Ascension Day

Last updated on: May 17, 2010 at 7:49 am by Micha Boyett Hohorst

Ascension Day 2010-05-17T07:49:17-07:00 Micha Boyett Hohorst

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“To embrace the Ascension is to heave a sigh of relief, to give up the struggle to be God (and with it the inevitable despair at our constant failure), and to enjoy our status as creatures: image-bearing creatures, but creatures nonetheless.”

-NT Wright, Surprised by Hope

“Jesus comes back, but he doesn’t really come back. He comes back in a puzzling way, and then, shortly afterward, goes away again. The disciples don’t get what they were hoping for. The happy ending, in fact, lies outside this narrative: like the risen Lord himself, it isn’t where we are looking for it…

It takes us, in the church, fifty days to scratch the surface of this mystery. In the Great Fifty Days, we cross the bridge from gospel to church, from knowing Jesus as friend, teacher, and wonder worker to knowing him as indwelling Spirit and Lord of all. The apostles themselves had to cross this bridge: the story of ascension is simply the final stage of a movement in which Jesus is always slipping through their fingers as they try to hold him to the familiar patterns they knew before. We are being quite false if we give children, or ourselves, the idea that knowing the risen Lord consists of holding steadily before our imaginations the happiness of his friends when he (so tantalizingly, so temporarily) came back to them.”

-Gretchen Wolff Pritchard*, Offering the Gospel to Children*

As I write this, it’s Sunday, Ascension Day. It’s a day I’ve never thought much of throughout my life as a follower of Jesus. It’s a day that, even in the liturgical church, doesn’t get a lot of hype. And, honestly, it’s a day that’s difficult for me to celebrate. See, I’ve always had some trouble with Jesus’ choice to hang around in his risen body for 50 days and then just up and space shuttle out of here. Whoosh. There he goes.

Sometimes I wonder: What Jesus was thinking, leaving it all in the hands of his disciples who were clueless about what to do? Didn’t he know that despite all the followers who said they encountered his resurrected body in those 50 days, his leaving the earth would make it a lot harder for those of us living 2,000 years later to actually believe that he rose?

And, even though we can experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, why does our experience of Christ have to be so disembodied, so impalpable?

On my best days, I can sing like I sang this morning: “All hail, Redeemer hail,/ For Thou hast died for me” and believe it deep enough that its reality moves me to tears. But even in the midst of that belief, I still wish that Christ had chosen to keep walking among us like a never aging Wonder-Man, same throughout the centuries, proving his God-ness in the world and bringing justice and peace and hope. An eternally earth-bound Super Savior would be a lot easier to believe in.

However, as my pastor reminded me this morning: In the book of John, when Mary Magdalene discovers Christ’s empty tomb and encounters the risen Jesus in the garden, she physically holds on to him. And his response is to say, essentially, Mary you have to let me go. To quote my pastor: “The reality is, if you let go of me, you will never lose me.”

When Jesus ascended he set a new movement in motion. He sent his followers into the world to heal it. His continued presence (that I wish so much would be a physical superhero) actually becomes his Spirit working through us to the world. We become his physical body, we become, (let’s quote Pastor Fred Harrell again): “the fullness of Christ’s love to the world.”

It’s an idea that allows for a lot of screwed up people to do despicable things in the name of Christ. But it’s also a picture of possibility: human flourishing, how we can thrive in this world, bringing physical, emotion, spiritual restoration to a world that is broken.

So, yes, Ascension Day is hard for me. Like Gretchen Wolf Pritchard writes, it feels like the “final stage of a movement in which Jesus is always slipping through [my] fingers…” His bodily resurrection feels “tantalizing” and “temporary.” But, I’m easing into the beauty of a God who believes in us enough to trust we don’t need to hold him physically. He gives us power, challenges us to “Go into all the world…”, and actually shows up when we pursue justice and peace and physical, spiritual, and emotional hope in the lives of the people around us.

Happy Ascension Day, friends. Here’s to the possibility of a world flourishing…

Previous Post

May 14, 2010

The Mama's Boy

Next Post

May 18, 2010 my list, your list

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Deeper Church Beautiful Beautiful and Broken Books Broken Deeper Story Family and the Christian Year Family Life Found Friends Guest Post Invitation Motherhood My Chalkboard One Good Phrase Pinterest Place and Stability Poetry Practicing Benedict Thankful Tuesday The Daily The Mama Monk the Praying Life The Pursuit of Enough This Sacred Everyday Uncategorized Vlog Women and the Church World Vision

Select a Month March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet bought a field to symbolize hope for Israel's future?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeremiah Isaiah Ezekiel Hosea