How clear is your sight?
It’s easy to miss what the Lord intends us to see. Just before Jesus ascends to heaven in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples are still asking, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They are still failing to see God’s point: Jesus did not come to overturn Rome. Moreover, as the two men dressed in white garments tell them, the disciples are not to look at the sky but rather on God’s kingdom here and now, where they will be able to participate in salvation history through their witness to the world. Only with the intervention of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost will the disciples’ ability to see be truly focused; the story of the Ascension is the beginning of their transition from being stargazers to being lifegazers, focused not on the sacred that is to come, but on the sacred that is already happening. And so, while we hear in Psalm 47 that God mounts his throne to shouts of joy, the important thing is to recognize that God is king over all creation, rather than training our gaze on a heaven we imagine to the exclusion of the world here on earth.
All of which requires, as Paul notes in his Letter to the Ephesians, using the enlightened eyes of our hearts. Jesus was sent so that we might come to know the Lord and what he has in store for us. The Spirit reveals the depth of God’s love for us, and the eyes of our hearts are necessary to help us see clearly what is not physically visible but rather what is intangible. Using these eyes, we will know what is the hope that belongs to Christ’s call: a hope for eternal life, for perfect union in the love of God. Ultimately, we must see clearly so that we might be his witnesses, or, as Jesus exhorts the disciples in Mark’s Gospel, go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. And they do: Mark notes that the disciples went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them. The Holy Spirit has filled their hearts, and they enjoy new life in Christ, one in which they can be witnesses to the riches of his glory and the surpassing greatness of his power, a power revealed in the depth of the love of God. We are called to no less.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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