One traditional Christian teaching that many today simply ignore is Christ’s “Ascension.” Why proclaim that Christ ascended into heaven?
One answer is that it is simply biblical. You find it at the end of both Mark and Luke, but Acts 1 is the version that sticks in our collective memory. The risen Christ has just given the Acts version of the Great Commission:
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9, NRSV)
Jerusalem, we have lift-off.
But if post-Enlightenment Christians have a hard time thinking about Jesus walking on water, the ascension doesn’t even enter their consciousness.
But the story communicates a number of important things, some pretty basic and some more subtle.
Why proclaim Christ Ascended?
On the basic side, Christ’s ascension to heaven affirms his bodily resurrection while giving a clear reason that we don’t bump into him on the street.
The Heidelberg Catechism (that classic exposition of biblical theology beloved of the Reformed Tradition and on which I’ve neglected to blog for far too long) explores a number of the subtler issues. It devotes four questions to this little line of the Apostles’ Creed, one of which I discussed long ago.
Here’s the first question in the sequence:
46 Q. What do you mean by saying, “He ascended to heaven”?
A. That Christ,
while his disciples watched,
was taken up from the earth into heaven
and remains there on our behalf
until he comes again
to judge the living and the dead.
I don’t want to wrestle very hard with any of this today. I think it is better to point out the theological and poetic connections of this short statement with four aspects of our faith.
First is the affirmation of the biblical scenes, the scriptural drama in which the doctrine is rooted. Christ ascended “while his disciples watched” in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:9.
Second is the connection to the rest of the Creed. Jesus will return “to judge the living and the dead.” (The Catechism will get to this in Question 52.)
Third I hear an allusion to the liturgy of the Eucharist in the phrase “until he comes again.” This points directly to the Words of Institution (1 Cor. 11:26). Also, in the West at least, we summarize the great “mystery of faith” saying “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”
Fourth is a quiet emphasis on a central theme of the Heidelberg Catechism itself. Christ is ascended to heaven “on our behalf.”
Over and over the Catechism emphasizes how the whole of the gospel, and all of theology, is to help us. It is useful.
It isn’t just an intellectual exercise. The whole thing is to make our lives better. It is for us.
- Christ is for us.
- Christ died for us.
- Christ’s body and blood are given for us.
- Christ died, rose, ascended, reigns and will return for us.
This is also a biblical allusion of course. But that’s the point. The Catechism is teaching us biblical theology.
Theology as poetry, not as argument
These are poetic connections, intentional echoes of language across a variety of important texts.
That is different from logical arguments. Often Christians give in to our culture’s pseudo-scientific mindset, thinking we need rational proofs.
Instead what Scripture, and the best of theology, often give us is food for our souls in the form of poetry, story, and song — the things that make for a life of depth and meaning.
Amy says
August 9, 2016 at 11:39 AMAn idea I have a hard time with too. Maybe shifting to a different space/time dimension is a 21st century way to describe it. How is it that God is both here with us and our Father in Heaven? If the sky is the outer space that we know it to be, where is Heaven? I’m no physicist, but the concept of different space/time dimensions is the best I can get my mind around and still believe.
Fr. Dustin says
August 9, 2016 at 12:03 PMHi Amy,
I think many people have this question, and I think N.T. Wright does an excellent job of answering it.
First off, it’s wrong to think that the goal of Christianity, or the purpose of Christ’s death, was to make it so we could go to “heaven” when we die. That idea is actual very Platonic. God made the material world, including our bodies, and declared it to be good (or “beautiful” as the Greek says).
What Christ does is unite heaven and earth in himself. What he accomplishes is a recreation, a new beginning. We know this as resurrection. What happened to Christ 2,000 years ago, will happen to us at the end of time. Our old bodies will be transformed into new incorruptible bodies that will inhabit, not heaven, but a new, recreated earth.
Think of the union of heaven and earth in this way – one is visible and other is invisible (not a geographic location). We, ourselves, are created this way. We have a body, which is visible, and a soul, which is invisible. They weren’t created to be a part. When they are separated, this is called death. In the resurrection, they are united, as they should be. Heaven and earth are the same way. Heaven isn’t far off, somewhere out there, but meant to be united to earth in a mystical way.
For more information, I highly recommend N.T. Wright’s Simply Jesus.
Gary Neal Hansen says
August 9, 2016 at 12:11 PMThanks Amy! Great to hear from you.
I see Fr. Dustin chimed in here. As well as being a reader of NT Wright he’s a big time Trekkie, so I’m surprised he did’t suggest it was a rift in the space-time continuum…
Blessings,
Gary
Fr. Dustin says
August 9, 2016 at 12:38 PMYes, yes, that’s what I meant to say. Our fall from paradise was a rift on the space-time-continuum. 🙂
Fr. Dustin says
August 9, 2016 at 11:50 AMI’m glad you wrote about the Ascension. It always falls on a Thursday (40 days after Easter Sunday), and so it gets neglected by far too many people.
Just this past year, I was reading about it in another blog, and I learned some really neat insights that I want to share.
We all know that Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension was “according to Scripture.” One such passage that gets a lot of attention is the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). Many Christians see Christ’s death on the cross as a type for the Day of Atonement and the forgivness of sins.
But what often gets overlooked is that the blood of the sacrifice has to go into the Holy of Holies. What was pointed out to me was that the Ascension is that very act. Jesus, the God-man, takes human blood into heaven, the true Holy of Holies.
If the Nativity is when God became human (the Incarnation), then the Ascension is the opposite, humanity now becomes divine – our very flesh, united to God in Christ – now at the very throne of God.
It thought that was neat and wanted to share.
Gary Neal Hansen says
August 9, 2016 at 12:09 PMCool stuff! Thank Fr. Dustin…
gary panetta says
August 10, 2016 at 4:43 PMI thought the reference to our culture’s “pseudo-scientific mindset” was quite apt.
Certainly, we human beings can make sense of the one multi-dimensional reality that confronts us in different ways — through experimental method, through storytelling, through the arts — depending upon the kinds of questions we are asking.
For me, the Ascension is important because it is linked with the idea of Jesus reigning in power for us and praying for us at the right hand of the Father. The Ascension is a reason to hold fast in faith despite difficulties: “Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession” (Heb. 4:14).
Gary Neal Hansen says
August 12, 2016 at 1:50 PMThanks Gary. I think you are right in tune with the Reformed confessions on the connection of Christ’s ascension with his reign and intercession. And very much in their spirit when you draw the application that this helps us hold fast in faith. Great stuff.