Just try to imagine the scene….?????
It is so hard isn’t it to apply many of the thought processes which we naturally put to the gospel readings to the idea of ascension.
We talked on Thursday how in iconography it is actually quite unusual to see the moment of ascension graphically portrayed, the after effects of it yes, but the moment of it .. no.
It is in more modern Western art that we see some very clumsy and pretty well impossible portrayals put to canvas.
But even to imagine the scene makes me stutter. I am fine thinking of the disciples climbing the mountain (I have climbed many mountains, so I know what that is like)…. I am fine with Jesus speaking with the disciples and telling them that they were now going to be the witnesses to these things (it is natural to listen to a teacher and to learn from them) I am fine seeing the disciples gathered in the “room upstairs” where they found fellowship together and prayed together….
… but the bit in between feels a bit of a blur at the best of times.
On Thursday I spoke about the need to explain to people not versed in the bible and the stories of Jesus what is going on without sounding truly unbelievable, incredible beyond belief, or simply to sound stupid.
One of the clear reasons why this is the case, most especially with the Ascension of Christ is that we actually live in a different world.
For those with the experience of warp drive, vulcans and clingons it is not at all strange to be able to be transported down to the planet below and back again at the touch of a button.
To those used to the clash of Time Lords it is not unusual that a police box from the 1950s should be the vehicle to transport people from one age to another.
To those who see the world built of layer upon layer of existence with a hades below and the highest heaven on the very top rung of existence it would be natural to speak of someone important moving into this new state of existence.
But to us today these concepts may be impossible to comprehend.
Following Thursday evenings questions about Ascension, one person described it as a feeling rather than something that can be explained. I think there is something in this, though we can never know what someone else is feeling it needs to be said.
I asked the question also to Rodney, if he could explain the difference between the Resurrection and Ascension, and though I am not going to ask him today it is still a question worth pondering. In thinking about the question a little more myself I find something of a solution in the world where existence is based on layers, and in this world Jesus Resurrection and ascension is a good way of trying to understand the “enthroning of Jesus” in the highest heaven where you have to literally pass through the heavens (layers of heaven) to get there.
This week I have been meeting with couples who are thinking about or preparing for both marriage and the baptism of children. When it comes to the moment of marriage or the time of baptism, those gathered will feel certain things and hopefully they will feel a sense of God and a sense of fulfilment and blessing. They will feel that something is happening.
They will however not know the details of the journey (completely at least, though those close to the family may know of some details) they will not know what it feels like to the couple or family because they are just witnessing the event. Nevertheless it should be evident that Love is real even if you cannot explain it or put it in a test tube.
The Disciples knew what it was to be Loved by Jesus, they knew what they felt as they loved in Return. They knew what it was, to use the wonderful phrase from 1 Peter, “to cast all your anxiety on Jesus, because he cares for you”. The disciples knew what it was to feel the “authority” of Jesus coursing through their very beings after the crucifixion and they knew that this meant for them that Jesus was very much with them and never would leave them. This same Jesus, to confirm this, is enthroned in the highest heaven. That was enough to know,
That was enough to live by.
The disciples, to come back to earth so to speak, devoted themselves to prayer and fellowship, and this showed to the world what it was to be a “follower of Jesus” even though most others may have just seen the same man “crucified outside the city wall.”
So where does this leave us today?
Are we the ones gazing up into the sky and being told “don’t get stuck there” “do not cling to this image”
Just as they were when they gazed into the tomb and were told “what are you doing here? He is not here he is risen…. Why look for the living among the dead?”
Or are we the ones filled with all authority under heaven, who are devoted to fellowship and prayer, and are called witnesses (to these things) to the ends of the earth…. Starting in Shetland?
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