The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to build the community of the Church in the manner intended by Jesus when He commissioned His disciples.
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| Community Building |
The reading from The Acts of the Apostles establishes the Promise of the Holy Spirit to the Church as Luke describes the Ascension of Jesus.
* [1:3] Appearing to them during forty days: Luke considered especially sacred the interval in which the appearances and instructions of the risen Jesus occurred and expressed it therefore in terms of the sacred number forty (cf. Dt 8:2). In his gospel, however, Luke connects the ascension of Jesus with the resurrection by describing the ascension on Easter Sunday evening (Lk 24:50–53). What should probably be understood as one event (resurrection, glorification, ascension, sending of the Spirit—the paschal mystery) has been historicized by Luke when he writes of a visible ascension of Jesus after forty days and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. For Luke, the ascension marks the end of the appearances of Jesus except for the extraordinary appearance to Paul. With regard to Luke’s understanding of salvation history, the ascension also marks the end of the time of Jesus (Lk 24:50–53) and signals the beginning of the time of the church.1
Psalm 47 proclaims God is king over the nations.
* [Psalm 47] A hymn calling on the nations to acknowledge the universal rule of Israel’s God (Ps 47:2–5) who is enthroned as king over Israel and the nations (Ps 47:6–9).2
The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians describes Jesus as the head over all things for the Church, which is His body.
* [1:15–23] See note on Rom 1:8 for the thanksgiving form in a letter. Much of the content parallels thoughts in Col 1:3–20. The prayer moves from God and Christ (Eph 1:17, 20–21) to the Ephesians (Eph 1:17–19) and the church (Eph 1:22–23). Paul asks that the blessing imparted by God the Father (Eph 1:3) to the Ephesians will be strengthened in them through the message of the gospel (Eph 1:13, 17–19). Those blessings are seen in the context of God’s might in establishing the sovereignty of Christ over all other creatures (Eph 1:19–21) and in appointing him head of the church (Eph 1:22–23). For the allusion to angelic spirits in Eph 1:21, see Rom 8:38 and Col 1:16. Here, as in 1 Cor 15:24–25 and Col 2:15, every such principality and power is made subject to Christ.3
The Gospel of Matthew is the Commissioning of the Disciples by Jesus.
* [28:16–20] This climactic scene has been called a “proleptic parousia,” for it gives a foretaste of the final glorious coming of the Son of Man (Mt 26:64). Then his triumph will be manifest to all; now it is revealed only to the disciples, who are commissioned to announce it to all nations and bring them to belief in Jesus and obedience to his commandments.4
Nicholas Santos, S.J. comments on this feast of the Ascension it might be helpful to remind ourselves, as Saint Ignatius does in the Spiritual Exercises, of Christ, our Divine Majesty and Eternal King.
Using Ignatian imagination we can imagine what our world would be like if Christ were the King. What if Christ were the President, or Governor, or Mayor? What would change? What would be different? And, how can we in our own, small way, work to bring about that change or be that difference. Then, indeed will we be responding to the call of Christ, helping him to realize God’s kingdom here on earth. Yes, even in the midst of the COVID-19 situation that we are in right now.5
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus ascends to heaven in his body - divine and human nature,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"You heard what came to our ears just now from the Gospel: 'Lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And it happened, while he was blessing them he withdrew from them, and was carried up to heaven.' Who was carried up to heaven? The Lord Christ was. Who is the Lord Christ? He is the Lord Jesus. What is this? Are you going to separate the human from the divine and make one person of God, another of the man, so that there is no longer a trinity of three but a quaternary of four? Just as you, a human being, are soul and body, so the Lord Christ is Word, soul and body. The Word did not depart from the Father. He both came to us and did not forsake the Father. He both took flesh in the womb and continued to govern the universe. What was lifted up into heaven, if not what had been taken from earth? That is to say, the very flesh, the very body, about which he was speaking when he said to the disciples, 'Feel, and see that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you can see that I have' (Luke 24:39). Let us believe this, brothers and sisters, and if we have difficulty in meeting the arguments of the philosophers, let us hold on to what was demonstrated in the Lord's case without any difficulty of faith. Let them chatter, but let us believe." (excerpt from Sermon 242,6)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 1:1-11 comments that Jesus may have ascended, but the work of his kingdom continues—and he has placed that work in our hands. That’s why he promised us the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit so that our attempts to preach the gospel, take a stand against sin, and lift up the poor are filled with God’s own grace and love.
It’s not as hard as you might think. Preaching the gospel can be as simple as offering to pray for a struggling friend or sharing with a neighbor about how God helped you during a tough situation. Lifting up the poor can mean a weekly visit to a nursing home or increasing your donations to the poor box. Taking a stand against sin can mean praying for people’s conversion or trying to establish a more peaceful environment in the home.
Yes, Jesus is going to restore his kingdom. And he’s going to use you to do it.
“Come, Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts. Empower us to build a kingdom worthy of the risen Lord!”7
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the possibility that Luke addressed the prologue of Acts to a symbolic name. The text from Ephesians is in contradiction to Greek thought about the inferior nature of the body. Friar Jude reminds us that the themes of Jesus commissioning text are a repetition of ideas Matthew has underlined in five discourses in his Gospel.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that for the first three hundred years after Jesus’ death, Christians were the oppressed minority. But by the year 400 C.E., Christians had changed places. We moved from hiding in the catacombs to presiding in the basilicas. That is when we started reading the Bible not as subversive literature, the story of the oppressed, but as establishment literature to justify the status quo of people in power.
When Christians began to gain positions of power and privilege, they also began to ignore segments of Scriptures, especially the Sermon on the Mount. Our position in society determines what we pay attention to and what systems we are willing to “go along with.” This is what allowed “Christian” empires throughout history to brutalize and oppress others in the name of God. Sadly, this is still the case today.
But when the Bible is read through the eyes of solidarity—what we call the “preferential option for the poor” or the “bias from the margins”—it will always be liberating, transformative, and empowering in a completely different way. Read this way, Scripture cannot be used by those with power to oppress or impress. The question is no longer “How can I maintain my special and secure status?” It is “How can we all grow and change together?” I think the acceptance of that invitation to solidarity with the larger pain of the world is what it means to be a “Christian.”8
We are commissioned to gather people in the community, baptize with the Holy Spirit, and teach, through action, the Way of Jesus as expressed in Scripture passages like the Sermon on the Mount.
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