May 8, 2016

The Ascension of the Lord Acts 1: 1-11; Hebrews 9: 24-28; 10: 19-23; Luke 24: 46-53 We have an amazing fact in todays reading from Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel from Luke. Luke wrote both of these books; it really is a two-volume set. The Gospel was written about 85 AD and the Acts between 95-100 AD. They really are meant to be read together which we probably have never done. If we did we would never lose a beat. Living the Word, Scripture Reflections and Commentaries for Sundays and Holy Days explains this: “The setting for today’s first reading and Gospel reading is Jerusalem In fact, if we were to read chronologically as the author of Luke-Acts had intended, we would start with the Gospel and then turn to Acts. In the Gospel, Jesus has just appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem. After assuring them He is not a ghost (Luke 24:37),He then ‘opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ through the lens of those scriptures. Jesus concludes His teaching by assuring the disciples that He is ‘sending the promise of My Father upon you’ (Luke 24:39)—this promise will be fulfilled in Acts 2 with the coming of the Holy Spirit. After blessing them, Jesus is taken up to heaven. Matthew places the Ascension in Galilee, but for Luke, Jerusalem is the symbolic center of Jewish faith, and the first place in which the gospel is to be preached (Luke 24:47) .” If we do this, read these two together, we will get a richer interpretation of the events. Why? Because Luke is like us: He is not from that part of the world…he never met or saw Jesus…he was a Syrian from Antioch and is mentioned three times by Paul. The opening verses of both books say that Luke is sending them to an unknown person, ‘Theophilus’ a word that means ‘a friend of God or beloved of God,’ that’s each one of us. Why? Jesus at the Last Supper in John’s gospel calls each of us friends: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 16: 12-14) Also Luke was not a first generation Christian. In putting together these books he was dependent upon those who were eyewitnesses. He was very familiar with the Old Testament traditions in the Greek and Hellenistic writings. And he uses Mark’s gospel for reference. He was very sensitive to those who were hurting, tradition says he could have been in medicine. The point is that he is ‘painting’ a picture for each of us about Jesus and the early Church to help us come more in touch with Jesus, His life, His works, His love and His care for each person and for us. Luke paints a portrait unlike any of the other gospel writers. The Acts start with the next development that begins with Pentecost. Acts really isn’t a ‘history’ of the earliest years of the Church. The events do not extend beyond Paul’s imprisonment in Jerusalem and being sent to Rome for trial . The story of Peter and the other apostles stops when Luke shifts to Paul’s journeys. An amazing fact is that we never hear about Paul’s or Peter’s martyrdom. What does all of this mean for us today…perhaps the last words in the Acts today sums this up best, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going into heaven.” Jesus has ascended into heaven. He commissioned each of them to take what He told them and share this with all. They will be part of a kingdom that does not belong to this world. And they have been given gifts and the ability to share and to bring caring, love, compassion, forgiveness and healing to all. So the ‘two men’ say why are they just standing around. They have work to do…they have a mission directly from the Lord. This is a new mission…others have tried it in the past, but have failed. Now we are all a part of God’s plan of salvation for all and each of us have a part in this. This is why we were created…what we have been chosen and commissioned by our baptism to be God’s instruments in His mission of salvation for all. So let’s get working. The apostles had expected an earthly restoration of the glory days of Israel. They certainly were not expecting Jesus’ departure. Now they are in the period of God’s plan…so are each of us. They were thinking…how can ‘little old me, who is a nothing in the world’ bring God’s plan to fruition? How can we when we don’t hear Jesus speaking to us… but He does. This is why Luke wrote his two volume book. When we read just a small passage slowly and reflect on it, we can easily see that Jesus is talking individually to us. We say, He places us in situations that we are not qualified: how do I care for the sick, how do I help when a marriage fails, a job is lost, a dear friend dies unexpectedly or when a tragedy comes? What would Jesus do? He was just present…caring and loving. How important is that? All we have to do is to look at our lives and to see that in our own tragedies we were touched by the presence of a loving person. Sometimes this person we know, sometimes it was from the most unexpected of sources, but in all cases we knew that we were loved. That is what God’s plan is all about. Earlier in Luke Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” It is the Holy Spirit who supplies all, who is with us always. Actually when we think about it, Jesus disappears from view but He is already returning in and through each of us. We still might say, ‘it is too difficult, let…Joe or Sally…do it. But God has given each of us every possible help that we would need in this present situation…event, that we feel is overpowering. If we think it is too difficult, it can be a sure sign that we are not using the gifts God has already gifted us. We have the Eucharist, we have the Scriptures, we have all the sacraments… they are God’s help just waiting for us. Jesus said repeatedly and it is the most used phrase in Scripture…do not be afraid.’ I asked my students years ago if they knew how many times this phrase is used…no one got it. Scholars say that this is used 365 times in Scriptures. One of my students remarked, ‘Hey Father, that’s how many days there are in the year.’ Is this a coincidence? There are no coincidences with God. So I reflect on: • How do I give witness to the Spirit’s power in my life? • Do I rejoice in the Ascension of the Lord? • At times we feel that we are going down a sad or lonely road. Do I realize that Jesus said, You are never alone, I am with you? • What blessings, wealth, and power have I gained through faith in Jesus? Sacred Space 2016 shares: “Jesus connects what has happened to Him to the Old Testament prophecies. Thus, hundreds of years on, God’s promise is fulfilled. God’s time is not always our time. The disciples experienced ‘great joy’ when Jesus blessed them and moved fully into the divine dimension of reality—heaven. Such moments of insight and pure joy are rare but precious for us. While they eventually become dim, their memory can carry us through difficult times. Can I identify one such moment of ‘great joy’? “The night before His death, Jesus prays for all of us who will come to hear and learn His Gospel and the story of God’s love for us through the first disciples and the generations of believers who will follow. Jesus prays that we may know the love of God that He has known, and that same love may unite us as families and friends and communities and churches. That love makes everything done in Christ holy and sacred.” Connections 4/8/16