Ascension Day

 
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that since we do believe
thy only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to have ascendended
into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,
and with Him continually dwell,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost,
one God, world without end. Amen. (Collect, Ascension Day)
 
        
Today we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The imagery is, of course, that of rising up and returning to God the Father. Christians believe that Christ that the Word, the Logos, having been made flesh, made man, now glorified returns to the Father. What has come from God, for us men and for our salvation, now unites Himself with the source of our redemption and salvation. Thus, today, we must study Christ’s return to God, His call for us to follow Him, and the character of soul that is necessary for the journey.
        
Christ’s return to God is the reconciliation of His person with the Godhead. His person, in time and space, was, of course, human, and so with Christ’s ascension we celebrate the return of glorified man to the Father. What this means is that man’s nature has been redeemed, repaired, and restored in Jesus Christ. What God the Father did for us in time and space, in the humanity of Jesus, is now sealed in Heaven. Being made complete, man is once again made whole and one with the Creator. And this healthy restoration means that man has a future in the presence of God the Father forever, not limited to the conditions of the creation, but with the Creator in Heaven. That the Ascension, in literal terms, is the God/Man’s reconciliation with Heaven, gives our minds an image of Christ’s return to what is above, superior, greater, better, and most perfect. The outward and visible Ascension of Christ draws our minds into a victory that not only transcends sin, rises above sin and death, but rises above the created humanity to return it to Divinity.  
        
But the significance of the Ascension is found in Christ’s intention for us. His Ascension is not the record of a selfish Son of God reclaiming the Divine Nature He set aside for a time to save us. Christ intends for us to follow Him. The Nature of God is that perfect love that longs eternally for his creatures to be one with Himself, through knowledge and love. Christ Himself had promised the Apostles and Disciples that His most holy Incarnation, His being made man, was for the express purpose of sharing the benefits of His life and death with those who would believe and follow Him. Having been crucified by man’s sin, Christ returned in Easter Resurrection to explain His victory over sin, death, and Satan. Rather than expecting his followers to honor a dead hero, Christ invited his followers to enter into the new life whose proper inspiration and end is Heaven. Christ

shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, commanded them tshat they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

The Apostles were eyewitnesses of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. To them, Christ promised the impartation of the Holy Ghost, that they might share in His risen life. To ensure that they might partake of the merits and blessings of His Resurrection, Christ would have to leave them. In His heart he holds all believers. In his heart he carries us into Heaven.  From Heaven, Christ’s Incarnation would expand and grow in the hearts of all men who would believe and allow His union with God to change, transform, and perfect their lives for a future with Him in the Kingdom. Christ was then calling them, and men in all ages, to prepare for the coming of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. He was inviting them in heart and mind to thither ascend and with Him continually dwell, to follow Him in His Ascension back to the Father. By ascending back to the Father, as St. Leo reminds us, Christ was not abandoning us but providing us with a more universal and sacramental presence. (De Resurr. Sermon II). In His Ascension, Christ is no longer insisting upon His physical presence in time and space for comfort, relief, and happiness. Rather, in His Ascension, Christ now will be present to us inwardly and spiritually, in heart and mind, in as many places as there are believers in the world. Rather than limiting Himself to ancient Palestine, two thousand years ago, now Christ promises to be present to all believers in all places until His coming again. But what is key, is that He will be present only in hearts and minds that thither ascend, rise up and into the presence of His union with our Father in Heaven. With willing desire and strong belief, you and I are invited to ascend into the presence of God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Again with St. Leo, Christ ascended that faith might be more excellent and stronger, sight gave way to doctrine, the authority of which was to be accepted by believing hearts enlightened with rays from above. (idem)
        
Today, our Collect reminds us that the end of the Ascension is that we should with Him continually dwell. It is true enough that Christ ascends into the cloud, beyond or sight and comprehension. But if we remember that He holds us in His heart, He sees us still, within Himself, to be made one with the Father. The Ascension reveals to us that we are His and that He reigns supreme and sovereign over all believers. In and through Christ, if we believe, we can ascend in Him over all barriers and obstacles to Heaven. To embrace this truth practically, our everyday lives become occasions for surrender to His rule. Christ’s Ascension in heart and mind is not merely for monks and mystics. As we rear our children, we ought to pray for Christ’s loving guidance. As we work at or various occupations, we can plead for Christ’s wisdom. As we struggle to die to sin, we plead Christ’s power to gain the victory. When we believe and surrender in these ordinary moments, the ascended Christ will respond.

In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (St. Mark xvi, 17, 18)
 
But all of this, only if we continually dwell with Christ. His Grace shall enable us to slay all our devils, speak with new tongues about His wisdom, power, and love alive in us, destroy the attacks of any serpentine generation of vipers, devitalize deadly poison, and heal the infirm.
        
My friends, Ascension Day exhorts us to ascend and dwell with Christ who pleads our cause at the right hand of the Father. St. Paul asks, If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans viii. 31) In Christ, we find the love of God made flesh that subdues all sin if we would participate in His power. The character we seek to imitate and put on is Christ’s. If we continually dwell with Christ, He will repair and redeem us for salvation and ultimate union with the Father. If we ask Him for His help, follow His counsel, and submit to His lordship, we shall overcome earth’s seeming alienation from Heaven. And then, also with St. Paul, we shall believe and know that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ibid, 38, 39)
 
Amen.
©wjsmartin