You Are
My Witnesses
Lk
24: 46 – 53
Feast
of the Ascension
The
Gospel
Today’s gospel is Luke’s version of the Ascension. Before
ascending to heaven, Jesus exhorts his disciples to be his witnesses to all the
nations. Jesus also promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit as one who
will clothe them with power.
The
Gospel
When the time came for Jesus to be
taken up to heaven, he said to his disciples: “ Thus it is written that the
Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that
repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name to all the
nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “
Jesus told his disciples that his life which has been foretold by
Scriptures, has now fulfilled what was written in the Scriptures. There is just,
however, one more thing left that hasn’t been accomplished – the preaching of
repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all the nations.
For this, Jesus now turns to his
disciples, saying: “ You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending
the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed
with power from on high.” In saying this, Jesus was commissioning them to
preach to all the nations and become his witnesses to all the earth.
But while giving them this task, he also told them about
the Holy Spirit whom Jesus calls the “promise of the Father.” The Spirit was to
clothe them with power from on high. The phrase “power from on high” is a
phrase also used by Luke during the annunciation, with the angel Gabriel telling
Mary that “the power of the most High” will over shadow her. The Spirit then is
the Father’s power given as a gift to the disciples for them to witness and
carry on God’s plan.
Then after Jesus said these things,
he led his disciples as far as Bethany, a town near Jerusalem. There he raised
his hands and blessed them. As he blessed them, he parted from them and was
taken up to heaven. As he ascended to heaven, they did him homage and then
returned to Jerusalem with great joy as they continued to praise God in the
temple.
Reflection
The ascension narrative of Luke begins with Jesus telling
his disciples that everything that he has done was all in accordance with what
was written in Scriptures. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection was how God
wanted his plan of salvation to unfold and be fulfilled in Jesus.
But God’s plan does not end with the death and resurrection
of the Lord. God’s plan continues. For Jesus, God’s plan continues through his disciples
by means of their life of witnessing. This witnessing is meant to be a
proclamation of God’s intention to reconcile the world with him; a proclamation
where repentance and the forgiveness of sins are preached in Jesus’ name.
But as his disciples were tasked to witness and proclaim
the Lord’s Gospel, Jesus promises them the gift of the Spirit. It will be the
Spirit who will accompany them to go into the whole world, emboldening them to
proclaim God’s plan in and through Jesus.
With this background in mind, the ascension of the Lord
then should not be seen as the end of Jesus’ role in God’s plan; rather his
ascension should be looked upon as a continuation of the Father’s plan of
salvation for the world. While Jesus has been taken up to heaven to sit at
God’s right hand, interceding for us with the Father, his work continues
through us and with the Spirit animating us as his witnesses.
The Lord’s ascension is also an affirmation of who Jesus
is. After fulfilling and accomplishing the Father’s will here on earth, he goes
back to the Father to be with the Father to live with him in power and glory.
In the ascension, Jesus goes back to where he has always been even before the
world began. The ascension affirms the Lord Jesus’ Lordship over all creation.
Luke affirms this Lordship when he details how the disciples paid homage to
Jesus as he was ascending. This homage was in recognition of Jesus’ Lordship
over everything.
This gospel is then, an invitation for us to become
witnesses to the Lord Jesus. Jesus sends
us to the world so that the world may know and love him. This is indeed, a
daunting task. Anyone who is in his right mind and who has a keen understanding
of his own weaknesses would shrink from this task. This is why the Lord sends
us his Spirit to embolden and empower us even as we acknowledge our own faults
and weaknesses.
This gospel reading also tells us how the disciples of
Jesus were filled with joy as the Lord ascended into heaven and how they
praised God in the temple thereafter. In writing this, Luke speaks of his own
experience as one who has witnessed to the Lord himself.
Witnessing to the Lord makes one experience joy. Witnessing
to the Lord makes one experience the Lord in the here and now, through his word
and through his own presence in the Eucharist. Witnessing to the Lord fills us
with joy because living our lives in and through Christ gives us the confidence
to face whatever challenges may come our way, knowing that we are indeed and
truly loved by the Lord who calls us to preach and bear witness to him.
Lastly, in witnessing to the Lord, we experience a life
that is filled always with praise because of the many good things the Lord does
for us. Some Jewish commentators tell us that happiness is really a by product
of praise. We live happy lives because we are in constant praise of the Lord.
May the Lord then fill our lives with constant praise of him, together with
Jesus who has been taken up to the heavens where he lives and reigns as Lord of
all.
Prayer
Jesus, you ask me today to witness to you. At times I
forget to be one. At times, though, I am afraid to witness to you for fear of
being ostracized. Let your Spirit guide and strengthen me so that even in my
own weakness, your power can be revealed in and through me. Amen.
“It is Christ [Jesus]
who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us.” – Romans 8: 34
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