“You Ascended on High”
Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Mk
16:15-20
O sing to the Lord, make music
to his name; make a highway for him who rides on the clouds. Alleluia.
Today, the liturgical readings reflect
upon the celebration of the Ascension of the Lord, who ascended into heaven on
the fortieth day after Easter. The Ascension of the Lord Jesus implies that all
the purposes of his incarnation and advent are accomplished in and through his
passion, death and resurrection. Jesus did not leave the earth until he
accomplished everything on earth that God entrusted him to do. In his recorded
intercessory prayer, addressing his Father, he exclaimed, “I have glorified you
on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.”
The highest reward for this accomplished mission
was to return to the Father and occupy his thrown which he had before the
creation of the universe. He returned to the same glory that he had as John the
evangelist proclaims, “In the beginning was the word. And the word was God. And
word was with God” (Jn 1:1-3). It is our belief too. Our savior Jesus Christ sits
now on the right hand of God as our Intercessor too. The
apostle Paul says to the Romans, “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes,
who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us
(Rom 8:34).” He
died for us. He died that he might offer eternal life to us. He lives that he
may be our advocate as well as our propitiation with the Father.
As he ascended to the Father, he left his
mission to his followers. The church is the community of his followers. She has
a preaching task to tell the story of his good news to those who have never
heard of it. The church has a healing task to bring health to the body and
health to the soul of every creature. The church has a source of power to have
the power to lift venomous snakes and drink poisonous liquids and take no harm.
Yet, the church is never left alone to do this task. Always Christ works with her
and in and through her. The Lord of the church works still in the church through
his Spirit.
And the risen Jesus empowers us to carry
on his work. Jesus’ last words to his apostles point to his saving mission and
to their mission to be witnesses. And it is to give witness to his saving death
and his glorious resurrection and to proclaim the good news of salvation to all
the world. Our task is to proclaim the Gospel - the good news of salvation to
all the nations. God’s love and gift of salvation is not reserved for a few or
for one nation alone, but it is for the whole world - all who accept it. The
Gospel is the power of God, the power to release people from their burden of
guilt, sin, oppression, power to heal, restore, and make us whole. Let us also
ascend from earthly things to the heavenly things in our day today spiritual
journey.
Each of us has been given a
special gift to build up the body of Christ
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