You can understand why God would use angels to deliver important messages. They are faster than FedEx. They are clearer than Instagram. And they make more of an impression than an electronic billboard. So when we hear in the Acts of the Apostles that “two men dressed in white garments stood beside” the apostles after Jesus ascended you know that God sent some angels with another important message. But there is a problem with using angels as messengers. They are, after all, angels, that is to say, not human. They don’t get it that the facts are not simply facts but can carry tons of emotional weight. Think of the angel who addressed St. Joseph: your fiance, Mary, is pregnant but it’s okay because the child is from the Holy Spirit. Could you run that by me again! Or the angel at the tomb on Easter Sunday to those coming to mourn: He is risen. He is not here. Don’t look for the living among the dead. Say what? So when those white-robed messengers asked the apostles on the Mount of Olives: “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” they did not understand the emotional roller coaster the eleven were going through. Their friend, their leader, their teacher, the one they thought they had lost but had been found, the source of their hope and joy was going away from them. Yes, this was the plan and action of God but still there was grief, there was a sense of loss, there was a hole in their soul. Even though they had the blessed assurance that “this Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return” it still hurt to say good-bye to someone that you love. Angels don’t get that.
There might not be angelic messengers here but a similar process goes on in our lives. We know what the faith teaches but it doesn’t lessen the impact certain events have in our lives. Today is Mothers’ Day in the US. If your mother has already ascended to her place in glory you know in faith that she is blessed but you still miss her. On the flip side, mothers always worry about their children no matter how grown they are. Angels don’t understand but mothers do. The same is true of the entire emotional landscape of our lives. When angels appear in the Bible they almost always say, “Do not be afraid.” But fear is part of our lives – we are fearful of getting sick, we are fearful of what the future holds, we fearful at times just going down the street. Angels are cool, aloof. But we get angry at times when we are wounded by an unkind word or cruel action or just because of the sheer hell people give each other. And angels seem to have choirs or choruses that they belong to. Human beings can feel alone, abandoned, solitary, unloved even. And sad, just feel sad. Angels don’t get that.
Jesus does. He knew what the disciples were going through, knows what we go through, because he went through it himself. Thus you can see in the gospels how he tried to prepare this disciples, his apostles, his friends for his departure. Think of the things he said to them: “A little while and you shall see me and again a little while you shall not see me.” “I am going to prepare a place for you.” “The Son of Man must suffer but will rise in three days.” They didn’t always understand but no doubt when they looked back on his words it offered them some hope and consolation even in the midst of loss. At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles Jesus gives one final consoling word, something of a Last Will and Testament. He tells them: “You will receive power.” That is the bequest that Jesus leaves them as a going away present: Power.
Power over what? Power over that sense of grief and loss that can overwhelm us at times. We know that God never fails and that for those who love God all things work out for the good. Power over fear. No matter what the enemy out there what a mighty God we serve who transforms death into life, Good Friday into Easter Sunday. Power over the sense of helpless that enrages us because we know that we can do all things through him who strengthens us. Power over our sense of being lost or alone because Jesus names us and claims us as his friend. Because we have Jesus in our lives we have the power of knowing there is nothing that we can’t handle together.
However, did you notice that Jesus does not give us that power for our own good, for our own sense of well-being. Rather, the power we receive is for a purpose: so that we will be witnesses to Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. In other words, Church, faith is not my personal teddy bear to clutch close to my bosom as I rock myself to sleep at night. No, faith is for witness, meant to be given away, to be shared like a magic penny that multiplies the more and more. Jesus gives us the power to witness we can trust our ability to do so. We give witness when we offer hope to the hopeless, courage to the fearful, companionship to the abandoned. We witness when we preserve unity and peace in the midst of conflict and division. We witness by building up the body of Christ using our gifts and talents in caring for others. So that’s what the angels really were asking when they appeared to the apostles after the ascension of Jesus. Not so much, why are you looking up at the sky and missing Jesus. More, why are you looking up at the sky when you have a job to do? Get on with it. You have to witness to what Jesus has done in your life. You have to witness to the good news so that it permeates the whole world. You have to witness that in Jesus all will be well, all manner of things will be well.
