Cooler than clouds

Often, when we think of the Ascension (celebrated in many places last Thursday in accordance with tradition and celebrated in other places today), we think simply of our Lord Jesus Christ rising through the clouds into heaven.

To be sure, that is what happened.

It is a spectacular image and a glorious reality.

But if that is our only focus, we may miss the point.

The disciples themselves in today's first reading (Acts 1:1-11) appear to have been missing the point also, standing on a hilltop and gawking at the clouds instead of returning to Jerusalem and waiting for the Holy Spirit, which is what our Lord had told them to do.

(You know you’re REALLY spaced out when it takes a couple of angels to bring your head back down to earth.)

While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?”

People of faith are often accused of walking around with their heads in the clouds.

The Ascension is about much more than just what happened in the clouds.

The Ascension is about the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That is what we celebrate today and that is what today’s readings repeat with mighty eloquence.

Saint Paul associates great majesty and power with the Ascension (even though he does not use the word) as he writes in today’s second reading (Ephesians 1:17-33) of what the Father has done in Christ:

...raising him from the dead
and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,
far above every principality, authority,
power, and dominion,
and every name that is named
not only in this age but also in the one to come.

And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one
who fills all things in every way.

We see this same reality in today’s Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20), as our Lord speaks from power and sends forth his disciples in power.

Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold,
I am with you always,
until the end of the age.”

And in the explicit description of the Ascension in today’s first reading, our Lord’s last words confirm this bestowal of power and mission upon the disciples in spectacular fashion.

“You will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”

When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

Our celebration of the Ascension must be more than just thinking of how cool it would be to zip up through the clouds.

Our celebration of the Ascension should remind us how cool it is that the Lord of glory - the One who sits at the right hand of the Father, the One who has been given all power in heaven and earth – has given us a mission and the power to carry it out.

Go, therefore,
and make disciples of all nations...
And behold,
I am with you always,
until the end of the age.