Celebrate! Today’s a big day right!
Today is Ascension Day after all, which within the calendar is supposed to be a major church festival. Of course, I had to admit that it wasn’t quite on my mind this morning as were Christmas and Easter. Let’s be honest, Ascension Day probably doesn’t even grab our attention as much as the upcoming Pentecost. At least some people still wear red that day right?
So the question is- why did the church seem to think the ascension was so important that it deserved a festival day?
Well, I’ve seen quite a few different posts on this subject by pastors who wax eleoquent about the day for pages. I could try to do so, but I’m not. I want to point you to the picture above (by artist Catherine Andrews) and say two simple things. First,”Look!”
Look- that’s what the disciples are doing as Jesus rose into the clouds. “Why are you looking?” That’s what the angels asked the disciples after Jesus disappeared. Well, duh, they were looking because Jesus had risen from the dead, they’d just gotten used to that fact, and now he was gone, and he was saying things were only going to get even bigger. Wouldn’t you probably be looking too (or maybe looking away like one of the probably distraught women on the left hand side of this image.) The Ascension that forever changed the disciples. Jesus was in heaven and now they were sent. That was confusing. What now? We know we’re sent, but how do we do this? . . .
With power. That’s the other thing I like about this image. Maybe there wasn’t a big ball of light radiating around Jesus at the ascension, but I think the presence of that light pulsing in this picture conveys the idea of power. When Jesus ascends into heaven, he shows how powerful he is. Not just an iternarant preacher or even another miracle worker. He’s God and he’s taking his place. So he’s got power, but-
He also gives us power. The guy at the right hand, well he’s on our side. And as he sends us out. As we’re looking around, trying to figure out how to do this great big mission he gives us, we realize we’ve got the power to do it. After all, there is nothing impossible for the man at the right hand. So if he says we’re going to do it, well then, I guess we can.
So take a moment to look at this image, and then think about the power that we get as we celebrate this day, the Ascension of our Lord.
