The only direct account of Jesus’ Ascension we have comes from the pen of Luke, in both His Gospel and in the first chapter of his second book, which we call the Acts of the Apostles. St Paul makes reference to it in the passage we heard earlier, but his use is theological not narrative. For both the Jewish and non-Jewish readers of Luke’s day the symbolism of the accounts was more obvious than it may be to us. But if we miss the symbolism we miss the meaning. In the First Century Roman emperors were more than human rulers, they claimed divinity. This of course brought the followers of Christ into conflict with the Roman authorities because of the declaration ‘Jesus is Lord’; for if Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not.
When the emperor died the manner of his departure endorsed his divinity. Someone would claim to witness his soul rising to heaven. It’s possible to see evidence of this claim today. In the Forum in Rome the Arch of Titus shows a carving of the soul of Titus ascending to heaven. (Titus ruled as emperor in the 80’s of the First Century.) By contrast, it is not the soul of Jesus which rises, it is his whole earthly body, i.e. his full self is taken into that dimension we call heaven. Only the truly divine one enters heaven complete, taking with him everything that had been accomplished on earth. Jesus is the reality, Titus the copy.
For Titus, the aim was to glorify himself, to draw glory to himself and seek to be immortalised. By contrast, Jesus seeks to glorify the Father and is glorified by Him. This is symbolized by the clouds, a sign of God’s presence and glory, into which Jesus is taken.
Titus seeks to draw power to himself and to his direct family. If he dies as a god then his son is the son of a god, which legitimizes him taking over as Ruler. By contrast, Jesus seeks to share power, not hold it to Himself. This is picked up by Paul in writing to the Ephesians; ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ It is by ascending that he can reach all his people at the same time, something not possible by staying in his earthly body. Jesus ascends for us, for we are now His Body. Unlike Titus who leaves his body behind, Jesus makes His people His Body and invests them with His Power. Here is true coalition!
It means a power-sharing and a gift-sharing. The calling to you and I is to receive and exercise the gift he offers to us: As Paul puts it:
‘The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.’
So let us pray that the church of Christ would grow into unity of faith and exercise mature gifting and leadership. And let’s pray too for our country and our new government as it is required to do the same. Let us pray…
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