Scripture Reflections for the Ascension of the Lord
Year C, Lectionary 58
We can limit the significance of the Ascension of Jesus into Christ going up into heaven and no longer seeing him. But we are meant to see how we are opened up to a relationship with the Holy Trinity. We are offered to enter into communion with God by Jesus, fully human and fully divine, entering the divine realm. Uniting Heaven and Earth in the process. Like those early disciples we are not meant to stand looking up at the sky but to go on mission through the Holy Spirit of gathering others into this relationship with God.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Angel • Ascension • Beginning • Body • Cling • Connected • Discern • Disciple • Divine • Encourage • End • Exodus • Expand • Faith • Forgive • Growth • Heaven • Holy Spirit • Hope • Journey • Joy • Kingdom • Love • Mercy • Mission • Optimism • Peace • Presence • Priest • Resurrection • Sacred • Sacrifice • Sight • Sin • Tabernacle • Temple • Transfiguration • Trust • Witness • Worship •
“Through the Holy Spirit we receive power not to be passive onlookers staring at the cloud but to become an active cloud of witnesses and ministry with the living Christ who is among us”
“If you read the New Testament in light of the Old Testament you'll notice that the number 40 is a very significant number and whenever you see the number 40, especially 40 days and 40 nights, it always refers to two things: it's a time of transition and it's a time of purification and preparation”
“the Ascension is an essential...part of the Paschal mystery because it takes the historical event of the passion and brings it into eternity”
“what Paul is trying to say here in Ephesians 1 is that when Christ ascended into heaven he wasn't simply vindicated as the Messiah, he was also exalted in his humanity, this is really crucial, above all of the angels”
“At the pivotal transition between Luke’s two volumes, Jesus’ final words to the disciples prior to his Ascension reaffirm the promise of the Spirit”
“When we experience suffering or confusing or complicated events in our lives it can be easy to turn away from asking deeper questions because of the pain we have experienced. However, the Ascension calls us to consider allowing what happens to us become a part of our story and our call.”
“In the Ascension, Jesus did not leave the world, he entered it more deeply through us. So the Ascension is not about Jesus's going away. God does not become absent, he becomes present in a new way.”
“The Ascension which we know was not Jesus running away, it is Jesus empowering us”
“like the disciples, you might have to go through that, that difficult painful moment of letting go of the Jesus you understand now, letting that Jesus ascend and letting a bigger, more expansive Jesus come to you”
“Joy is different than happiness. A joy passed is a peace that passes understanding.”
“today on the feast of the Ascension, the body of God physically enters heaven just as every time we take communion the body of God physically enters us. Surely if our bodies are as capable a host to the divine as are the heights and depths of life eternal, they can't be all that bad.”
“Ascending is not rising above. It is rising with. Rising with the memory of pain and death, the memory of betrayal and sadness but also with the glory and the hope that comes in the morning”
“So by saying that Jesus was appearing and instructing his Apostles for a period of 40 days after his resurrection, Luke was in a way saying that the Apostles...had the right to speak in his name, they had the right now to repeat his teaching and to spread his message”
“If they continue to raise their eyes up to Heaven instead of looking forward to the Christ in their midst they will miss the point”
“every time we allow Jesus to ascend and expand we find our own souls ascending and expanding and becoming something much greater than we could have ever imagined or dreamed of”
“Jesus is not the toned beautiful white man we see in much of our art. Jesus was wounded, hurt and scarred...it is this wounded body that was seen as holy enough to enter Heaven. Likewise, our bodies are holy too.”
“is this world different because you were born and baptized? Is this world different because you are the presence of the risen Lord in the world?”
“The scripture, however, make it clear that the followers of Jesus are called to not stand out and gaze in the sky looking for Jesus to come back but they're called to be active members in the mission of the Christ in this world”
“it is hard but you have to go in order to grow and that is how life is. Many times you have to give up some forms of comfort in order to gain something greater.”
