Ascension
May 21, 2023: A Reflection on the Feast of the Ascension, Yr A
Matthew 28:16-20
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. (Mt 28: 19-20)
Mountains hold a special place in the Scriptures – both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels. Moses was given the Law, inscribed on tablets of stone, on a mountain top. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain top. Today the apostles trek up ‘the mountain’ at the command of Jesus. They had no idea what to expect, but at his word, they obeyed. Everything was so confusing for them, ever since Jesus had died – then ROSE from the dead, whatever that meant, then appeared to them in a way which was familiar to them but different. So much was happening, all at once. The one constant in their lives was the person of Jesus and his word. What he said, what he proclaimed – he showed forth in his life. His life was his word and his words were life. And this life is the life of every person at their deepest center.
Then, at the top of the mountain, Jesus opened their eyes, their hearts, their whole being to the reason why they came from the heart of the Father and were given life. Their raison d’etre was to live, in their humanness, the life of God with one another. They were beginning to understand it now in the person of Jesus. He embodied the love of the Father in the power of the Spirit. A love made perfect in the weakness of our humanity. A love that gave all it had to the One who poured that love into them and commissioned them to BE the love, kindness, caring that Jesus embodied. To make disciples of all the world by being all that Jesus taught in the Gospel. As Francis of Assisi famously said, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.”
And so here we are. In the mountains of southern Arizona. Ascending to the mountain top at the command of Jesus. We, too, like the disciples, are given a life’s purpose to fulfill, each one of us in our own particular way but at the deepest level, the same: to be the love of God in our world. To BE the Gospel to one another, in love, kindness, self-sacrifice through service and forgiveness and caring and joy. May Jesus, through the power of the Spirit, carry us with him to the heart of the Father where we find the heart of all creation at its source. Happy Feast of the Ascension!