INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

Year B - Ascension Day

ACTS 1:1-11. Many anomalies exist in the reports of the apostles’ post-resurrection activities. In this passage they are specifically instructed to stay in Jerusalem. During this time, they witness many appearances of Jesus. Naturally, they begin to question what purpose Jesus had in mind, and even more naturally, they got it wrong. Then came to moment when they received their final directions. They would be empowered to witness to the ends of the earth to what they had seen and heard. They also received the promise that Jesus would come again as some unspecified date.

PSALM 47. This psalm celebrates the absolute sovereignty of God over all nations. It may have been used as a jubilant hymn in the liturgy for the new year festival when God was enthroned as Israel’s sovereign.

PSALM 93. (Alternate) This is another psalm proclaiming the sovereignty of God over all creation.

EPHESIANS 1:15-23. Using the traditional Hebrew berakah or prayer of blessing as his model, the apostle presents his majestic vision of humanity in God’s universal plan of salvation. Through the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ all things in heaven and earth have been brought under the reign of God’s sovereign love.

LUKE 24:44-53. In an unusual alternative to the passage from Acts 1, Luke presents another version of the ascension of Jesus. First he instructed the apostles so that they would understand the Old Testament scriptures fulfilled by his teaching and ministry. Then he gave them their mission as his witnesses and told them they would be empowered to carry it out. Finally, he led them out to Bethany on the far side of the Mount of Olive and from there was carried to heaven, leaving them to return to Jerusalem to worship in the temple.

A MORE COMPLETE ANALYSIS:

ACTS 1:1-11. Many anomalies exist in the reports of the apostles’ post-resurrection activities. In this passage they are specifically instructed to stay in Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 28:16; John 21:1; Luke 24:49). During this time, they witness many appearances of Jesus. Naturally, they begin to question what purpose Jesus had in mind. Even more naturally, they got it wrong. In this instance they merely gave voice to the traditional Jewish view that the Messiah would free Israel from foreign domination and restore Israel’s monarchy.

Rather than rebuke their misunderstanding, Jesus reminded them of the future God intended was not for them to know. Instead he gave them a mission and their final marching orders. They would be empowered to witness to the ends of the earth to what they had seen and heard. They also received the promise that Jesus would come again as some unspecified date.

The disciples’ amazement at Jesus’ departure from them in a cloud recalls the dramatic ascension of Elijah in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11-12). But a more probable influence was the numerous references to ascension of other religious heroes in OT apocryphal literature. In the Hellenistic world, the ascent of a king, prophet, hero or holy person had become a well-known symbol of divine status.

More significant than the specific details, however, is the theological significance of the event. Christ’s ascension not only demonstrated his divinity but signaled the inauguration of his messianic kingdom. The new age of victorious redemptive love had begun. The empowerment of his disciples for their mission as witnesses would carry forward this new spiritual reality. The sovereignty of Christ at the right hand of God now extended over all the demonic powers that controlled human life and all of creation. Those who believed and accepted the symbol of new creation in baptism would now share in this new life.

PSALM 47. This psalm celebrates the absolute sovereignty of God over all nations. It may have been used as a jubilant hymn in the liturgy for the New Year festival when God was enthroned as Israel’s sovereign. Several other psalms (Pss. 93, 96-99) also expressed this theme. Some scholars believe that the returning exiles brought the practice came back from Babylon. The Babylonians also had a similar liturgical custom of enthroning their deity, Marduk, at the beginning of a new year.

The thought of God as king is found in other parts of the OT (Ps. 44:4; 48:2; 74:12; 1 Sam. 12:12; Isa. 41:21; 52:7-10). In this instance, the sovereignty of God is universal. All peoples are summoned to render homage and praise. The image recalls that of a Middle Eastern potentate receiving the homage of subject peoples. The scene so described foreshadows an eschatological time when the kingdoms of the world would become the kingdoms of the Lord. Thus the psalm serves appropriately as a hymn of praise for Ascension Sunday.

PSALM 93. (Alternate) This is another psalm proclaiming the sovereignty of God over all creation. Like its counterpart above, it may have formed part of the New Year enthronement ceremonies. Whereas the previous psalm celebrated political sovereignty to some extent, this one celebrates God’s dominion through nature (vss. 3-4). It emphasized the way in which at the beginning of each new year enthronement rituals reasserted divine sovereignty in the cycle of the seasons and the produce of the land. Echoes of the creation myth of Genesis 1 echo through the roaring floods and thundering seas.

Whether Paul authored this letter or not, the issue addressed throughout was the division between Jew and Gentile. As Prof. George Caird put in his study, Paul’s Letters from Prison, (Oxford, New Clarendon Bible. 1976. 54) racial and religious distinctions had been exacerbated by pagan godlessness and immorality on the one hand and Jewish superiority and exclusiveness on the other. A new unity had been created by Jesus Christ which removed all previous barriers and legalistic traditions. He had brought into being a new humanity which the common love of Jew and Gentile empowered by the Spirit of the risen Christ would bring to all the world.

The idealism of this passage remains as the charter of the church to this day. Neither Jewish nor Gentile tradition, but Christ alone would bring all humanity into God’s commonwealth. The church as this new creation would represent the living Christ who reigns supreme. Bound by institutional prejudices, we have difficulty recognizing this universal aspect in the modern church. Indeed, to use Bishop John Shelby Spong’s metaphor, Christians wishing to adopt such a vision of the church universal must become “Christians in exile” from contemporary denominational bondage.

LUKE 24:44-53. In an unusual alternative to the passage from Acts 1, Luke presents another version of the ascension of Jesus. First he instructed the apostles so that they would understand how the Hebrew scriptures had been fulfilled by his teaching and ministry. Then he gave them their mission as witnesses and told them they would subsequently be empowered to carry it out. Finally, he led them out to Bethany on the far side of the Mount of Olive and from there was carried to heaven, leaving them to return to Jerusalem to worship in the temple.

The actual words attributed to Christ in this passage seem somewhat forced as if the author was trying too hard to end the gospel with something paralleling the concluding words of Matthew’s gospel. Various early manuscripts of the passage have alternative readings for specific words and actions of the departing Lord. Some scholars see the passage a closely resembling the original ending to John’s gospel (John 20:19-29) and believe that a simple account has been amplified by interpolations from John.

The author’s purpose was the reiterate the absolute identity of the risen Christ with the flesh-and-blood Jesus of his earlier narrative. This contrasted with the late 1^st century heresy called Docetism which denied the humanity of Jesus by asserting that his divine nature descended upon him at this baptism and withdrew before his crucifixion. It is possible that elements of this heresy had already crept into the teachings of some Christian leaders by the time Luke’s gospel was written in the 80s CE.

Furthermore, the passage narrates the commissioning of the disciples for their apostolic mission. This provides a transition from the gospel narrative to the Acts of the Apostles where the witness of the apostles would be elaborated in greater detail.

Another aspect of the passage highlights the typical attitude of the early church toward the Spirit. The church did not have a true doctrine of the Spirit until defined by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, about 360 CE. Prior to that the Spirit was regarded as divine power to be received through faith to motivate the witness of believers.

The final words of the text remind us that those first believers were faithful Jews carrying on their traditional religious practices and seeking to understand who Jesus is and what his death and resurrection meant by worshipping in the temple and re-interpreting their scriptures. A strong argument can be made that the New Testament as a whole and the four gospels in particular are a carefully designed reworking of traditional Hebrew theology as expressed in the Hebrew scriptures.

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