Then what?
After many days of intimate contact with his disciples after
the Resurrection, Luke tells us in Acts, Jesus ascends to heaven: he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Mark’s version is not all that
different: So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into
heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God, fulfilling Psalm 47: God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy, amid trumpet blasts… And
then the disciples are left alone. Or
are they?
Jesus’ physical presence on earth did indeed end with the
end of his earthly mission. However, his
tangible presence continues through the Church, a Church that is filled with
the same Spirit that filled Jesus throughout his life: you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, he tells the disciples. Writing to the Ephesians, Paul knows that,
although he is a prisoner for the Lord, he
continues to live in a manner worthy of
the call he has received. His faith is recognizable; it has an
effect. Like Paul, we too are equipped for the work of ministry,
equipped with humility and gentleness and patience, with faith and hope and grace, the hope that belongs to his call. It is these gifts
that allow us to give witness, because the eyes of our hearts are enlightened, so that we might build up the body of Christ.
We are all gifted by Christ so that we might gift the Church, and
thereby gift the world, supporting, leading, energizing the entire Church. If Jesus in his physical body is no longer
with us after the Ascension, Christ in the Body of the Church certainly is… He
is present, that is, in you and me, and in all who profess the same faith,
faith in the one hope of our calling,
so that we might be his witnesses… to
the ends of the earth.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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