The sky is not the limit

I would hazard a guess that most of us, most of the time, live with Christ’s apparent absence rather than a sense of his presence. Today is my least favorite day of the liturgical calendar- Ascension Sunday.  I don't even like the hymns.  Technically, the Feast of the Ascension is always celebrated on a Thursday-exactly 40 days after Easter.  So here we are some 40 days after Easter and we are staring up at the clouds wandering where exactly Jesus went and what exactly are we supposed to do now. The Ascension brings up some serious abandonment issues for me.  I can’t help but think if Jesus would have hung out with us just a little longer then maybe things would have turned out differently.  Maybe we could have avoided the Crusades or the Great Schism.

To be honest I find Luke’s story a little too sci-fi for my liking. The way Luke tells it Jesus walked around, ate, partied, and talked for 40 days after his resurrection in a body.  And then one day, the disciples were enjoying a nice little hike with Jesus and suddenly Jesus defies gravity and disappears into the clouds with the disciples standing on the ground staring at his feet.  As Jesus is floating above them, just before he is “beamed up”, he gives his disciples some final instructions.  And just what was Jesus thinking, leaving these guys who argued amongst themselves and had completely abandoned Jesus, in charge of changing the world?  Can you imagine the Instagram photos or tweets that day?!?

The weirdest thing just happened…

#keepyourfeetontheground

@skyisthelimit.com

#canigetawitness?

The game has been changed forever.

“I will be back!”

“Hang on! Help is on the way.”

Up, up and away on my beautiful cloud…

We weren’t ready for you to go, Jesus…you didn’t tell us who was the greatest.

You want us to do what???

Go where?  All the world?  Seriously?

Who did you say was coming?  Is he family?

 

And maybe, just maybe if the disciples had Instagram or Twitter I could wrap my head around it more. The whole pre-scientific concept that Jesus went up to heaven defies modern understanding of the universe. "Up where?", people ask. "Into outer space, a planet, a star?" The ascension story doesn’t fit into modern thinking anymore; it’s not mentioned in the Bible very much and it falls on a workday. Who needs it? But somehow the early church fathers wrapped their heads around it and made sure it got included in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creed.  Both affirm the reality of the ascension. It is that important.  It is as important as the resurrection, even though it doesn’t get a lot of press.  I looked and you can’t find a card that says, “Happy Ascension Day.” And given our love to market anything…why not ascension day balloons or climbing gear? 

And this is where it kind of gets messed up for me.  Jesus bodily ascending into heaven so we could do what exactly? And where did he go and why did he leave us?   I know he promised he would send a Helper to guide and shows us truth…but let’s face it…that Spirit is a wild thing.  And to expect us to be Christ’s hands, eyes, feet, and healing presence in the world.... well, I am not entirely convinced that was the best plan.  Another blogger put it this way: “I don’t know, Jesus.  I guess I just can’t get over how miraculous and infuriating and profound and ridiculous it is that you trust us, that the God of the universe allows sinners to do His work. It’s quite an unconventional plan. There are days when I’m convinced it’s going to fail.”  

I am easing into the belief that God trusts us to know we don’t have to hold on to him physically.  He gives us power to “Go into all the world” and actually show up in tangible ways in the lives around us and to pursue justice and peace.  Ironically by letting go of Jesus, we never can really loose him.   In the ascension, God is saying that we are capable of restoring a broken world, that we really do have the power to be Christ’s love to all the world and there is no limit on that.