Ascension Day

Acts 1:1-11

1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Ascension Day does not get very much attention. It is on a Thursday, not a day when we usually have worship or think about great moments in the life of the church.

There are two aspects of Ascension Day I want to highlight.

First, the risen Jesus had a physical body, he was still fully human and fully divine. There had to be a way for Jesus to get to heaven to sit down on the right-hand of God the Father. If Jesus was a spirit his going to heaven would have been easily accomplished. But Jesus was flesh and blood. The Ascension is one more proof that the resurrection of Jesus was in bodily form. The Ascension gets a flesh and blood Jesus to heaven. It is the historical answer to the question, where is the risen Jesus now, and how did he get there?

Second, in the Ascension Jesus receives the glory and honour that were his, but which he had given up in order to come and live on earth. Jesus gave up his place in heaven, gave up the glory of being in heaven, the honour of sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, to come and live on earth. In the Ascension he returns to heaven. But he returns to heaven having been marked by his life on earth. He takes with him to heaven the scars in his hands and feet and the spear mark in his side. As Graham Kendrick writes in the worship song “Meekness and Majesty” – Jesus “lifts our humanity to the heights of God’s throne.” We have one in heaven who while in the glory of heaven knows the reality of earth for Jesus still bears those scars. It is this Jesus who hears our prayers.

PRAYER:

God of heaven and Lord of earth, we rejoice that you raised your Son, Jesus Christ, from the grave of death, and lifted him up to the heights of your throne. On this Ascension Day, we thank you that he lives with you in glory and honour, seated at your right-hand. In Jesus’ name. Amen.