What does Ascension Day actually mean?
 

By Andreas Jungklaus, 21st May 2022 

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Phil. 2:6-11

Approaching the Ascension Day in our liturgical calendar a question might pop up about what this moment means and what spiritual impact it can have in our lives. Moreover there are only a few verses that regard this episode that sometimes the Bible itself doesn’t seem to care that much. The Gospel of John doesn’t even mention it whilst the other three Gospels cover briefly the subject in their final chapter. But the ascension isn’t in the text just for a merely narrative way of describing a happy ending in Jesus’ life, is it? On the contrary, the ascension has been one of the central pillars of Christian faith and one of the greatest aspects of Jesus’ life about which more details are found in Acts 1 as a sort of prerequisite for the Pentecost Day. No wonder we profess the ascension event in the Apostle’s Creed with these words: “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father” – inserted in a sequence of sentences. In fact the ascension gives us a logical sequence about God’s plan of redemption on humanity. Jesus died and was buried and rose on the third day (our Easter celebration) and now ascended into heaven. Each of these events has an explanation to us.

The ascension along with the resurrection marked the victory of Jesus over death. This death could not hold him since he has fulfilled all criteria demanded from the Law in perfect obedience – something completely impossible for a sinful fallen human being like you and me. The Law is the moral pattern of God himself. Our physical death, in other words, is a visible representation of an invisible reality, that is, our broken relationship with the Creator. Jesus being 100% man and 100% God was the last sacrifice needed, the immaculate male Lamb without defect that we learned at Easter that has replaced us and paid for the sins of those who believe. Jesus sprinkled his own blood on the cross just like the Israelites did with the lamb’s blood onto the doorframe in order that everyone who puts oneself under this divine provision might be freed from the angel of death (the spiritual death in our case). The ascension, therefore, seals the Father’s acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice.

In Philippians 2, however, we have a still deeper meaning concerning what is behind ascension: that God exalted Jesus and ascended him to the highest ever known position, to the highest possible rank, to the most glorious name in the universe with the purpose of establishing His Kingdom and so that every dominiom might be cast to his feet (read also Col 1). This left indent we see in verses 6-11 (NIV) brings to us a declaration of faith that we could use in our daily life if we wanted. According to the Judaic concept, the Messiah would be exalted too, the people were even shouting “Hosanna in the highest!” (Mt 21:9) but with a restricted political perspective. In fact the King of Israel was elevated in a tree and elevated bodily into heaven, in a very different manner from what they expected. Two conclusions for our reflection:

It’s not because the Bible speaks briefly on a subject that this very subject isn’t of great relevance. So the fact of the Bible not speaking of a specific theme or speaking little doesn’t mean, for example, that the Bible doesn’t have an answer to that.

Today we can elevate Christ and exalt him with our lives as living offerings in gratitude and love for Him. This doesn’t happen in a Sunday morning service only but every day with our crafts and abilities and studies and arts we also excellently exalt him. The pouring of the Spirit and the messianic kingdom were intimately associated within the Judaic eschatological understanding. Jesus, then, inaugurates this Kingdom in Acts 2 with the Pentecost and for this to happen, he must ascend into heaven just after commissioning his disciples. The Kingdom was already conquered but is still being implemented little by little in this hybrid period of History we live in between the first and the second coming where we are already saved but not fully freed from the presence of sin.