of the eleven has grown to the point that when the Lord does depart definitively, we are told that they “They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.
The Lord has laid down his life for us his friends so that we may life, a full life, through the gifts of the Spirit. As the Lord may visit us at any time and in any situation, whether accompanied by a powerful sense of his presence or at a depth that remains hidden to our conscious experience, so do the gifts of the Spirit. In whatever way he comes, he calls us to be ready and attentive, and, most of all, full of joy in the knowledge of what he has accomplished for our sake. For this disposition that is the most receptive to his gifts. For he has much that he wants to give us. So let us give thanks and never let go of this joy in our hearts as we resolve to use this time well.
