While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Saint Luke’s description of Jesus's disciples "standing there looking at the sky" is intentionally comical, and all the more so because we can well imagine ourselves in that predicament. The horror of Good Friday was deeply troubling. Once he was buried, the disciples were left with nothing but desolation.
But on the following Sunday his tomb was empty and there were sporadic appearances to some women and other disciples. Saint Luke suggests that he appeared repeatedly to them over a period of forty days. He was seen by no one else, nor were they telling anyone about it. If the world was ready for their good news, they were not ready to announce it.
And then he was gone -- again. Saint Luke tells us, "...he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight." He did not reappear. As he had told them:
The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ or ‘‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit. (Luke 17:22-23).
He was gone; this time for good. But he had spoken of an Advocate whom he would send,
I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. (He said) For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
If this mysterious Advocate does not appear, the story is finished. They can go home and forget about Bethlehem, Calvary, and Easter. It was just one of those things, another false messiah. We’ve seen them come; we've seen them go.
The Bible doesn’t tell us stories about Jesus and his resurrection, to convince us there is life after death. Or that He is God, or even that he has conquered death and sin. If we have not watched this good man die and then said, “Truly this was the Son of God” we cannot understand what he was about.
Rather, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples to commission them to go into the whole world and announce the Kingdom of God to every creature. They were to be his ambassadors, his representatives, and –more precisely – his witnesses to the ends of the earth, until the end of time.
But even after forty days, they weren't ready. That day of his ascension might have been like the day the young parents bring their first baby home from the hospital. Okay, now what? What do we do? Didn't this thing come with a how-to-raise-baby manual? They were like the graduate who doesn't have to attend classes anymore. I'm out of school; I’m free. But free to do what?
The disciples had some experience of preaching. Saint Luke tells us that, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sent them two by two to all the villages he intended to visit. That's thirty-six teams spreading the word to every city, town, village, and hamlet where people were eager to hear about the so-called Messiah who was organizing a massive march on Jerusalem.
But now he had been crucified, and raised up, and appeared to some people. Perhaps to as many as five hundred on one occasion. And yet, during all those forty days, he had not directed them to go anywhere or say anything. The disciples were flummoxed as they stood there watching the clouds take him from their sight.
Much as we are flummoxed today, when millions say they're hungry for spiritual food. But they want the Truth on their own terms. The message has to be interesting, relevant, entertaining, and immediately useful. It may come with a touch of mystery, but not too much because we're busy and don't have time to ponder deep mysteries.
Nor should it shine any light on our past. We will not hear of our sins, or those of our ancestors. Let them lie in their graves. We don't need to feel any more uncomfortable than we are already.
The disciples needed more time. And they needed something else; something they could neither name nor describe. As they returned to Jerusalem and the Upper Room, they remembered his cryptic remark about an Advocate; and they remembered his last words on that fortieth day:
...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,throughout Judea and Samaria,and to the ends of the earth.”
As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost next Sunday, we ask God the Father to send that Advocate who gives us humility, wisdom, courage, and healing power. And then we will sing God's praises as we go into the whole world to declare that we believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Thank You, Father Ken!
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