\nOften,
\nwe breeze past Ascension Day, because it never falls on a Sunday, we
\ndon’t have a special service for it, and it is just as easy to use
\nthe texts for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. \u00a0 To be perfectly honest,
\nI was expecting to do this again this year, except for the truly
\nfantastic Children’s Time Story about the Ascension, and the
\nopportunity to tie worship together tightly.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nFurthermore,
\nthat final line in the Ascension story, “Men of Galilee, why
\ndo you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken
\nup from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go
\ninto heaven.” (Acts 1:11)<\/i>
\npretty much preaches itself! \u00a0There are few lines more perfect.
\n\u201cCome on people! \u00a0Stop staring at what has been, and see what is!\u201d
\n \u00a0Or, we could go with \u201cStop waiting for what God is going to do
\nnext, God has already done enough!\u201d \u00a0It fits something I often want
\nto say.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nHowever,
\nI got thinking about the Ascension, and suddenly things got really
\nfuzzy for me. \u00a0What does it mean, for us today? \u00a0Does it mean
\nanything? \u00a0(I mean, normally, we skip over it.) \u00a0What has it meant to
\nothers? \u00a0How does that impact what it means for us today?<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nTo
\nadd to my confusion over the meaning of Ascension came the normal
\nweekly task of hymn selection. There are websites with hymn
\nsuggestions to fit scriptures, a useful thing, \u00a0and I discovered that
\nthe hymns for ascension were themed on Jesus’ power and kingship.
\nFrankly, I had no idea why. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nLuckily,
\nour house is basically a theology library. \u00a0 The 6 volume dictionary
\nof the Bible put out by InterVarsity Press includes a volume
\n\u201cDictionary of the Later new Testament and its Developments\u201d and
\nan entry on ascension. \u00a0Before I quote their opening lines, it may be
\nuseful to know that this comes from a significantly more traditional
\nChristian worldview than one I occupy. \u00a0In fact, I barely know about
\nthis one, despite the best efforts of my seminary theology
\nprofessors. \u00a0(I was bored to tears by \u201ctraditional\u201d German
\ntheology, I didn’t even know why people were still writing it, as it
\nwas just a rehashing.) \u00a0Clearly I barely know this stuff, I had to
\nlook it up. \u00a0Anyway, they say,\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe
\nascension is the second stage of Jesus Christ’s three-stage
\nexaltation, in which after his bodily resurrection (the first stage)
\nhe visibly departed earth and entered the presence of God in heaven
\nto be crowned at his right hand with glory, honor, and authority.
\nThe third stage, his enthronement, or session at God’s right hand,
\ncommences his perpetual reign and intercession for his people.<\/p>\n
\n\u2026 Acts \n<\/p>\n \nAnd \n<\/p>\n \nAs \n\u201cLuke’s \n<\/p>\n \nSeen \n\u201cthe \nThere \n<\/p>\n \nAnother \n Then \nWhen \nHe \n<\/p>\n \nNow, \n<\/p>\n \nSo \n<\/p>\n \nThe 1<\/a>\u201cDictionary 2<\/a>Luke 3<\/a>Marcus 4<\/a>Footnote <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron
\ngives the most detail about the ascension. \u00a0It brings out its
\ndecisive role for christology, the coming of salvation blessings, the
\nchurch’s mission, and eschatology. \u00a0The book of Hebrews teaches that
\nthe ascension was essential to the completion of Christ’s
\nhigh-priestly work and to his continuing intercessory work. \u00a01 Peter
\nand Revelation pursue the theme of ascension as victory over hostile
\nspiritual powers. \u00a0In the apostolic fathers the ascension undergirds
\nthe Christian calendar and, since it culminates in Christ’s universal
\nreign, provides a rationale for virtue.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nnow I know why the hymn suggestions were about power and kingship,
\nwhich is helpful. \u00a0However, that description also served as a
\nreminder of just how many layers of scholarship and tradition have
