Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20
There
are two words that seem redundant in the first reading and those are
the words ‘from
Galilee’. Everything else is necessary there, even the angels’ question
‘why are you men standing here looking up into the sky?’ But it is
difficult to see what ‘from Galilee’ adds at this point: ‘why are you
men from Galilee standing here looking up into the sky?’ It is as if the
angels said ‘why are you men of varying sizes standing here’ or ‘why
are you men dressed in a range of styles standing here’. Why are you men
with Yorkshire accents standing here … and so
on. It seems accidental rather than significant. But perhaps it is
significant.
We
know from the gospels that the disciples had come with Jesus from
Galilee. We know that he and they were sometimes identified as
‘Galileans’ as if that was the name of their movement. We know also that
the gospels of Matthew and Mark conclude with Jesus taking leave of his
disciples in Galilee or telling them to go and to meet him in
Galilee. Perhaps the reference to Galilee has somehow insinuated itself
into the account in the Acts of the Apostles because this tradition was
so strong, that Galilee was the place where they were to meet after the
resurrection and
that he took leave of them there. The story ended where it had begun.
Luke,
of course, has the leave-taking in Jerusalem or just outside the city.
John 20 seems to bring the gospel to an end
with Jesus taking leave of his disciples in Jerusalem but then starts up
again in chapter 21 to tell us about an encounter they had with him on
the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
So
there are questions about the geography of the Ascension and room for
reflection about the reasons why some of the New Testament authors place
it in Galilee while others locate it at Jerusalem. And there are
cosmological questions also about the Ascension. Whatever about the
place from which he departed, where is the place at which he arrived?
Where has he gone in this risen and glorified human body of his and
where is he now? Well we know that he is at the right hand of the
Father.
But
he also tells us, in the final words of Matthew’s gospel that he
remains with us always, even to the end of time. In other words he has
not gone away at all but is continually among us and alongside us and
within us. His return to the Father opens the way for the sending of
their Spirit into us which makes it possible for Jesus to be present
with us always.
On
the one hand we will want to dismiss quickly primitive pictures of a
three story universe with regions below this earth and regions above it
so that if we were to travel far enough into this universe that we could
eventually, possibly, stumble into heaven. On the other hand we cannot
simply dismiss all this – references to Galilee, to Jerusalem, to the
kingdom
of heaven – as symbols of purely spiritual realities, things completely
immaterial, because we believe that Jesus has risen from the dead 'in
his human body', as the Easter liturgy puts it.
The
angels may help us as they help the disciples. According to Jerome
Murphy-O’Connor angels, in the New Testament, are well-dressed young men
who usually travel around in pairs (a bit like Mormon preachers then).
But
they appear only at moments of transition or crisis, moments when poor
human beings are confronted with the mystery of God at work in Christ,
moments beyond our unaided capacity to understand, where interpretation
is needed. They
re-assure the men from Galilee that Jesus will return in the way they
have seen him leave and there is no further point in them standing
looking up into the sky.
The
High Priest has entered into the true tabernacle carrying not the blood
of bulls and goats but his own blood. The King has entered into the
Holy of Holies to be seated at the right hand of the Father. This priest
and king is Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of the Father but also our
brother, the son of Mary, the one who lived and taught and died amongst
us.
It
is not so much that he has gone to a different corner of the universe
as that the universe has begun to be radically transformed, beginning in
Him. It is not that there are two neighbouring realms, touching each
other, one earthly and one heavenly but rather that this realm in which
we live and move and have our being has been completely taken up into
another
realm. Embraced by the presence of Christ and the presence of the
Spirit, the world is being transformed, even in its physical being:
think of the blessings we say over the bread and the wine as we prepare
them for the Eucharistic liturgy. He has gone up not to be in another
place but so that he might fill the entire universe.
Today’s
feast is another moment in the one paschal event. It is about power and
authority, the readings tell us today, it is about the one who has been
appointed king of the universe and judge of all. God’s power not only
raised him from the dead, it placed him at God’s right hand in heaven,
far above every sovereignty, authority, power or domination. He has been
made ruler
of everything. The Church is the body of which he is the head and the
Church is the fulness of him who fills the whole creation.
He
cannot now be at a distance from us although we can be at a distance
from him. This is what sin achieves. But grace ensures that those who
have been baptised into his life and live by His Spirit are already
children of God. They belong to a new creation, these people from here,
there and everywhere, from Galilee, Yorkshire and Dublin, who do not
spend their time looking up into the sky but who spend
their time trying to observe all the commands he gave. Because he has
returned to the Father He can be with us always, to the end of time, and
we can be with Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment