It is time for Jesus to go

ASCENSION Luke 24, 26-53 Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God. One of my toughest good-byes was leaving my mom after the death of my dad. My mom insisted that she would take me to the airport. We embraced and amid tears we said good-bye. We each lingered longer not wanting to say good-bye, not wanting to leave each other. But the plane was getting ready to board and we both had to get on with our lives. If only we could have had another day, or a few more hours, but no, it was time to say good-bye. We don’t like to say good-bye. We don’t like separation. In Brazil, no matter the hour when you say good-bye people always say, “esta cedo, it’s early.” We like to stay together. It is hard when children grow up and move away, they go away for school or get married. The separation of immigration as well. I know countless people in the United States who have had to leave their families and lives here to begin a new life in the United States and the other side of the story is lived out here as well. I would guess that most of you have some family members who live in the United States. We know the pain of separation. But the worst separation is that of death. If someone moves to the United States, we have the hope that we will be able to visit them. If your child goes away to school or gets married, we know that they will come back at least for a visit. But death, death is permanent! Death is forever. Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. For many years it was celebrated on the 40th day of easter, which would have been Thursday. When I was a kid, it was always, “ascension Thursday,” Like Ash Wednesday or Easter Sunday. But Ascension isn’t so much an event on a calendar. It doesn’t matter if it is celebrated 40 days after Easter or today 43 days later. The Ascension remembers when Jesus Ascended into Heaven. It logically comes between Easter and Pentecost. But it is not just something historical, more important is it’s theological and spiritual meaning. It gives us an insight into life that helps us to understand the interplay between life and death, presence and absence, love and loss. Today’s Gospel and the reading from Acts tell the same story but from different perspectives. The Gospel tells the story as the end of Jesus’ ministry which it is, but Acts tells the story as the beginning of the church. I want to focus more on the Acts; Ascension is the beginning of the Church. Obviously next Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, which is the birthday of the Church, but Ascension must take place first. That is Jesus had to leave for the Holy Spirit to come and if the Holy Spirit hadn’t come, we wouldn’t have the Church. Like I said, separation is always hard but at times it is also a good thing. I wish that I could have stayed behind with my mom. Help her to go through my dad’s things and prepare her for her new life. But we both knew I couldn’t. We both knew that it was time for me to go. She had to get on with her life, and I had to return to mine. I wonder how Jesus’ felt when he said good-bye to the disciples. He had been with them for three years, but I wonder if he wanted to stay with them a bit longer, if he wondered if they were ready to take over and to begin the Church, or if he was worried thinking that they would get things wrong or forget what was most important. As he was getting ready to ascend was Jesus’ thinking, “oh just one more thing. Don’t forget this?” Jesus’ instructions to the disciples in the reading from Acts are not very extensive, he just says, “you will be witness to the ends of the earth.” Next Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. We will celebrate the birth of the Church. Jesus must have had a great deal of confidence in the disciples. Jesus must have a great deal of confidence in each one of us. I am sure Jesus knew that we would get things wrong, because we have gotten things wrong. I am sure that Jesus worried we would forget what was essential and waste time on what wasn’t really the most important. Because we have made some things more important than what is core to the Christian faith we have at times forgotten what is truly important. In this coming week let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that the Spirit will guide the Church, not some human beings who tend to get things wrong. Without the Holy Spirit we will fail, and remember Jesus is sending us to the ends of the earth to be his witnesses.