The Ascension ... where am I in this story?

The amazing thing about the Gospels - and the myriad of stories contained within them - is that there is not a story or passage in which we are not included somehow: we are there, in them all, somewhere and somehow!

We learn to live the Gospel life - the life that Jesus wants us to live - by allowing ourselves to enter into the Gospel, and we can begin to do this by asking ourselves of any particular scene or story:

- Where am I in this scene?
- What aspects of it can I relate to?
- Is there any part of it that relates to my own life and experience?
- What is Jesus trying to tell me?
- What are the other people in this scene trying to tell me?

We will very soon be celebrating the first important event after Easter and which has a direct message for us: the Feast of the Ascension. The occasions of both the Ascension and Pentecost are inextricably linked not only to each other, but also to us, individually and personally. There are two aspects of the Ascension which have something to say to us and to which we can all relate:

- the sadness and inevitability of losing someone we love, and
- the inevitability of our own passage from this life into the next

If we have lost someone we love, we can relate to the disciples' complete despair at losing Jesus not just once, but twice. Their first experience of grief, when Jesus was killed and left in a tomb, was soon to turn to unadulterated joy and celebration by his appearing among them again, in the flesh, just days after his death. Just pause for a moment and try to imagine what this must have felt like: imagine if one of your loved ones came back from the dead - your heart would be filled to bursting with joy and you would never wish to go through the pain of losing them again.

The time between Christ's resurrection and ascension must therefore have been a deeply precious time for them all: were they able to say to Jesus all the things they wished they had said before he was crucified? Were they more open with Jesus about their love, affection and gratitude for him? Did Peter rejoice to have the opportunity to apologise, personally, to him for having denied him three times? What questions should this raise for us?

- Do my family and friends know that I love them?
- Am I truly grateful for the gift of companionship?
- Do I work hard enough to heal divisions caused by disagreement?
- Do I treasure my own friendship with Jesus?
- What is my friendship with Jesus like?
- Am I careful not to make it all take and no give?

This was a precious time for the disciples: they must have had a renewed sense of gratitude for him and for the gift of his friendship and we can only guess at what profound sadness they were filled with at the prospect of losing Jesus for a second time.

Jesus, though, made it very clear that his going had a real purpose and that not only they, but generations to come - you and me - would benefit by his going to the Father. What was this purpose?

Firstly, and apart from anything else, it was time for Jesus to go home to his beloved Father: "If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father - the world must know that I love the Father" (John 14:28). He quite simply wanted to go home.

How hard it is to let someone we love go, but this is what Jesus is telling us in this scene: he knows the anguish that separation through death brings, but he wants us to be reassured that our departure from this world - and the departure of our loved ones - is nothing other than going home. His friends were quick to understand what he was saying and were clearly comforted by this, for they "went back to Jerusalem, filled with great joy" (Luke24:52).

Secondly, he knew that unless he went home to his Father in heaven he would not be able to bring about the promised baptism with the Holy Spirit: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised…… in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:4-5). This must have been a source of excitement, encouragement and comfort for his friends, though they could not possibly have guessed what this baptism with the Holy Spirit was going to do for and with them.

Lastly, he was going ahead of us to prepare a place in heaven for each of us: "I am going now to prepare a place for you…." (John 14:2). Having blazed a trail through death, he was now going ahead to make ready a place for us in heaven: what more could we possibly ask of him?

"But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me…to the ends of the earth." After saying this, he was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
(Acts 1:8)

And so, Jesus departed and his friends waited…….