You Are My Witnesses

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