Ascension of the Lord
I remember when I entered graduate school, I was shown a shared office space for the students working under my advisor. When I was shown my desk, I had a hard time believing that my workspace was right next to a window. And a window on the fourth floor at that! It seemed too good to be true, and perhaps too soon, to have a “window office.” For such a view was a highly prized commodity in my area of study of meteorology.
Ever since I was a kid, I had desired to pursue a meteorological career in research and teaching. I felt I was already living the dream even in graduate school. I am still grateful for the mentors I had who exemplified the humble pursuit of truth — the epitome of science.
One thing that often happened in our group was the derivation of equations. To an outsider, it could seem arbitrary. But it was anything but. In effect, we would try to explain the greatest amount of data with the fewest set of variables. These types of equations are the “gold standard” since they provide a lot of explanatory power in a way that is intuitive.
This principle immediately comes to mind when thinking of the Ascension of the Lord. In our first reading, we hear one of those “variables” that provides a powerful way of summarizing God’s word.
Three times in our first reading we hear the word “up.” For St. Luke, the day that Jesus “was taken up” served as the transition point between his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. As Jesus was “lifted up” and a cloud took him from the sight of the apostles, an angel explained how this Jesus who had been “taken up to heaven” will return.
If we were a scientist seeking an effective variable that described much of the data of Scripture, it appears that “up” would be a good candidate.
Indeed, the word “up” is sprinkled throughout the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and serves as the primary direction that Jesus guides his disciples in every circumstance. It would be hard to find a shorter word — it’s only two letters — that so beautifully summarizes Scripture.
While there are many more instances, some moments of Jesus’ and the apostles’ lives immediately come to mind when “up” is the privileged direction.
Jesus’ first sermon in Matthew’s Gospel was preached after Jesus “went up on the mountain.” (Mt 5:1) When explaining discipleship, Jesus told his followers they must “take up” their cross. (Mt 16:24) In Jesus’ transfiguration, when his sacred humanity shown brilliantly the light of divine life, his disciples fell to the ground. Jesus came and touched them saying, “get up, and have no fear.” (Mt 17:7) In the garden of Gethsemane, when the crowd lead by Judas approached, Jesus woke his disciples saying, “get up, let us be going; see my betrayer is at hand.” (Mt 26:46) And of course, it was upon the cross, when Jesus was “lifted up,” (Jn 12:32) that he would draw all people to himself.
In teaching, healing, and even in the midst of suffering, Jesus’s gaze was always “up.” And the constant invitation of our Lord to his disciples was to adopt the same mentality.
We see this clearly in the Acts of the Apostles. Even just the first few chapters. When addressing the crowds for the first time, St. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, “lifted up his voice.” (Acts 2:14) When Ss. Peter and John came upon a crippled beggar, his eyes were lifted up with the command, “look at us.” And after heeding the command of the apostles to “get up and walk,” (Acts 3:6) the man stood up. After they testified to the council and were freed, the believers “lifted up their voices together to God” (Acts 4:23) in prayer.
There is not enough space in the column to describe all the places where “up” is the focus of Jesus and his disciples. Incidentally, to describe them all would likely take a Bible’s worth of writing. We haven’t even considered the Old Testament, nor the Book of Revelation.
The word “up” does a good job of describing most of the “data” of scripture. And applying that equation to our own lives, it shows us how we can follow Jesus’ path. While it is a mystery to consider Jesus’ sacred humanity now inhabiting heaven, we can orient our lives around this mystery by keeping our gaze upward; to keep our minds “on the higher things” (Col 3:2) and to “lift up” the lowly (cf. Lk 1:52) in our midst.
