The gospel for Ascension Sunday May 29th (Luke 24:44-53) takes place following Jesus’ resurrection. According to Luke, Jesus’ first post-resurrection appearance was on the road to Emmaus when beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.(Luke 24:27) This morning’s gospel repeats the emphasis on scriptural fulfillment. 

**

The gospel opens when Jesus met with his other disciples, apparently later on Easter Sunday:

…he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’

Since fulfillment of the prophecies is a proof-point of Jesus’ life and the Father’s validation, this part of the gospel seems to beg the question: what passages of the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms speak of the Messiah’s suffering and resurrection. 

Some biblical scholars have looked at passages which foreshadowed Jesus' life and death and curated a list, organized according to the sequence of Jesus’ life.
•      Isaiah 7:14, the virgin birth
•      Micah 5:2, the Messiah will come from Bethlehem
•      Exodus 16, the manna from heaven and the multiplication of the loaves
•      Malachi 3:1, the messenger (John the Baptist) will prepare the way
•      Zechariah 9:9, the Messiah’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem
•      Zechariah 13:7, Christ will be abandoned by his disciples
•      Isaiah 53:4-12, the Lord lays on Christ the iniquity of us 
•      Isaiah 60:3 the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will appear over you 

Others believe that the central fact is that Christ rooted his death and resurrection in the Hebrew scriptures and the promise of a Messiah rather than specific scriptural passages. 

Still others look to the broad scriptural history of how God feed the people from slavery in Egypt, returned the Israelites from exile in Babylon as the prophetic indications of Christ’s salvation. These three different ways of looking at how Jesus explained his fulfillment are each valid and complimentary.

**

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. 

I’m sure each person has had experiences of a later and sudden realization, about the real meaning of a comment or an event in which they had participated, that cast the incident in a whole new light. I sense that this is a facsimile of what the disciples experienced as they heard Jesus explain.

I have a personal experience of having my ‘mind opened to understand scripture’. As a student at Wycliffe College about 20 years ago I had been fascinated by different academic approaches to biblical analysis: form criticism when one looks at the literary structure of scripture through the lens of narrative verse, poetry or mythology to understand an author’s writing style: an historical-critical approach, that looks at other contemporary documents from the same era for validation of certain points of scripture…such as what historical documents say about when and how Herod reigned, and: biblical archeology and geography, to understand, for example, that the walls of Jericho might have come tumbling down because it was in an earthquake prone region. 

Then, one day as I waited for class to begin, I looked at a familiar passage of scripture. It was a stunning moment. It seemed to speak directly to me about how I should live. The text took on a freshness far beyond the analytical techniques. I began to consider scripture ‘from the inside’, not as an object of analysis but as something to inhabit and live into. I imagine that this as a small glimpse of what Jesus’ disciples experienced when he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and they suddenly saw how the texts pointed to him 

**

Jesus continued by saying that, repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. His disciples had seen that he had fulfilled the words of John the Baptist who had gone into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:3) It was a bookend, in several senses of the expression.

**

Jesus concluded, And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. 

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

**

The first reading for this Sunday from Acts 1 (also written by Luke) picks up the story at this point. When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

**

We embed Jesus’ Ascension into our beliefs. In the Nicene creed we say, “…he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.”

We believe that the risen Christ went to heaven and ‘lives there’ in a way that is mysterious and real. We don’t try to explain the physics of his flight. We believe that he continues to live as a fully alive human person. He still cares about this world of which he was part, and that includes us. His continuing life shows each of us our own potential for life beyond death where we will live with God as the fully realized persons God created us to be.

**  

  • Try to imagine what Jesus’ disciples thought as they returned to Jerusalem from Bethany after the Ascension. They had been with him in daily life for years prior to his crucifixion. They had seen his mysterious resurrection after they knew that he had died. Just now they had seen him ‘fly away’ to heaven! They didn’t know how any of these recent events had been accomplished, but they knew they were true and they interpreted them as meaning that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and that he lived. What did they think would happen next?
  • Jesus’ resurrection and ascension are two central mysteries – truths that don’t have scientific explanations - of our faith. We may even shy away from considering them because they fall so far outside our experience. Yet both deserve our attention because they signal our own destiny and, in our day to day lives, orient us to a way of living that is consistent with these truths. Take time to consider how God might perceive your fully-realized potential…and celebrate this understanding of God’s desires for us as one of the gifts of the Resurrection-Ascension.
  • For the past 11 years, St. Aidan’s has been the location of the serial show “We love Lucy”. But  Lucy Reid’s last Sunday as our priest is May 29, after which she enters her well-earned retirement. I asked her if she intentionally chose Ascension Sunday as her last day. She said that was just a coincidence of the liturgical calendar. I don’t think so! Those who know her have observed that she plans everything to the smallest detail. I think we should wait to see how she exits.  
    Peace
    Michael