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This comic comes to you in the liturgical mean time between the Ascension of Christ and the Pentecost event. Sometimes, because we think we know the whole story, we forget to dwell on each moment of the Christ story. The disciples have given up everything to follow Jesus, only to watch him rejected by their people and killed at the hands of the state. Then, if that wasn’t enough, Jesus is suddenly resurrected and having fish on the beach with the disciples once more! Is this what discipleship will mean now? Hiding from your own people and the empire that wants you dead and just enjoying some potlucks with each other? Then with a few final blessings, Jesus ascends into heaven before their eyes, never to physically return in their lifetimes…and he tells them to wait for…something?
So let’s just sit with the weirdness of the Ascension for a minute. Science and physics aside, it’s a strange part of the Jesus biography. I can’t help but imagine myself as a disciple, suddenly wondering what all of it means. Jesus is somehow, with me? Even though he’s not physically with me? Am I supposed to like, try and talk to him? I saw him vanish into the sky, so do I need to yell loudly so he can hear me? I’m suddenly realizing all the things I forgot to ask him when he was here, and now I won’t get direct answers…not that he ever answered ANYONE directly.
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Between Ascension and Pentecost, all we know is the disciples spent all their free time praising God in the temple. They saw this as a victory. A mystery? Yes. Confusing? Obviously. But a victory of victories, some kind of ultimate confirmation that Jesus was who he said he was. And they didn’t know how it would play out next, but they knew something was changing in their world, and so…they exalted their God day and night.
Perhaps you are in a mean time yourself. Between this and that, between seasons, times when what you knew hasn’t quite become what will be the new pattern for your life. Something has changed, someone is gone, a part of you is no longer the same…and you don’t know what to expect. Nevertheless, can you still see God’s hand at work in your life? How has God brought you, sustained you, nurtured you, held you to this point? Take a moment to think it through, and to give God praise.
I have been experiencing a lot of stress during a time of transition lately, and my go-to response in times of stress is to grasp for ways to control the scenario. I think of it as “helping,” but really, I know, it’s my attempt to put structure around what is unknown, because I find structure comforting. I know how to operate within a structure. When Jesus ascended, there was no immediate structure in place, other than…wait. I would have found that terribly frustrating…even panic inducing! WAIT?! We already had Advent! We already did Lent! We’re waiting AGAIN? When are we going to stop preparing for something and start doing the thing?!
Regardless of your take on the Ascension of Jesus, it is an integral part to Luke’s understanding of the salvation that comes through Jesus. Salvation is a story of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and outpouring. Salvation is a rhythm of life in community, never an isolated event. The joke of the comic today is that Jesus has great boundaries, but the truth is: his leaving us was establishing a boundary in how God will and won’t work in the world. Jesus could have done things very differently, but instead of staying, instead of controlling, he equipped and empowered his followers to multiply the work of the kingdom through relationships in community. So for life in the mean time, I will try to remember that I don’t need to control it all, I don’t need to fix it all, because even Jesus himself did not choose to do things that way.