\nbuilt on each other, often in ways that are no longer useful (if ever
\nthey were.)<\/p>\n
\na counter to that, Luke Timothy Johnson, professor of New Testament
\nat Candler School of Theology, explains what he gets of the ascension
\nnarrative. \u00a0He says,\n<\/p>\n
\ntwo ascension accounts (Luke 24:51 and Acts 1:9-11) serve to remove
\nJesus’ body from the sight of humans as a preparation for another
\nmode of his presence. \u00a0This is a deeper level of absence than the
\nempty tomb, for it means that even as the Living One, Jesus will no
\nlonger be present in the sort of bodily shape that his disciples
\nknew. \u00a0That earlier mode of bodily presence was still limited. \u00a0If
\nJesus ascends to the right hand of God and receives from [God] the
\npromise of the Holy Spirit, then then ‘life’ that is at work in him
\ncan be poured out over all humans, so that his presence can be
\nmediated in all the ways in which those led by his Spirit body [go]
\nforth.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nin this way, the ascension is almost a prelude to Pentecost. \u00a0Until
\nthe experienced presence of Jesus has departed, the new experience of
\nbeing bathed in the power of the Holy Spirit cannot come. \u00a0This,
\nthen, is one of the transition points of the Christian narrative, and
\nin that way I think it does make sense as an extension of the
\nResurrection narratives. \u00a0In this case, I think Marcus Borg does the
\nbest job explaining how:<\/p>\n
\nexperiences that lie at the heart of Easter… carried with them the
\nconviction that God had vindicated Jesus. \u00a0Easter is not simply about
\npeople experiencing a person who has died. \u00a0The Easter stories aren’t
\n‘ghost stories’ (see Luke 24:37-43). \u00a0Rather, they are stories of
\nvindication, of God’s ‘yes’ to Jesus. \u00a0God has exalted Jesus, raised
\nhim to God’s right hand, made him Lord. \u00a0And lest we forget how Jesus
\ndied, the Easter stories in both John and Luke remind us that the
\nrisen Jesus still carried the wounds inflicted by the empire that
\nkilled him.<\/p>\n
\nis a continuity between the post-Easter conviction that God has
\nvindicated Jesus and the message of the pre-Easter Jesus. \u00a0‘Jesus is
\nLord’ is the post-Easter equivalent of Jesus’ proclamation of the
\nkingdom of God. \u00a0God is king, and the kings of this world are not,
\nJesus is lord, and the lords of this world are not. \u00a0And just as
\nJesus’s passion for the kingdom led him to oppose the imperial
\ndomination system, so his followers’ passion for the lordship of
\nChrist led them to defy the lordship of Caesar.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nscholar mentioned that the ascension story is CLEARLY not meant to be
\ntaken literally, since it happens in Luke on Easter and in Acts 40
\ndays later, and the same author wrote both volumes. \u00a0That means that,
\nmuch like the creation narratives, we’re supposed to be looking the
\ndeeper meaning instead of getting obsessed with the literal one.
\n(Phew.) \u00a0However, the thing that no scholar I read made mention of,
\nwhich didn’t particularly make sense to me, was how this compares to
\nthe story of Elijah’s ascension. \u00a0I mean, there are plenty of books I
\ndidn’t look at, but I did glance through 15 of them, and you’d think
\nthey’d mention the ONE OTHER ascension narrative in the Bible,
\nwouldn’t you? \u00a0Let’s hear the crux of that narrative:<\/p>\n
\nElijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the
\nwater was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of
\nthem crossed on dry ground.\n<\/p>\n
\nthey had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, \u2018Tell me what I may do for
\nyou, before I am taken from you.\u2019 Elisha said, \u2018Please let me
\ninherit a double share of your spirit.\u2019 He responded, \u2018You have
\nasked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you,
\nit will be granted you; if not, it will not.\u2019 As they continued
\nwalking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated
\nthe two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.
