5 Reasons the Ascension Matters
[W]hy do
heroes ride off into the sunset? Wouldn’t it be better if they stayed? Who
wants a hero who skips town as soon as the crisis is over? The hard stuff is
what comes next. Sure you beat up the big bad guy, but what about all the
little ones? What about all the problems you didn’t fix? What about the daily
grind of living in a broken world? Look at you on your cool horse. Who do you
think is going to clean up all that poop it left behind?
Forget
the sunset. I want a hero who sticks around, not one who takes off.
But isn’t
that exactly what Jesus did? His people waited thousands of years for him to
come. And finally, the Messiah arrived. Then….bam! He’s gone. One minute he’s
there with the disciples, and then “he was taken up before their very eyes, and
a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9).
He
ascended. He left.
I can
just picture the disciples standing there, staring into the sky like a bunch of
kids watching all their balloons float away.
The
Messiah rode off into the sunset.
What is
that all about? Why wouldn’t Jesus stick around? You’d think a few thousand
years would be enough waiting already. Did he really need to take off and make
us wait longer? That’s like telling the kids on Christmas morning that they’ll
need to wait until New Year’s to open their presents.
That’s
just mean.
So
something must be wrong with how I’m telling this story. The ascension isn’t a
mean trick that God played on us. And it certainly isn’t about Jesus leaving us
just when we needed him most. The way the Bible tells it, the ascension is
fundamental to God’s story.
Luke
begins the book of Acts with the ascension for a reason. In Luke’s story, which
includes both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, the Ascension is the
critical hinge between the life/death/resurrection of Jesus (Luke) and the
story of his Spirit-empowered people at work in the world (Acts). And that’s
because, for the biblical authors, the Ascension is critical.
Here’s
why.
1. The King Rules
It’s
really with the ascension that Jesus establishes the Kingdom. Although Jesus
lived his entire life in fulfillment of God’s Kingdom promises, the ascension
is key. That’s why the Bible pictures the Ascension as Jesus going up into
heaven leading a host of captives (Eph. 4:8), the defeated enemies of the
Kingdom. And, arriving in heaven, he sits down at the Father’s right hand (Ps.
110:1; Heb 1:3). His rule has begun. The Kingdom is here! With his birth the
King arrives. With his life, death, and resurrection the King redeems. With his
ascension the King rules. If you stop short of the ascension, the story dies.
2. The Priest Represents
And,
having returned to the father, Jesus also serves forever as our true High
Priest (Heb. 9), the perfect priest who cleansed the people from their sins and
will always represent them before the Father. The ascension breaks the cycle of
God’s people continually needing a new priest to offer a new sacrifice. With
the ascension, Jesus becomes our true priest forever.
3. The Spirit Comes
In one of
the most amazing statements in the Bible, Jesus says that “it is to your
advantage that I go away” (Jn. 16:5). I can think of several people who could
make the world a better place just by leaving it. But Jesus? How can his
departure be good for us? Because the ascension is when Jesus sends the Spirit
to God’s people. His departure is good news because the Spirit is good news.
So, having promised to send the Spirit once he was gone, that’s exactly what he
did. After Acts 1 comes Acts 2. Jesus ascended and the Spirit came. Good news.
4. The People Serve
But now
for an interesting question: Why did Jesus need to leave in order to send the
Spirit? Couldn’t the Spirit have come while he was here? To be honest, I have
no idea if God could have done things differently. Probably. So why do it like
this? In general, I try to avoid answering “Why did God…?” questions. But I do
wonder if Jesus ascended and sent the Spirit to empower God’s people so that we
could do what we were always supposed to: image God in creation as his people.
Jesus could have continued doing that for us. He does it far better than we
ever could. But God’s plan was never to carry out our role for us. He wants us
to do it. So I wonder if the ascension is about God creating space for his
people to be his people and carry out their calling in the world. I don’t know,
but I wonder.
5. The Future Shines
Finally,
I think the ascension is a powerful reminder of our destiny. Here it’s
important to remember that Jesus did not stop being human when he ascended.
It’s not as though his humanity was a costume that he put on at Christmas and
hastily discarded at the ascension. Jesus represents us as our High Priest
forever specifically because he remains one of us forever. So the ascension
points to our destiny as humans – ruling over God’s creation and manifesting
his glory everywhere.
The
ascension is not an optional add-on to the story, a piece that we may choose to
discuss if we have any time after dealing with the more important parts. The
ascension is critical. The ascension is when the King rules, the Priest
represents, the Spirit comes, the People serve, and the future shines with the
brilliance of God’s plan.
Jesus
didn’t just ride off into the sunset, leaving us to clean up the mess he left
behind. Jesus ascended to the right hand of the father so that God’s plans
could be accomplished. Once we really understand that, we’ll agree that it
truly was better for us that he go.
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