Sent forth and equipped for the mission

Homily for Ascension Year B 2015

Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 4:1-13; Mark 16:15-20

Introduction

I would like to compare today’s feast of the Ascension, to the proverbial middle child.  The middle child, sandwiched between the over-achieving first born and the pampered baby of the family, often feels neglected and can’t find his niche.

That’s what seems to happen to the feast of the Ascension.  It is sandwiched between the great solemnity of Easter which we celebrated seven weeks ago and the solemnity of Pentecost which comes next Sunday.  And so, one might ask, what is the big deal with Ascension?

But Ascension is important in the Christian cycle of feasts.  Ascension celebrates the return of Jesus to heaven.

Scripture and Theology

For us Christians, the return of Jesus to the Father is indeed a big deal.  It marks the end of his physical presence on earth and the end of his earthly mission.  Since the Ascension, Jesus and his work are still with us, but in another way.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that on that day, when the Lord gathered his disciples in one place, they imagined that something big was about to take place.  They thought that this was the big payday for which they had been working and waiting.  So they asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

But they must have been surprised by the answer that Jesus gave them.  He said: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  In other words, he was saying, “I am not going to restore the kingdom, you are.  I have done my bit; now it is your turn to carry on the job that I started and bring it to completion.  Go on; make me proud.”

·        We could think of the Ascension as being like the day when a successful CEO retires from the company and hands the reins to his successor, saying, “Carry on now – take the company to greater heights.”

·        We could think of the Ascension as being like when the runner in the relay race, who has ran a good race and now hands the baton on to the last runner and says “off to the finish line; win this one for us.”

Jesus is that successful CEO, Jesus is that star athlete on the relay team who pass on the task.  And we the Church are the new CEO, we the Church are the last athlete, and we have been given the task of completing the mission.

But are the disciples qualified to carry on this mission of establishing the Kingdom of God?  Well, Jesus did not just throw them into the water and tell them to swim or sink.  Actually he empowered them for the task in two ways.

First Jesus gives them knowledge.  For three years as they lived with Jesus, they heard him teach, they saw his miracles and his example of prayer and compassion, and most importantly, they saw his suffering, death and resurrection, the vents of our salvation.  And these are the things they areto  preach to the nations, these are the things of which they are to be witnesses. Like the retiring CEO who has been grooming his successor for several years, Jesus has indeed groomed the disciples.

Second Jesus gives them spiritual power.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” he tells them.  The coming of that Spirit, for which they have to wait in Jerusalem, is what we shall celebrate next Sunday, on Pentecost.  In other words in carrying on the mission of the now departing Jesus, they are not going to rely just on their own power and abilities; they will be empowered from God on High, who sends his life-giving Spirit.

·        And so if Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit comes down upon the apostles and they begin to preach the Good News, Ascension is the conceiving of the Church, when Jesus gives the Church its great commission: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

·        If Pentecost is like the wedding day when the bride and groom seal their love with the grace of the sacrament, Ascension is like the engagement when the couple make the firm commitment to get married.

And so after all, Ascension, like the middle child, is important.  Ascension reminds us Christians of the great commission given to us by Jesus.

Christian Life

The Apostles did indeed carry out the great commission.  They preached the Good News, not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but indeed to the ends of the earth.  They in turn passed on this baton of faith to their successors who continued the work until the Good News reached us here in Louisiana.

We today, now have the baton of faith.  We today, are called upon to be witnesses of Jesus.  We today, are responsible for restoring the Kingdom of God.  And by we, I don’t mean just Pope Francis, the bishops, priests and deacons; I mean all the Christian faithful, all the baptized.

What St. Paul in today’s second reading told the Christian community of the Ephesians, he tells our Christian community gathered here.  “. . . grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  In other words, like the disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to enable them carry out their mission, Christians have also received the grace of the Holy Spirit, particularly from the sacraments:

·        At Baptism, we are cleansed of sin and made worthy for ministry.

·        At Confirmation, we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit for witness.

·        At Eucharist, we receive the Word and Sacrament, food for the journey.

·        At Matrimony and Ordination, we each receive the graces we need to serve God and others, as married people or as ordained ministers.

We have no excuse!  We have the power to do the work Jesus left us.

That is why St. Paul in the same reading goes on to say: “And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers . . . .”  In other words, there is something for each of us to do.  And Paul continues to explain that these various callings are given “to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature to manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ.”  These are powerful words that should assure us that we have been equipped for the work of ministry, for the building up the Body of Christ, so that the Kingdom of God is established forever.

Each one of us must decide what role we will play in this noble mission, left for us by Jesus.  If I were to list all the things we can each do, we would be here until the cows come home.  And so I will just suggest three broad areas of action, which build up the Body of Christ.

1.    We build up the Body of Christ by preaching the gospel, in word and example.

2.    We build up the Body of Christ, by celebrating the gospel, in worship and the sacraments.

3.    We build up the Body of Christ, by living out the gospel, in morality and service.

These three things: preaching, celebrating and living.

Conclusion

When the Lord returns, as he surely will, to check on the progress we have made, will he find us at work?  Personally, I hope that he will find me doing at least one of these three things, if not all of them: teaching what he preached, praying as he instructed and serving others as he showed us.

Ascension reminds us of this mission and responsibility; that is why it is important.  Sometimes the middle child eventually finds their niche in life and become the responsible child, the dependable one.

May Ascension takes its rightful place in our lives, highlighting for us and reminding us the great commission given us by the Lord, to proclaim the gospel and to be his witnesses to the whole world.