\nElisha kept watching and crying out, \u2018Father, father! The chariots
\nof Israel and its horsemen!\u2019 But when he could no longer see him,
\nhe grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.\n<\/p>\n
\npicked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went
\nback and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of
\nElijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, \u2018Where
\nis the Lord, the God of Elijah?\u2019 When he had struck the water, the
\nwater was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went
\nover. \u00a0When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a
\ndistance, they declared, \u2018The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.\u2019
\nThey came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. (NRSV, 2
\nKings 2:8-15)<\/p>\n
\nElisha was the disciple of Elijah, and this is a story of the Spirit
\nand Power of Elijah being given to Elisha as Elijah ascends into
\nheaven. \u00a0It is a bit more spectacular of a story, what with the
\nchariot and horse of fire and whirlwind, but the gist is really
\nsimilar. \u00a0Not only is someone who has been speaking God’s truths
\n\u201celevated\u201d at the end of their life, and therefore affirmed as
\nGod’s special messenger, the disciple(s) of the God-speaker, are
\nempowered by the same action. \u00a0In fact, as far as I know it, Moses
\n(whose body is said to be buried by God so no humans could find it),
\nElijah, and Jesus are the only characters in the Bible whose lives
\nare so important that in their deaths they are cared for directly by
\nGod. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nI think it is relevant! \u00a0I think that these stories, which come from
\na time when the three tiered universe was presumed true (which is the
\nidea that heaven is above us and if it is exists hell is below us,
\nideas that don’t work once we get to the concept of a spherical
\nearth), actually imply that by being taken into heaven, Elijah and
\nJesus were \u00a0\u201centering the realm of the divine.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a>
\n \u00a0That’s related to the radical claim that early Christians made
\nabout Jesus. \u00a0You may know that LOTS of people were said to be
\nresurrected in ancient times. \u00a0Only two things about that claim for
\nJesus were weird: \u00a0first that he was resurrected after being killed
\nby the Roman Empire, which was an embarrassing sort of thing to claim
\nfor your religious leader in most cases, and secondly that he was the
\n\u201cfirstborn of the resurrection.\u201d \u00a0Christian theology pretty
\nquickly developed the idea that because God raised Jesus from the
\ndead, that those who followed as \u201clittle Christs\u201d along \u201cthe
\nway\u201d would ALSO be raised (somehow, someday). \u00a0Jesus didn’t just
\nexpress God and \u00a0return to God, Jesus opened the way for others to
\nalso express God and eventually return to God.<\/p>\n
\nascension also, inherently, has elements of overcoming hierarchy. \u00a0In
\na three-tiered universe AND a top down patriarchal system, the amount
\nof power and glory a person had was expressed as how \u201chigh up\u201d
\nthey were. \u00a0(This still makes sense to us today, which should maybe
\nconcern us.) \u00a0To have Jesus elevated beyond the boundaries of earth
\nitself then, is an INCREDIBLE metaphor for Jesus blowing up the whole
\nhierarchy, which is even better after the so called embarrassment of
\nhis crucifixion. \u00a0 And then, of course, it still all ends with the
\nmessengers of God telling the disciples of Jesus to bring their minds
\nand energy back to earth and get back to work in building the kindom.
\n I still don’t know exactly what ascension means, but I’m thinking it
\nwas worth this exploration and maybe some more down the road. \u00a0May
\nwe’ll figure it out \u2013 eventually. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n
\n\tof the later New Testament and its developments\u201d editors Ralph P.
\n\tMartin and Peter H Davids (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity
\n\tPress, 1997, page 95-96.<\/p>\n
\n\tTimothy Johnson \u201cLiving Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel\u201d
\n\t(HarperSanFransciso, 1999) 21-22.<\/p>\n
\n\tBorg, \u201cJesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of
\n\ta Religious Revolutionary\u201d (USA:
\n\tHarperOne, 2006) page 289.<\/p>\n
\n\tin The Jewish Annotated New Testament: New Revised
\n\tStandard Version Bible Translation<\/i>,
\n\tedited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Oxford: Oxford
\n\tUniversity Press, 2011), 199.<\/p>\n
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
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