Readings: Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:17-23 Mark 16:15-20
The Feast of the Ascension celebrates both the resurrected Jesus’ triumph over the power of sin and evil by his ascension to the right hand of the Father and also the apostles’ mission, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to witness to the Christ’s victory throughout the world. Let us rejoice in Jesus’ enthronement in the refrain of our responsorial psalm: “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy; a blare of trumpets for the Lord” (Ps 48).
The account of Jesus’ ascension in the first reading comes from the introduction to Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles. As in his Gospel, Luke addresses Acts to Theophilus (“lover of God”). Our reading recapitulates the events of the Gospel with special emphasis on Jesus’ commissioning of the apostles to wait in Jerusalem to receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will send them as his witnesses to the whole world. Luke begins by summarizing what he narrated in his Gospel: Jesus’ actions and teachings until his ascension, his choice of the apostles, his suffering and death, his resurrection appearances over a forty day period in which he spoke of the kingdom of God and proved that he was alive, and his command not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the Father’s promise of their baptism with the Holy Spirit. He prefaces his second account of the ascension (see Luke 24:50-53) with a dialogue between the apostles and Jesus at their last meeting. They ask, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” But Jesus says that it is not for them to know “the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.” Instead he promises: “. . . 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.” Then like Elijah in 2 Kings 2 and certain traditions associated with Moses, Jesus is “lifted up, and a cloud takes him from their sight.” For Luke this is Jesus’ enthronement as the triumphant Messiah King and Son of Man at God’s right hand (see Daniel 7:13 and Luke 1:32; Acts 2:22-36; 7:56). His exodus or departure has been a part of God’s plan from the beginning (see Luke 9:28-36; 9:51). Like the prophets Moses and Elijah who appeared with him in glory at his transfiguration to talk of his exodus (9:28-36), Jesus must leave physically for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on his successors who will carry on his work (see Deuteronomy 34 and 2 Kings 2). The “two men dressed in white garments” who stand beside the apostles as they witness the ascension may be Moses and Elijah (cf. Luke 9:28-36; 24:1-8). They do not allow the apostles to continue to gawk at Jesus’ ascension, but rather assure them of Jesus’ return as the Messiah/Son of Man who will establish his kingdom after their work of witnessing to him throughout the earth.
The Epistle reading is taken from the thanksgiving section of Ephesians in which the Pauline author prays that God through the resurrected and ascended Christ will give the Christian community, his body on earth, “a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.” In Christ’s resurrection from the dead, ascension, and enthronement at his right hand, God has defeated the powers of evil that formerly ruled the world--“every principality, authority, power, and dominion and every name that is named.” God has put all things beneath Christ’s feet and given him “as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.” Paul’s prayer is that the Christian community will have the eyes of their hearts enlightened by the risen and triumphant Christ so that they know “the hope that belongs to his (God the Father’s) call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe.”
The Gospel reading is taken from the so-called longer ending of Mark (16:9-20). Some manuscripts have Mark’s Gospel ending with 16:1-8, the story of the women’s discovery of the empty tomb and a young man clothed in a white robe telling them that Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified has been raised and is going to Galilee where his disciples are to see him. This longer ending is not in the style of Mark, but it is part of the canonical Gospel and was apparently added to the text by the second century A.D. It contains resurrection traditions found in the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John.
Like our first two readings it proclaims both the mission of the disciples to the world and Jesus’ ascension and enthronement at the right hand of God as a basis for hope and confidence for its success. The resurrected Jesus first commissions his disciples to go into the whole world, proclaim the gospel to every creature, and baptize believers. He goes on to assure them of the power to work signs in his name: driving out demons, speaking new languages, healing the sick, even being protected from serpents and deadly things. Jesus is then taken up into heaven and takes his seat at the right hand of God. Assured of his protection, his disciples go forth and preach everywhere, while the Lord works through them, confirming the signs he had promised.
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