Homily for Ascension Year A 2020
Introduction
What is the feast of the Ascension? Unfortunately the Ascension is like the proverbial middle child. Sandwiched between the over-achieving first born and the pampered baby of the family, the child often feels neglected and can’t find his niche. Similarly, coming as it does between Easter and Pentecost, sometimes we forget about the Ascension. While everybody knows that at Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, when he conquered death once and for all and at Pentecost, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower and inaugurate the Church, one might ask, what is left to celebrate at the Ascension?
Scripture and Theology
If you are asking that question, you are in good company; for the Apostles were just as clueless. On Ascension Day, when the Lord gathered them together, they knew that something big was about to happen; but they were not sure what. They thought, perhaps he was finally going to re-establish the Kingdom, the Kingdom that the Jewish people had been waiting for, for hundreds of years. They thought that perhaps this was the big payday for which they had been working and waiting, to take up positions in his Kingdom. That is why they asked: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
To their great surprise, Jesus instead said: "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Instead of the event being an end of the journey, a graduation of sorts, Jesus was essentially tell them that it was a new beginning. He was saying, “Look guys, I have done my part in establishing the Kingdom – I am going back to the Father. You must complete the work that I started.”
- And so, we could think of the Ascension as being like the day when a successful CEO takes a step back from actively running the company and hands the reins to his successor.
- We could also think of the Ascension as being like when the runner in the relay race, who has ran a good race, 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 are the last athlete, and we have been given the task of completing the mission. The feast of the Ascension is therefore the line that marks the ushering in of the age of the Church, when the disciples take over God's mission of establishing the Kingdom.
But were the disciples qualified to do this? They were good fishermen; but what did they know about running a worldwide religious organization? Some were tax-collectors and that expertise might help with the collection; but what did they know about preaching God's word?
Thankfully, Jesus did not just throw them into the water and say "swim or sink." He prepared and empowered them for the task in several ways.
First Jesus taught them, by his word and by his example. 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 cause of our salvation. And these are the things they were to preach to the nations; these are the things of which they were to be witnesses. Like the retiring CEO who has been grooming his successor for many years by showing him the ropes, Jesus had indeed groomed the disciples.
Secondly, and this is where the analogy with the CEO no longer applies, Jesus gives spiritual muscle to the apostles. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” he tells them. 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; remember, they are only weak human beings. Instead, they will be empowered by the life-giving Spirit of God, for which they have to wait in Jerusalem, which we celebrate on Pentecost.
- And so if Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, when the Holy Spirit comes down upon the apostles, think of the Ascension as her conception.
- 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.
But besides teaching them and giving them the Spirit, there is a third way by which Jesus empowers his disciples to carry on his mission. Unlike the CEO or the athlete, who when they pass the baton on withdraw from the scene, Jesus continues to be the real power behind our witness. In today's passage which comes from the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus commissioned the disciples saying: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." And then he added, and these are the very last words of Matthew's gospel and indeed on the lips of Jesus in that gospel: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” And so, although Jesus has passed the baton on to us, he promises to continue to be with us and help us carry on his mission. And how does he do that?
Christian Life
In a few moments we are going to profess in the Creed that we believe in Jesus, "who is seated at the right hand of the Father." Yes, that is where he went after the Ascension. But what is he doing there? He is not just hanging out with the Father sipping bottomless piña coladas and margaritas. He is there continuing to do what he did here on earth, interceding for us and offering his sacrifice for us. The Letter to the Hebrews makes this very clear, when it says: "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession." Did you hear that? The Ascended Jesus, our Saviour is a high priest, who has taken his sacrifice to the Father and continues to offer it in heaven for all time and for all of us.
And so whenever we celebrate the Mass and offer the bread and wine, offer our words and songs of praise, we are not doing it by ourselves; Jesus is doing the heavy lifting and allowing us to piggy-back on his sacrifice. That is why as the priest I don't consecrate the bread and wine using my words, but I use the very words of Jesus; for he continues to be with us until the end of time. That is why when we sing the Holy Holy Holy, we do so only in union with the heavenly choir, who are singing before the throne on which the sacrifice that saves us is being offered. Our sacrifice, our praise is a sacrament of the sacrifice of Christ.
And so dear friends, the feast of the Ascension is that threshold where the Lord, without abandoning us, gave us a job to do, to witness to him. You could say from the Ascension, like many of us have done recently Jesus left us at the office and he went home to continue working from home, his heavenly home.
The Apostles did indeed carry out the great commission given them on Ascension day. They preached the Good News, not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but indeed to the ends of the earth. That is how we today here in Louisiana and throughout the world know about Jesus.
We today, now have the baton of faith. We today, are called upon to be witnesses of Jesus. We today, are responsible for the Kingdom of God. If I were to list all the things we can each do to be witnesses to Jesus, we would be here until the cows come home. But broadly speaking, we have three area of witness: teaching the word, celebrating worship and performing works of love. In our own different callings we witness by Word, Worship and Works.
- Some of us carry out this commission as ordained ministers: Pope Francis, Archbishop Aymond, Father Cyril, myself and Deacon Broussard.
- Others carry out this commission of witness as lay ministers, in parish administration, during Mass, even teaching in the school or religion.
- But most of us, carry out this commission out in the world, in our families, at work, so that others see Jesus in what we say and what we do.
How are we doing with the baton of the faith? How well are we being his witnesses, especially during this corona crisis?
I have always loved the slogan of the United Negro College Fund Scholarship, which says, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." If I may slightly change that slogan, I would apply it to our situation and say, "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." Friends, it is exactly in such a situation of crisis, difficulty, suffering that our witness to Jesus is really needed. When things are going good it is easy to be a disciple and a witness. It is when we are struggling, deprived of the sacraments, lost our jobs and income, sick, have our plans cancelled including graduation for example, that we must gear up our witness to Jesus. It is when our loved ones have died, when our loved ones are sick, when our loved ones are suffering that we must really show the courage of our witness to Jesus.
How well are we living the Ascension which commissions us to be witnesses during these times? Are we choosing sacrifice over individualism, solidarity over prejudice, faith over doubt, hope over despair, love over hate, truth over untruths, half-truths and outright lies?
Conclusion
Friends in Christ, let he feast of the Ascension be that constant reminder of our Christian calling. Like the apostles let us be witnesses to Jesus in New Orleans, throughout Louisiana and the Gulf South, and to the ends of the earth."
Let us be witnesses to him always. Let us be witnesses to him everywhere.
