Letter from the Bishop: "The Ascension of Jesus"

Dear Friends,
 
And when Jesus had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9)
 
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Ascension, when Jesus ascended into heaven, returning to the glory that was his from before the foundation of the world. For 40 days after he rose from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples here and there throughout Israel. Then on the 40th day—and tomorrow is 40 days after Easter Day—he ascended to heaven. He rose out of their sight and did not appear to them again.
 
Now, liberal theologians and other cynics make much of the fact that we modern folk have learned that heaven is not up above the sky. In 1961, the first human to travel into outer space was Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut from the Soviet Union. Nakita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier said, “We sent Yuri Gagarin up to find heaven but he couldn’t see it.” Gagarin said, “I looked and looked but I couldn’t see God.” A wise Russian bishop replied, “If you have not seen God on earth, you will not see him in heaven.”
 
But Jesus ascended, not because heaven is literally “up there,” but because doing so communicated to his followers that he was leaving them for good, he was returning to his Father in heaven. If he had simply disappeared one more time, they would have been left wondering, “Well, when do you think we’ll see him again?” But because he left in such a different and dramatic way, he left no doubt in the disciples’ minds that this was his final farewell. And by ascending, he left no doubt that he was returning to his heavenly Father.
 
The Ascension—revealed in the Scriptures and declared in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds—is certainly the most neglected of the Principal Feasts of the Church year, probably because it always falls on a Thursday. But the Ascension underscores essential biblical truths about Jesus and his saving work for us.
 
And one of those essential truths is this: Jesus is on the throne of the universe. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is in charge. He has regained the glory he had with the Father before the world began. He reigns over every authority and power in heaven and on earth.
 
1 Peter 3:22 says Jesus Christ “has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
 
Ephesians Chapter 1 speaks of “the immeasurable greatness of [God’s] power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” (Ephesians 1:19-21)
 
In the midst of a pandemic that has brought illness and isolation, grief and anger, fear and loss and death, it is vitally important for us to center our hearts on the eternal reality that Jesus is on the throne.
 
Hebrews Chapter 2 says that God put everything in subjection to Jesus; he left nothing outside his control. But then Hebrews goes on to acknowledge the painful reality of the fallen world as we know it: “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:8-9)
 
In the instability and chaos of the world around us, we have nothing to fear. We can be confident, filled with peace, as we lift up the Name of Jesus, because Jesus has ascended and he is on the throne.

Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey