ASCENSION OF THE LORD – B
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 4:1-13
Mark 16:15-20
On a beautiful Spring Day, maybe in 1970, the seminary decided to have the Ascension Thursday mass outdoors. They set up the altar, brought out the guitars (very 70s) and prepared the bread and wine. There was one surprising element: helium balloons. When the reading from the Acts of the Apostles said that Jesus “was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight” the seminarians let their balloons go. They watched as the clouds took the balloons from their sight. Hey, in those heady days after Vatican II there were many such efforts to make the liturgy, as we put it at the time, relevant. However, a closer look at the passage from Acts shows that the effort was essentially misguided. The point of the reading is not watching Jesus disappear, Wizard of Oz like, into the ether. In fact, the disciples are explicitly criticized for doing so. “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” St. Luke tells this story to start of the Book of Acts to set the table for what comes next: the disciples bearing witness to Jesus “in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” They were not there on the mountain, (traditionally the Ascension took place on the Mount of Olives), to witness Jesus’ exit. They were there to be commissioned to bear witness to the world of the love of God they had come to experience as followers of Jesus.
We tell the story of the Ascension every year so that we will understand that the Resurrection of Jesus transformed not just Jesus but his followers as well. Jesus, of course, moved from death to life, from tragedy to triumph, from the cross to a crown. No longer simply the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee Jesus was seen as the Risen Lord, the conqueror of sin and death, the Savior of the World. But the ascension changed the disciples as well. Those who were confused and fearful, who were capable of denying, abandoning and betraying him, were transformed into bold proclaimers of the good news, bringing a message of hope and joy into a hurting world. Hence, the key word that comes up again and again to describe the new reality of Jesus’ disciples: witnesses. Of course, it was not just those first disciples who are supposed to be witnesses of Jesus but all of us. As people of faith we have all experienced something. How are we to become witnesses in the providence of our daily life?
The first way we witness is by how we live. We as the followers of Jesus have a different set of values than society at large. Our actions, our behaviors, our values bear witness to what following Jesus means to us. Instead of having the most we believe in loving the most. Instead of resentment, we believe in forgiveness. Instead of getting ahead we believe in blooming where you are planted. Instead of wealth we believe in generosity. When people wonder about why we act as we do we are bearing witness to Christ who is planted in our hearts. In the play The Man of LaMancha, one song questions the behavior of Don Quixote: “Why does he do the things he does? Why does he do these things? Why does he batter at walls that won’t break? Why does he give when it’s natural to take? Where does he see all the good he can see, and what does he want of me?” His behavior makes them look at themselves. That is one way we bear witness – when people can see how our faith in Jesus transforms our lives and fills us with joy.
A second way we bear witness to Jesus is by sharing life together as Church. In a culture holding up the Lone Ranger, Jason Borne and John Wayne as ideals we demonstrate that being in community makes us better human beings. According to the earliest records we have, the pagans in ancient Rome were attracted to the faith because of the fellowship they saw among the Christians. “Look how those Christians love one another,” they would say. Maybe one of the reasons for the drying up of the faith today is that people don’t see the love. We here at St. James can bear witness to our faith in Jesus by showing one other the kindness, care, compassion, concern that flows out of following Jesus. Then people will want to have what we have. Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the Cowardly lion sings about lacking courage? “What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot? What have they got that I ain’t got?” People should look at Christian community and say, “what do they got that I ain’t got?” We bear witness to our faith when Jesus brings us together.
Another way of bearing witness happens when we tell our story of faith. When we tell our story with all its ups and downs people will recognize that what Jesus has done in us and for us, he can do for them. If you’ve ever been to a 12-step meeting you recognize the process. One of those attending will tell how coming to rely on their higher power enabled them to overcome the deadly spiral they had gotten caught up in. No preaching, no attempt to convince – Just telling one’s story works to create an awareness in others about how a new way of living is possible. No one has all the answers but everyone has a story. The same is true of us as people of faith. By telling my story and listening to yours we learn the manifold ways that God is at work. Bearing witness requires no training or education. All that is required is a heart willing to share what God can do with the likes of us. It is something anyone can do – even me, even you.
