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Reflections After Paschaltide 2026: The Ascension

Reflections After Paschaltide 2026: The Ascension

Last updated on: May 14, 2026 at 1:56 am by Henry Karlson

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Reflections After Paschaltide 2026: The Ascension 2026-05-14T01:56:32-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts: Ethiopian Icon of The Ascension / flickr

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he did more than merely levitate into the sky before disappearing; rather, he had his whole person, including material body, enter into a different modality of being, a modality all of us will have in eternity. Jesus didn’t go into space, he entered into the kingdom of God, which transcends space and time. But he will come again, that is, he will reveal himself to the world, enter into our modality of existence, once again at the end of time. The apostles were told when that happens, he will seen the same way he was seen when he ascended:

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts. 1:6-12 RSV).

In his ascension, Christ took with him his humanity, that is, his human nature. Everything connected with it is shown to have a place in the kingdom of God. This means, not only us, because he shares our humanity with us, but the rest of created nature, because our humanity exists within and is interdependent with the rest of creation. Thus, in his ascension, we are shown that the kingdom of God has been opened up to us all, that the gates or barriers between heaven and earth have been opened, with Christ as the one who has made it possible.

Christ’s first coming was about the salvation of our souls. God assumed our human nature to become the man Christ-Jesus. The incarnation can be seen as a kind of descent into creation, a descent which he willingly submitted himself to in order to deal with the human condition, the sin which confounds it, and the powers that be which enslaves and hurts it. We find him in solidarity with us and the rest of creation. He took on the pain and suffering sin causes, and let it play out and come to end in himself. This is what he accomplished with his death and descent into the realm of the dead. Without that work, the corruption of sin would have destroyed our very being, as its corruption would go unstopped, and so, as St. Bernard preached: “Christ, in his divine nature, had no way to grow or ascend, because there is nothing beyond God. Yet he found a way to grow by descending, becoming incarnated, to suffer and to die, lest we should die forever.”[1] But, we remember, the one who descended also ascended; having become one with us, showing himself in solidarity with us, he takes all that he assumed with him. Sin does not have the final say. Rather, the kingdom of God, and the grace which is found in it, does, giving all the chance for theosis, where they can grow and become greater and greater throughout eternity. Jesus opened up what sin had closed; he gave us not only grace, but a share in the divine glory, the glory of the kingdom of God, the glory which he brought into the world through his resurrection from the dead.

The apostles, having experienced the resurrection, having seen and beheld the glory, were right in thinking his resurrection from the dead would have eschatological ramifications. They were mistaken as to what those ramifications would be as they thought it meant that Jesus was about to bring world history to an end. Jesus, knowing this, revealed to them they were right in believing the fulfillment of God’s promises have been revealed to them, but he also said that they should gather together and wait for what was going to happen next, which, when they did, they were going to discover God’s plans were different from their expectations:

Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Lk. 24:44-49 RSV).

Thus, when Jesus visited the apostles right before his ascension, they asked if it was time for the “restoration of Israel’ (and with it, all creation). They wanted to know if the already-and-not-yet aspect of the Christian experience was going to be quickly overcome, with history coming to and end. Jesus said it was not yet time. It would be fulfilled, and in its own way, and when the time is right. First, they had to see him leave, that is ascend, and then they would have to wait for when he comes again. But he also promised when he left like this, they would be clothed in power, they would be given gifts which would help them in the time between his first and second comings. When he returns, the whole world, indeed, all creation, will be made aware of him and see him in the glory which the apostles saw when he ascended. He will come again to judge the living and the dead; through that judgment, he will purify creation so that it can be properly rendered as a gift to the Father: “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one” (1 Cor. 15:28 RSV). Therefore, at his second coming, we will encounter the risen Christ, the Lord of Life, the Prince of Peace, in all his glory, the glory which he will share with us for all eternity. We do not know when that will happen, nor are we meant to know, because if we knew it, it would affect the way we live. It is important that we live our lives both with the possibility Christ will come again while we live, but also with the possibility it will happen long after we die. That is, we should live in constant hope for the coming of Christ, even as we consider that the second coming might be far off, leading us to believe we should do what we can to make the world a better place for those who come after us, because by doing so, we will please God with our stewardship, for God loves the world and would have us work to preserve it and make it better so long as we shall live on it.

[1] St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for the Summer Season. Trans. Beverly Mayne Kienzle and James Jarzembowski (Kalamazoo, MI.: Cistercian Publicans, 1991), 36 [The Lord’s Ascension: Sermon Two].

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