Ascension Day Reflection, 2023

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” - Acts 1:6

Dear Friends, 

This is the question the disciples are asking Jesus just before the Ascension in the book of Acts. It seems innocent enough, but it also seems to me that a bit more might be going on just under the surface of that question. Only a few weeks before the Ascension Jesus was crucified, and one part of the mix of reasons for that tragic event is that Jesus disappointed people. He disappointed them because what they were expecting in a messiah was a military leader, ready to ride into town and overthrow the occupying Romans. Needless to say, that’s not what they got. 

There are other reasons for the crucifixion, to be sure. Probably even more important ones. But we can’t ignore that part of the story. 

And perhaps that reality casts a bit of a different light on the question the disciples pose to the Risen Lord just before his Ascension. He’s been with them for forty days, teaching them, showing them over and over again his nail pierced hands and feet and the ways they’ve trampled down the forces of darkness, evil, and death. As they bear witness to that, it will have to teach them the truth, which is that the way that Jesus’s kingdom comes, as the hymn says, is “not with swords’ loud clashing” but with “deeds of love and mercy.” 

So surely they’ve got it by now. But they don’t. Forty days later, and they are still hanging on to the expectation of a savior who overthrows the evils of this world by means of violence and power. Defeating the world’s darkness with more darkness.

Thank God we’ve given up on all that! 

Except, of course we haven’t. We continue all too often to treat Jesus like little more than another ally to be recruited to our side in this or that petty battle we’ve decided to fight. We continue to believe that our best course of action is to call upon him as the one who will “restore the kingdom to Israel”—perhaps in our day we’d translate that to, “get my candidate elected,” or some other sentiment stating that we believe Jesus's job needs to be, mostly, being on my side and showing those jerks on the other side!

But Jesus isn’t an ally in our cause. Jesus is Lord. And maybe that’s the lesson of the Ascension, if we’re brave enough to learn it.

I can’t give any real insight into God’s knowledge of the future. I trust that God is in charge and has things figured out, but I’m not willing to wade too deeply into the mystery of all that. But I do have to wonder if something shifts in the Risen One's plans when he hears this question. Perhaps he’d intended to stay with the disciples longer. Perhaps he intended never to leave. But when, after forty days, the disciples are still mostly preoccupied with their visions of power, he knows that they’ll never learn the truth if the Risen Son of God continues to walk the dusty streets of Israel alongside them, his risen body resplendent with light, his risen bones, muscles, and skin now beyond the forces of decay.

And so he goes. He goes so that they will learn that the kingdom comes not through deeds of violence and power, but by love and love alone. He goes so that they’ll learn to trust one another—messy community that they are, full of folks with all kinds of political and religious agendas, perspectives, and motives. He goes so that they can begin to hope in the Jesus who is not the ally in their own pet project or ambition, but in the Jesus who is Lord of all who live and Lord of all that is. 

Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer, p. 226

God bless you on this holy day!

Grace and Peace,
Fr. Quinn+