Continuing the Mission

For the past forty-two days we have been celebrating the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus. The season of Easter should be an opportunity for us to reflect upon the gift of new life that Christ has won for us all as He rose from the dead. During this period, as we gather here and listen to the Word of God, there has been little relation of what Jesus did with the disciples after the Resurrection and before His departure to the Father today on the Ascension.  Each Sunday, we have typically heard from John’s Gospel, either relating the encounter Jesus had with Nicodemus or His final teaching moments at the Last Supper.

What, exactly, happened between Jesus and the disciples during these forty days? We know that there were numerous encounters between the Risen Christ and the disciples: in the Upper Room, outside His tomb, on the road to Emmaus, at the Sea of Tiberius. However, at least on our Sundays, we hear very little about these moments.

Now, we are with Him and the Apostles, and Jesus is apparently leaving. So, what happened in these forty days, and why is Jesus so comfortable leaving the Church to ourselves to carry on His work? Certainly, they renewed their faith in Him; and that faith must have been galvanized in the presence of the resurrected Lord. Their Friend and Teacher who had died is now alive – just as He said He would be!

The Ascension of the Lord is not an ending by any means.  It is a beginning.  As Jesus returns to the Father He takes our redeemed humanity with Him.  As He is now seated at the right hand of God, we are there with Him.  And because of this, Jesus can say to the Apostles – and to us – “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.”

With this beginning, the Church is commissioned to go forth and to share the same message and power that Christ brought in His earthly ministry. You and I are sent on mission with the power of the Spirit whom we have received. The fact that Jesus has ascended to heaven is not a separation but a victory and an empowerment of the Church. We prayed at the beginning of Mass “the ascension of Christ your Son is our exaltation, and, where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called now to follow in hope.”

As we return to ponder the teachings and actions of Jesus during His earthly ministry we are reminded of an important fact. The same Jesus who rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples is the same Jesus who walked in our world, taught, healed, and loved during His earthly life. The One who was crucified is the same One who walked through a locked door and stood and ate among the Apostles. That is significant, and as if to underscore it, we are directed by the Word of God to return to His teachings before He died and rose. That ministry matters; and the continuation of that ministry matters too.

Yes, the disciples are witnesses to the incredible miracle of the resurrection, but they are also the students of Jesus – the One who now sends them into the world as He was sent, to continue that same mission. The offer of that mission should excite us, even if it fills us with a healthy sense of fear. Because the Ascension, as I said, is just the beginning for us.

Now, we are instructed by the Lord to stop staring into the heavens and to go and await the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus returns to the Father, He tells us, “Behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you”. That promise is the power to go and do as He has done. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

If the ministry of Jesus means anything for us, then this moment when we celebrate His return to the Father should fill us with joy and hope. “Where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called now to follow in hope.” This is our call now; we must be a people of hope – even in a world that offers so many reasons for hopelessness.  The Christian is called to be in the world as a life-giving leaven, as a gift of cool water in a barren desert, as light in a dark place. Jesus makes that possible by the gift of His grace and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It is not our task to waste our lives staring into the heavens. That is the message of the angels as Jesus ascended. “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heavenwill return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” May he find us doing His work when He returns, and may we recognize His coming in the work we do.