5.26.20 - The Ascension which was Absolutely Necessary

Ascension Thursday and 7th Sunday of Easter

Notes:

1. The Ascension, which is 40 days after Easter, was Thursday 5/21. We celebrate it as a “solemnity” on the next Sunday. Solemnities are the highest feast days in the Church.

2. Even though Thursday is the Ascension and Sunday is the Solemnity of the Ascension, the readings vary slightly. We are covering both, but instead of the usual order (Acts, Epistle, Gospel), we will review them in the order in which the events occurred.

3. John 17 is probably the most difficult chapter in the bible to understand, so don’t despair! You may want to refer to the questions/comments below the readings as you read this.

Gospel: John 17:1-11a (This is the end of Jesus’ Last Supper-Farewell Discourse. Now he is addressing his prayers to God in the presence of his disciples.)

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

Comments/Questions

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven

Looking to heaven with arms raised was the traditional Jewish position of prayer. It is likely Jesus also did this when teaching the disciples the Lord's Prayer. Note how Jesus starts all prayers with mind and word lifted to his heavenly Father.

What is significant about Jesus’ hour?

His “hour” refers to the purpose for which the 2nd Person of the Trinity came, which is twofold: 1) his sacrificial gift of his life to God the Father for the atonement of humanity’s sins, and 2) the sacramental gift of himself to us/the Church in the Last Supper for all time forward; they cannot be separated. To separate the gift of his life for the atonement of our sins from the ongoing gift of himself to us in the Eucharist would be to separate his humanity from his divinity; or to suggest the incarnation was over. The incarnation is not over; it is ongoing and eternal, just as his dying for our sins is a “permanent state” – it continues to forgive sins into the future.

What is meant by Jesus glorifying God and God glorifying Jesus?

Jesus is glorifying God by his obedience and willingness to die to save mankind. We know that God has the power to force his desires upon Man in the blink of an eye, but he wouldn’t. Jesus certainly had the power – he stopped storms, healed the blind and crippled, and raised people from the dead; surely he could have crushed his opponents like bugs. Obedience to God meant Jesus had to take whatever punishment humans gave him and still choose love over force. Jesus loved and forgave to the end and, in doing so, he glorified the Love of God. God, in turn, glorified Jesus in his Resurrection by glorifying Jesus’ humanity. Jesus’ humanity was thereafter joined with his divinity in the Trinity. It is for this reason that humanity may participate with the Trinity.

Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

In the OT, the door to eternity (although closed after the Fall) was God. Now the door is open, but the doorway is Jesus Christ.

FYI, “Jesus” refers to his human person, “Christ” to his eternal person. He took both with him to the Trinity.

What does Jesus mean when he says, “I revealed your name to those whom you took from the world...”

1. In Scripture, the term “name” indicates the entire person. Through Jesus' words, his works, and his sacrifice, he revealed to his disciples that the name of God was also his name. He was “I AM.”

2. “…whom you took from this world” means that, except for Judas, his apostles had given themselves 100% to Jesus, so they were no longer “of this world.” This is true now for all Christians. We live in the world but we are not of this world. This does not mean we are against the world; it means that this world is not our home so we choose not succumb to its priorities or its standards. You might say we are rising beyond this world through Christ.

What does Jesus mean when he says, “I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me…”

“The world” is those who reject him/God. More to the point, it is remarkable the extent he is praying for his disciples; no doubt because he knows the situation he is leaving them in. They have trusted him completely up to this moment; they are still somewhat clueless, and now he is leaving them. He is begging God for their protection.

What does Jesus mean when he says, “Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world existed”?

He is asking that the same glory that he shared with the Father before the incarnation will now be extended to his humanity. (It was clearly granted as we will soon see Jesus’ glorified humanity after the Resurrection.)

Jesus says, “I am no longer in the world…”

Jesus is finishing his prayer; it is near the end, and he gives us the sense that he has already begun his walk to Calvary.

Matthew 28:16-20 (After the Resurrection, just before the Ascension)

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted.

Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Comments/Questions

Why did some doubt?

