Ascension

Ascension

"But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away." All along he had planned to depart in order to carry on his work in other bodies. Their bodies. Our bodies. The new body of Christ.

At the time the disciples had no idea what Jesus meant. How can it be good that he is going away? They ate the "body, broken for you" without comprehending the drastic change, that the mission God had assigned to the Son, the Son was now entrusting to them. "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world," Jesus prayed.

Jesus left few traces of himself on earth. He wrote no books or even pamphlets. A wanderer, he left no home or even belongings that could be enshrined in a museum. He did not marry, settle down, and begin a dynasty. We would, in fact, know nothing about him except for the traces he left in human beings. That was his design. The law and the prophets had focused like a beam of light on the One who was to come, and now that light, as if hitting a prism, would fracture and shoot out in a human spectrum of waves and colors.

Six weeks later, the disciples would find out what Jesus had meant by the words for your good. As Augustine put it, "You ascended from before our eyes, and we turned back grieving, only to find you in our hearts." – Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

O God, whose blessed Son, our great High Priest,

has entered once for all into the holy place,

and lives forever to intercede on our behalf:

grant that we may draw near with full assurance of faith

by the way which he has dedicated for us,

and evermore serve you, the living God;

through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with you, O Father and the Holy Spirit,

one God, world without end. Amen

– Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer, Church of South India