SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION - Acts 1:1-11
Making the connection to his earlier book (the Gospel), Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles with a summary of Jesus’ ministry and, then, he presents Jesus’ farewell with his last instructions. Jesus sat with the apostles at the table and shared with them a fellowship meal, as he had done so many times. Then he advised them “not to leave Jerusalem”, but to wait there for the fulfilment of the promise of the Father, that is the sending of the Holy Spirit because they will be “baptised with the Holy Spirit”.
However, the apostles were interested in that conversation. They had earthly ideals of power and wealth, and they remained out of step with Jesus up to the end. They were waiting for the political restoration of the kingdom of Israel and they were bold enough to ask Jesus about it. Jesus refused to give an answer, making it clear that such concern was a waste of time. Instead, he renewed the promise of the Holy Spirit that will give them the power to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” That is their mission - our mission: empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to be witnesses of Jesus Christ everywhere. Saying farewell to the Apostles, Jesus leaves his mission to them. We are called to lead others to Jesus, so that in him they may find life and salvation.
And then, “as he said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.” This is the way Luke describes the glorification and exaltation of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God who came down, took flesh and lived among us. Now he is ascending to his glory, the glory he always had as Son of God. The cloud signifies his glory and his divinity, like in the Old Testament (Lev 16:2; Num 9:15; Dt 31:15).
And the passage ends with the last incident. As Jesus was lifted up, the Apostles remained there surprised and astonished, filled with exhilaration, forgetting time and place. It was as if life had stopped and they had already left this world. There are many who seek this experience as if they have fallen asleep, unaware of the surrounding reality, filled with a sense of peace and happiness, untouched by any kind of pain and suffering. We may forget that we are still in the world (John 17:11). And it is to the world that we are sent to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and to proclaim his Gospel. We may look to heaven and be filled with a deep desire of joining Jesus, but in order to achieve that, we must come back to the reality of life to live it according to Jesus’ way. The angels forced the Apostles to do that, asking them a simple but pertinent question: “Why do you stand looking into heaven?” What are you doing here in wonder and ecstasy? With this question, the Apostles were brought back to the reality surrounding them. They had to prepare themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit and then to carry out the mission entrusted to them.
With the first community of the disciples, we must use this week to prepare ourselves for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
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