THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

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8 min readMay 17, 2021

Jesus, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity was sent by the Father for the redemption and salvation of the world. Through the Christ Event — His Birth, Teachings, Miracles, Passion, Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension, He accomplished the Mission. The Ascension of Jesus, after 40 days of His Resurrection, completes the circle of the Mission as St. Luke says, “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” (Acts 1:3).

The Ascension of the Lord to heaven denotes the completion of the Mission. He went back to Father Who had sent Him. Through the great Mystery of Incarnation, He became the partaker of our fragile human nature and by ascending to heaven and being seated at the right hand of God the Father, He has made us partakers of His divine nature. St. Paul, describing the great mystery of human salvation, would say, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4–7).

The Risen Lord in the World

The Risen Lord was in the world for 40 days in His Body. St. Luke, narrating the presence of the Risen Lord would say, “After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). He was NOT with the disciples as He was with them before His Passion and Death. He used to appear to them.

He used to teach them. The Emmaus Journey is an example of this (Luke 24:13–35).
He could enter into the closed rooms; He didn’t need any doors to be opened to enter into the rooms. “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19–20).
He fed the disciples. “When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread… Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast”” (John 21:9–12).
He ate with them. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4).

The Event of the Ascension

“After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9–11).

The Risen Lord didn’t disappear from the disciples without their knowledge. Though St. Luke doesn’t name the place of the Ascension in the Acts, he does mention it in the Gospel as he writes, “When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them” (Luke 24:50). He took them with Him. He ascended to heaven in front of the disciples as did prophet Elijah in front of his disciple Elisha. “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more” (2 Kings 2:11–12).

St. Luke, while narrating the Ascension event, says “a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). Cloud has a very significant role in the Scriptures. We find God used to appear and speak to the Israelites from the clouds. In the New Testament also there are at least two events when God appeared in the clouds — the Baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13–17) and the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–13). Pope Benedict XVI, in his book “Jesus of Nazareth” gives the significance of the cloud in Ascension. According to him, this reminds us of the following events:

The Transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:5, Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34–35).
The hour of the encounter between the Blessed Virgin Mary and Angel Gabriel, who announced to her the “overshadowing” with the power of the Most High (cf. Luke 1:35).
The holy tent of God in the Old Testament — “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34–35).
The Lord, in the form of a cloud, led the people of Israel during their journey through the desert. “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:21–22).

“This reference to the cloud is unambiguously theological language. It presents Jesus’ departure, not as a journey to the stars, but as his entry into the mystery of God. It evokes an entirely different order of magnitude, a different dimension of being.” — Pope Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth”

How does the Risen Lord, seated at the right hand of the Father look? What is the kind of body He has? The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity assumed human nature. The divine Person took human nature and became Man. He took flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was like us in every way but sin as the Scriptures say, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He lived, suffered, died, buried, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven in the same body. Jesus had the signs of the wounds in His resurrected body as well as He said to St. Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27). The Risen Lord has the same body that He took from His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. As seen above, He has the signs of the wounds in His Body.

Jesus seated at the Right hand of God

Jesus, the God-Man, is the only mediator between God and humans as St. Paul says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:5–6). He is seated at the right hand of God. He is praying for us. Again, St. Paul says, “Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us” (Romans 8:34).

His being seated at the right hand of God, the Father doesn’t in any way make Him inferior. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, would say:

It is to abide in the Father’s glory and to reign together with the Father.
It belongs to Christ as God to have, equally with the Father, the identical divine glory.
It does not indicate a secondary place, nor a place merely next to the Father.
It means that Christ as God rules in absolute equality with the other two Persons of the Mos Holy Trinity — the Father and the Holy Spirit.

“His presence is not spatial, but divine. “Sitting at God’s right hand” means participating in this divine dominion over space.” — Pope Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth”

Therefore, it is very clear that Jesus is truly God and in no way, is He inferior to the Father. As He was with the Father, before the Incarnation, Jesus is with the Father. St. John, the beloved disciple, would say, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18).

The Christians Place in Heaven

As already noted in the beginning, everyone baptised in Christ Jesus is in heaven with Christ, their Head. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we have been grafted into Christ as branched to the Vine, making us inseparable from Him. St. Paul would say, “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Colossians 1:18).

Out of compassion for us He descended from heaven, and although He ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in Him by grace.
- St. Augustine

The Mission of the Disciples

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Mark 16: 15

That was the last command of Jesus, the Head to His mystical Body. The disciples are to carry on the Mission of Christ, for which the Father sent the Son. The Holy Spirit is the unifier and advocate for the disciples in their ministry. There are many passages that testify to this fact. The Holy Spirit was sent to work through the disciples. Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26–27).

The Church, as the presence of God in the world, has to perpetuate the Mission of Christ. The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, animates the Church. The First Council of Jerusalem, the First ever Council of the Church, said, For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials” (Acts 15:28). Again in the same book, we read, “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:31–32).

We, as the members of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, are with Christ in heaven, and Christ, as the Head of the Body, is present in the world.

Originally published on the author’s blog

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