They had seen him and knew him by this time. So what was it? Was it tied to Jesus leaving them? Might it have been a lack of confidence/faith about what Jesus was asking them to do? Remember, the HS hadn’t come yet.

Meaning of: “All power in heaven… has been given to me.”

Jesus has achieved what he came to do: he reversed the fall of man, was victorious over evil and death, and opened the door between humanity and God. As all power has been returned to him, he now sends his disciples out to do what he did, just as God had sent him.

“… baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Baptism now take on this Trinitarian formula. The sign of the cross also took on this formula, as the entire Trinity took part in the cross: God sends, Christ comes, the HS stays.

The Acts of the Apostles

Notes:

1. The author is Luke, who also wrote the 3rd Gospel. This 2nd book is a continuation.

2. The writing of Acts follows the stories in Acts. It begins with the Ascension (approximately 30 AD) and is concluded in the early 60s AD, shortly before the death of Peter and Paul in Rome.

3. Theophilus is the same person Luke addresses in the beginning of his Gospel. The name itself means “Lover of God” so it could be directed to all Christians.

Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, Theophilus, my treatise dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up into heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

While eating with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But 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.”

When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. 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.”

Comments/Questions

Verse 1: “after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit…”? Is the HS already on the scene?

The HS was already involved since Jesus’ incarnation and then Baptism. However, it is interesting to note that it appears that the HS is more involved. Perhaps He is anxious to get started!

Jesus appeared to them for 40 days after his Resurrection. Why is 40 significant?

In biblical terms, 40 means a period for testing and consecration. We see 40 days/nights of rain with Noah and the flood, 40 days Moses spent on Mt. Sinai, 40 days the Israelite spies spent scouting Canaan, 40 years the Israelites spent eating manna in the wilderness, 40 days Jesus spent being tested in the desert, and now this.

Why were they told to wait in Jerusalem?

For the promise of the Father, to send the Holy Spirit. As John the Baptist prophesied, Jesus will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Apostles again ask if this is the time he will restore the kingdom of Israel. What were they thinking?

Perhaps they were thinking of Jesus’ own prophecy that concerning the completion of his mission in the coming of the Son of Man. They can be forgiven their confusion during this incredible time. However, this mission will not be completed until he returns for the final judgement.

When Jesus was taken up on a cloud, what OT prophet had such a vision?

The vision of the prophet Daniel. Daniel saw the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.

"As the visions during the night continued,

I saw coming with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man.

When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him,

He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.”

(Daniel 7:13-14)

Why is Jesus’ Ascension theologically critical?

Jesus’ mission was not completed until he returned to the Father. Saving humanity meant becoming one of us through life and death, and taking his consecrated (glorified) humanity with him back to the Trinity.

By the Eucharist and through the Holy Spirit, he would be able to do far more for us than if he stayed confined as human on earth.

Acts 1:12-14 (right after the Ascension)

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Comments/Questions

After they returned to Jerusalem, they prayed until the Pentecost, which at this point was 9 days away. This sounds kind of like a prayer retreat.

Some say these nine days of prayer led to our current "Novena" prayers.

Where is Mount of Olives?

Just to the east of Jerusalem. See map.

What is a Sabbath’s journey?

Travel on the Sabbath was restricted to no more than ¾ mile, or about 1000 meters. The Mount of Olives was within this distance from Jerusalem. Btw, the two angels said Jesus would return the same way he left. If that also means the exact location, then it would be the Mount of Olives!

Was this the same Upper Room as the Last Supper?

It was probably the same. See map. It also became a regular meeting place for the Jerusalem church (see Acts 1:13, 12:12) and was probably the home of Jesus’ disciple, Mary of Jerusalem, the mother of Mark (the Gospel writer) and kinswoman of Barnabas.

Why is it fitting that the disciples of Jesus should be praying with the Virgin Mary as they await the coming of the Holy Spirit?

Since the Holy Spirit first appeared/overshadowed Mary at the Incarnation, it is fitting that Mary be present now at the end of Jesus’ life as the Holy Spirit births the Church.

I hope this was helpful. Please don't hesitate to send any questions ahead of time, if you like.

Maranatha!

Ron