The Temporary Farewell

I am completely rubbish at goodbyes. Take me to an airport and even if I do not dissolve into tears at the Departure Gate I will be guaranteed to either back home (if I am not the one travelling) or be bleary eyed as the other travelers excitedly bag bargains in Duty Free. Today, on Ascension Day, we are reminded of the ultimate goodbye, when Jesus having risen and hung out with the disciples for a further forty days ascended to heaven. 

Ascension Day has somewhat faded in the average Christo’s relevance and importance. Sandwiched between the very exciting extravaganzas that are Easter and the Church’s very own birthday which is Pentecost, it is often a bit of a by-the-way. But in light of my own attitudes to farewells from loved ones, how flipping traumatic the preceding couple of months must have been for the disciples, much less Ascension Day? They rock up in Jerusalem thinking that they are going to start a revolution, instead see their Master crucified, breathe a collective sigh of relief when he resurrects only to see him go in a cloud to heaven.  Surely there would have been some who said something along the lines of ‘Why are you going and leaving in this hectic, messy, difficult to navigate world? Surely your resurrection means we can really kick-off, get rid of the socio-political oppression of Rome and the Pharisees, vanquish everyday hardships, Hey get rid of death itself. But please don’t go and leave us alone!”

But if that had been the case then the story would have ended there. Mark’s Gospel gives a clue into the purpose of Jesus’ Ascension:

“After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. Mark 16:19-20

Apart from the very serious business of being at the right hand of the Father, no longer separated from him as he had bought back our salvation, Jesus had very clearly handed over the baton. To us. Yes, pretty amazing. He ascended to heaven AFTER he had spent time with the disciples, taught them, fortified them for the journey ahead and given them the great commission  - that this great gift of Jesus in one’s life – could not just be hogged by them alone but must be shared with all of humanity. The disciples good on their word went about the business of preaching and Jesus for his part confirmed that all they were proclaiming was not elaborate hog-wash, but the real deal as ‘signs accompanied it’ as stated in the verse.

The journey then and now is not easy for Christos. There will be times when you just wish the Second Coming could hurry up and come already, especially when one witnesses the scale of brokenness around the world or even closer to home. The Book of Acts hints at the duality of Ascension Day with angels having to give some of the disciples a kick up the proverbial to get on with the work in hand that Jesus has entrusted them to participate in.

“They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts1:10-11

There will be times when you will look up to the heavens and want a celestial hand to sort things out for you, and sometimes prayers, assistance and comfort may come immediately. But the God we serve has actually entrusted us to partner with him in his Divine Purposes. We are told he will return but in the interim we are to love, work, heal and teach just as he did. So let’s rise to the occasion of his expectations, knowing that when we need help and encouragement he is with us always.