And here we are at last. It’s been forty days (and a bit) since Jesus took everyone by surprise by rising from the dead as he promised.
No one believed this was going to happen, so it’s no wonder he had to stay around for a while to make sure it sank in. Otherwise, the apostles might think they had imagined the whole thing.
This is one of Monsignor Ronald Knox’s theories as to why Jesus remained on earth for forty days after he rose from the dead.
This works well alongside my own “Jesus was busy founding the church” theory.
When people begin to cast doubt on the early church’s experience of the risen Jesus, it’s good to remind them that he didn’t exactly vanish the morning after the resurrection. The early church had plenty of time to get to know him, so to speak.
So now Jesus done as much as he can with what he’s got, which is 12 very ordinary men and a slightly bigger bunch of assorted hangers-on.
It should give us confidence in the future of the church when we realise just how limited its chosen founders were, and what a mixed bag they were.
This mixed bag of very ordinary people is about to do something completely new. That’s pretty much what God does with each of us when he acts through us.
He shows us and tells that he makes things new (Is 43:19; Rev 21:5). He restores, renews, reinvigorates, and re-creates.
Jesus has prepared his followers for the eighth day of creation. This is the renewal of everything and everyone under the influence of divine grace, slowly but surely, over the entire life history of the future church.
We are part of that history now, and part of that renewal. It’s our job to keep living and acting in that spirit for the rest of eternity.
From Ronald Knox I also learned another lovely insight into the Ascension, which Knox credits to Père Francois Clugny, a 17th century French Oratorian priest.
Clugny said that the Ascension was one of the (possibly few) events in Jesus’ mission that was really enjoyable for him.
When we think of the life of Jesus in his humanity, he lived in a subsistence economy and had very little to call his own.
(Sometimes I like to remind people that Jesus in his life on earth never ate potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes or avocadoes.)
The key parts of his mission involved him having a really terrible time – being harassed, chased out of town, rejected, publicly humiliated, physically injured, and finally judicially murdered.
And while we are grateful for all this (or at least I hope so), we don’t usually stop to think whether Jesus had much fun in his life or not.
I certainly think he did have fun, because he shows many signs of having a good sense of humour.
G K Chesterton thought that Jesus’ joy in his humanity was so great and god-like that he had to hide it even from his very close friends.
But with the Ascension, there is no doubt at all that Jesus – very much alive in his humanity – would have enjoyed it thoroughly.
He was going home. Anyone who’s been away from home for a long time and then heads back there, absolutely certain of a warm welcome, will know how this feels.
Jesus is always a character in his parables, and I like to think of him as the original Prodigal Son.
He left his father’s house, taking his inheritance with him, and came to earth to squander it on a bunch of no-hopers and dodgy women.
After his sufferings in exile, how wonderful it must be to head home to his father’s house – but this time with no apologies.
I’m certain that his loving father met him more than halfway, which is why the cloud descended and took Jesus away from their sight.
The final thing that I learned from Ronald Knox about the Ascension is that it’s a good reminder to stop looking up into the sky, and to go and do something instead.
This is an excellent reminder to those of us who are a bit addicted to chasing heavenly signs and wonders, miracles, apparitions and other such fun stuff. It’s exciting and makes people feel special.
But you’re special already. You’re an immortal being who with any luck is going to spend eternity in the heart of the Trinity.
You’ve been regenerated in water and purified with fire from heaven. But more on that next week.
