Gospel of Luke 24:46-53
46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
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When, for a reason, we are not able to celebrate the Ascension Day on its Thursday, usually we celebrate it on the closest Sunday, just like today.
The description of the event is actually very detailed. We have the protagonist, Jesus, we have the witnesses, the Apostles, we have the time, 39 days after Easter Sunday, we even have the geographical coordinates, close to the town of Bethany, in Judea. Thus, we have a complete witness report for an investigation of the Ascension facts on the ground from the first century.
Regarding the place, it can be stated that it was an interesting choice for the ascension, because Bethany, the town, is located on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, around 3 km from Jerusalem.
Bethany is the very hometown of Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead. It is not only that we know from the Gospels that Jesus, when he was in Judea, eventually dwelt in that town, practically adjacent to Jerusalem, but this was also the very place, in Bethany, where he was anointed more than likely by Mary Magdalene in the House of Simeon the Leper.
Also when we consider that Bethany, together with Betphage, was a part of the Mount Olives, its biblical significance can not be overstated.
Whenever Jesus and the Apostles came to Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives served as a headquarter and the basis of operations. It was the spot where Jesus stood, when he wept over Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday they entered Jerusalem from Bethany, and on Maundy Thursday, they retired to the Gethsemane Garden, which was also a part of the Mount of Olives, and was the very location, where Jesus was betrayed and captured.
This mount, rather a hill-like mound, like the Mount Royal in Montreal, became a revered sacred place, overlooking the Temple compound in Jerusalem from the East.
The hilltop, originally, had had pagan altars even through the period of the first Temple, until king Josiah got rid of the pagan cults, in the seventh century BCE.
However, a big portion of the Mount of Olives became the sacred and giant cemetery of Jerusalem.
In ancient and modern times as well, thousands of prominent people sought and found a resting place here, because they held that prophet Zechariah prophesied so that on the very judgment day, when the Messiah will also establish the Kingdom of God on Earth, the general resurrection of the dead will start at the Mount of Olives, as it is written that:
“ The Lord will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women violated. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. … Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him” .
Nowadays, there are an estimated 150,000 graves on the Mount of Olives. That is why the choice of the Mount of Olives as the spot the Ascension is more than symbolic.
Nonetheless, some people question the profound factuality of the resurrection and ascension narratives in the Gospels. They think that these reports belong to the realm of fantasy and to tale-telling mythology, but they can not be validified by science.
Despite the common assumption that regards science as an accurate and unquestionable authority, science itself is a belief system, based on statistics and probability. Science is very much like standing in the bus stop, waiting for your bus according to the printed schedule, hoping that your ride will not be late or missing. Until the bus really arrives, every heart beat is just a hopeful wish, a whisper for mercy of the universe to make the bus arrive on time or at all. In order to wait patiently at the bus stop, you have to believe that the bus will eventually come.
Likewise, when sir Isaac Newton realized that the apples should fall, if not too far from the tree, in a free fall, with the acceleration bound by the pull of the gravity, still he was not able to declare that it is one thousand percent certain, when an apple falls, it will fall downward the center of the Earth and not in the opposite direction. It is only 999 percent likely, but not 1000 percent sure, because however a future event looks very likely to happen, the future is still not predictable by science with full certainty.
Nobody can be 1000 "percent" sure, that the law of physics will not change and turn upside down in the next moment. Science admits that it has a couple of assumptions, but it does not know how the universe came into being, how life started the heartbeat and consciousness, moreover science has not a single clue what is the true purpose of human history on Earth.
Moreover there were some strange occurrings, tangentially mentioned in the Scriptures, and it is among them that the ascension of Jesus was not unique. It happened to Elijah, to Enoch and to countless others including Moses, and to many of whom we do not have a record.
Also, we should suspect that the extraordinary Sonship of Jesus might have a firstborn and an only begotten status, but it is also written in the Gospel of John in its very first chapter that “ But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: to those who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ”
Resurrection, ascension and being born of the Holy Spirit of God, are all God’s free gifts, but they happen to and on the human nature. God does not to be resurrected or ascended into Heaven, or being born at all.
Even when these, including the ascension, happened to Jesus, these touched his human side only. That is why it is authentic of him to say that brothers and sisters, please follow me, and be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.
It is true, that in order to pursue not only our happiness, but perfect holiness, we need the almighty help of our Rock and Redeemer, our Savior and Lord. However, the mere believing in Him is not enough.
We have to also answer our call by following Him when he is calling us, one by one and as communities as well. We ought to imitate Him, asking always not only that what the Lord can do for us, but what the right thing is to do for his greater glory, and then do it, praising his name not only by words but with our deeds, as well,
AMEN.
