Readings:
Sermon:
On Thursday the Church celebrated the great feast day of the Ascension of our Lord which is forty days after the resurrection. It’s always celebrated on a Thursday and so I thought it would be a good thing to transfer the feast so that we can all have a ponder about what the Ascension might mean for us now, in our journey with Jesus.
Let me start with a confession. Back when I was younger Ascension Day was one of those times when the Vicar stood up the Sunday before and reminded us that we really should turn out for the mid-week service. And dutifully I did. But I’ve got to be honest that’s pretty much all that I did for a number of years. A day of obligation which, if I’m being honest, I was never quite sure why I was obliged to go.
My first big problem is that I had this vision of a slightly angelic, magisterial Jesus appearing on a glorious plume of delicate, satin like clouds, waving regally to his disciples as he ascended to heaven on a holy escalator. If I’m being very irreverent the image I had was of a Liberace kind of character sprinkling fairy dust. So, my first message today, is ditch this image because I highly doubt from what we know about Jesus that he would suddenly go from being on the fringes of society and being associated with the outcasts, to become a regal, slightly pompous character often depicted in pieces of artwork and stained glass. For me, how Jesus ascended is almost irrelevant, what is important is what it means for us.
Now I’m a bit of a science fiction geek and I’m fascinated about time and space and we have something of this in the Ascension because when Jesus lived his human life he was bound to a particular time and a particular space. He lived in Jerusalem 2000 and a bit years ago. And in being bound in a particular time some have asked what relevance Jesus has on our lives today and I think the Ascension goes some way to answering that. Because through ascending to heaven to be with the Father, Jesus goes beyond the realms of our understanding of time and space because he breaks them down. He is no longer bound to Jerusalem 2000 years ago. He now exists throughout all of time and space and is with humanity in the past, now and in the future. And I find this both mind blowing and awe inspiring.
Now I’m not great at temporal mechanics and I appreciate that many of us would end up with a headache if we started to try and unpick this in any great detail – I’ll leave such thoughts to great scientists – but in our inability to unpick the concept of Jesus existing beyond time and space there is also another message, don’t try and unpick the concept of Jesus existing outside of time and space. Instead, just indulge in the glory, the mystery and the amazing possibilities of what this means for us now. It means that Jesus is with us now. Right here, right now. And not just with us but with everyone throughout time and space. And as we ponder the Ascension just allow this to be a wonderful mystery to sit with and for it to be something amazing to focus on, and give thanks for.
But not only is Jesus here with us now, as he is also throughout time and space, but through the Ascension he also returns to the very heart of God and there is something deeply profound in this; something which should move us deeply and divulge to us something which is really important to our understanding of God. And to understand this we need to remember that Jesus was fully divine and fully human.
He’s not half and half, he’s not God veiled in flesh as our Christmas carols would have us sing, he is fully God and fully human. So when Jesus ascends to the father that which ascends is not just the divine but also the human
At the heart of God is humanity.
At the heart of God is us.
And this moves me immensely. God not only sent his son to earth to become both human and divine and live among us but he then has so much love for us he takes Jesus back with into the godhead with his humanity still fully part of him and as Rowan Williams the former Archbishop of Canterbury says:
Jesus takes our human nature—yours and mine—to the heart of God and he speaks to God his father in a human voice. In heaven the language they speak is human (not just angelic). Our words (human words) are heard at the very centre of the burning heart of reality.
And if this isn’t deeply moving then I’m not sure what is because what this means is that God loved humanity so much, he took us into his very heart.
After years of not really getting it what I’ve learnt over time is that through the Ascension there is a sense of completeness. Jesus breaks down the temporal restraints which held him in his earthly ministry and now exists throughout time and history. Humanity is then taken into the heart of God in heaven where we are loved, held, cherished and fully known.
My hope now is that this Ascension Day will bring us all the sense of amazement it has brought me by just taking the time to think about what it means to be a follower of the Ascended Christ.
Questions:
- What do you think about the belief that at the Ascension humanity is taken up into the heart of God?
- How do you experience the mystery in your faith?
- What does the Ascension of Jesus mean to you in your discipleship journey?