Sunday Readings: Acts 1.1-11; Ephesians 1.17-23; Luke 24.46-53
Jesus spoke to his disciples, “Thus it is written that the messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sin would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations. You are the witnesses of these things. See I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, so stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24.46-49)
Before we earthlings saw our planet home from space, the heavens belonged unassailably to God. In the cosmology of Jesus’ time, God and heavens were up and humans and Earth were below. Our 2,000-year-old gospel tells the story of the risen Jesus’ return to God in the worldview everyone assumed in the first century. To return to God is to go to the heavens. It is communion with God.
By hindsight in Luke’s gospel, his disciples see Jesus’ suffering and death as necessary. They have passed from confusion to Easter faith. The ascension is the hinge event between Jesus’ resurrection and sending of the Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles becomes the sequel to the gospel as they carry their witness to the ends of the earth.
How do you imagine the communion with his Father to which the risen Jesus returns?
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