Feast of the Ascension [B]

 


FEAST OF THE ASCENSION 


I recall attending the annual Old Engine Show in Buckley. I had just been installed as the new pastor at St. Patrick’s, located roughly nine miles north of Buckley, on the outskirts of Traverse City. Having arrived at the Old Engine Show, I walked up and down the lanes, reviewed the displays, and then I stopped for something to eat. Volunteers from St. Patrick’s were staffing a food booth, so I dropped in on them, did some visiting, and had a light lunch. Then it was time to head home, back to St. Patrick’s. 


Stepping into the rectory, I dug out a pair of scissors so that I could cut off the synthetic bracelet that had been placed upon my wrist. That bracelet had served as verification that I was a paying customer. When you pay the price of admission, they fasten the band around your wrist. This same practice is carried out at the annual Northwest Michigan Fair. You wear the wristband through the course of your stay—and then you remove it soon after you have departed. You generally don’t wear the wristband any longer than would be required. 


What does this have to do with the Feast of the Ascension? Think of it this way: we’re celebrating the fact that Jesus has chosen NOT to remove his wristband. He has toured our world, adopting a human form as the “price of admission.”  Now he’s taking his leave, heading back to the realm of Heaven. You might expect him to discard the humanity that he took on through the miracle of the Nativity. Shouldn’t it be regarded in the same way that a wristband would be regarded? He “puts on” a human nature by being born of Mary. Now that the earthly portion of his mission has been completed, it’s time to take off what has been put on. Or so it would seem. 


However, there is no record of Jesus setting aside his humanity. He appropriates our humanity through the Incarnation, and now that humanity accompanies him all the way back to Heaven. In effect, he’s leaving the wristband on. He’s not in any hurry to discard what he has put on. It can therefore be said that he’s giving us a place where we would not otherwise have a place. In plain terms, we belong to this world; we don’t belong to the world of Heaven. The only way we can acquire a Heavenly citizenship is to receive it as one would receive a gift (see Phil. 3:20). In that sense, today’s feast represents the conferring of a gift—the gift of a brand new status, a new destiny, a new brand of citizenship. This means that we now have resources being made available to us. We continue to rely upon the resources that pertain to this world. And, happily enough, we can also draw upon the resources pertaining to that other world: in scripture it’s referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven.  

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