Go Into the Whole World

Go Into the Whole World

Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

Mk 16:15-20

This Sunday’s reading is about the Ascension of the Lord into heaven. Having spent sometime with his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus now ascends into heaven to return to the Father. But before he is taken up to heaven, he tells his disciples: “ Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. “ This exhortation to proclaim the Gospel to every creature is also called by some commentators as the great commission. It is called so not simply because of the task that they were commanded to do but because of the corresponding authority that went with it. 

And where did this authority come from? This authority comes from Jesus who has conquered death and who is now taking his rightful place, sitting at the right hand of the Father ( Mark 16: 19). To “sit at the right hand of the Father” is a phrase used by the early Christians to describe Jesus as the Messiah who has been given the power and authority to subdue everything under his feet (see Ephesians 1: 19 – 21). The Lord has conquered death and sin. There is no power in this world that is no longer subject to him. It is by this authority that his disciples were to proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

This proclamation of the Gospel is intended to bring about faith and a change of life to all who hear and listen. This is why Jesus says: “ whoever believes (faith) and is baptized (conversion and change of life) will be saved. Moreover, this proclamation is not just confined to the mere utterance of words. It will be accompanied by extraordinary signs. Jesus enumerates these extraordinary signs saying: “ These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The Lord’s ascension speaks definitively about Jesus’ power over everything. There is nothing in this world that will not be subdued by his power. But let us not have a mistaken understanding of this power. This is not a power that comes through violence and force as most powers do. There is nothing of that sort. This power is revealed in and through the proclamation of the gospel itself. This is the kind of power that will overcome the world. The gospel that is proclaimed has the power to change and transform even the hardest and most impenetrable of hearts.

The proclamation of the gospel is a task that is given to all who have encountered the Lord. Like the disciples who were given the task of proclaiming the gospel to every creature, we too, who have encountered him, are given the same task to tell other people of the kind of life we have in the Lord.

We need to tell people how the Lord continues to lead us and guide us, how he continues to bless us and protect us, how he continues to provide for our needs and how he hears our prayers especially in difficult times. We have to tell people about the Lord’s presence in our life, how he forgives our sins and how he transforms us into his own likeness each day.

And just as Jesus promised, every proclamation that we make will be accompanied by signs - signs that somehow reveal the power of the words that we proclaim. We may not even notice perhaps that by testifying to the Lord’s goodness, we are able to bring healing and comfort to the people around us. Or perhaps when we speak of the Lord’s faithfulness, we are able to bring hope to many people who may have lost any kind of faith or hope in their lives.

We may not be able to bring the dead back to life as the apostles did while witnessing to Jesus. But by speaking about Jesus, we may be able to bring people back to life – back to a life of faith.  We may not hold any venomous snake in our lifetime; but people may simply just wonder and be amazed at how we could deal with very difficult and life threatening situations as we live our lives faithfully in the Lord.

            The confidence that we have in proclaiming the good news is a testament to the Lord’s presence in our lives and in his power working in and through our lives. In ascending into heaven, Jesus did not leave us all by ourselves in this world. On the contrary, through his ascension, Jesus becomes present more than ever through the Gospel that we proclaim and through the wonderful signs that accompany our lives. Amen.

“I will tell of your goodness; all day long I will speak of your salvation, though it is more than I can understand. I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will proclaim your goodness, yours alone. “  - Psalm 71: 15 - 18