Today's readings: Acts 1, 1-11; Ephesians 1, 17-23; Luke 24, 46-53.
Exodus is not only the event that marks the release of the Jews from the slavery of Egypt. There has also been an exodus of the Word from silence, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Then the silence was broken definitively.
Ascension marks the return of the Son to the Father. Yet this does not mean that silence is reigning again. The Word has been uttered and it cannot be silenced. The return of the Son to the Father does not render us orphans.
It is in Christ Jesus that the Transcendent spoke. And what we read in Acts today that "he was lifted up while they looked on", is not to be taken simply as meaning they were watching something happen.
It is, rather, to be taken in the light of what the prophet Zechariah wrote in the Old Testament about the future deliverance of Jerusalem, when he said "They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death". Our focus needs to be on Jesus.
The Ascension is only told in Acts; however, its basic idea is found throughout the New Testament. Jesus, having come down to earth from heaven to redeem us, returns to heaven to intercede for us. Whatever we pray for, we do it in the name of Jesus, acknowledging that all was accomplished in him.
He accomplished all that was necessary for our salvation. But what is most remarkable is that the effect of the Ascension on the disciples is that, looking up to the heavens, their thoughts return immediately to earth. Faith in Christ Jesus can inform and educate an attitude to life. Look up! There is more to life than the rut of everyday routine.
"Our citizenship is in heaven," writes Paul to the Philippians (3, 20). This is not necessarily utopia or alienation. It consolidates our mission and commitment on earth.
Walter Brueggemann, a leading interpreter of the Old Testament, writes: "Our faith is not about pinning down moral certitudes. It is, rather, about openness to wonder and awe in glad praise."
What the Church celebrates as the Ascension of Jesus 40 days after Easter refers to the claim that the risen Jesus shares power, honour, glory and majesty with God. The claim that he ascended into heaven is not an abstract theological formula. It is, rather, an act of praise that asserts that the Gospel is true.
The poetic imagery of 'ascent to power' evokes very old liturgical poetry that is even older than the Old Testament. It was imagery used in Canaanite liturgy for their god Baal, and was applied to Yahweh, the God of Israel. But the song of Israel as echoed in many psalms opens for us another side of God.
God's reign is not simply about power. It is about a caring relationship, about a God who is in solidarity with the most vulnerable and needy in society. This is the God of Jesus Christ, whose transcendence is in touch with earthly needs.
But it is mainly in worship that our eyes are open. This is what happened with Thomas and the Emmaus disciples. Luke ends today's reading with the words: "They worshipped him and then went back to Jerusalem full of joy". Outside worship, God's glory remains aloof, inaccessible.
Today's celebration is about Christ's lordship, which for us opens new ways by which God governs the world. This turns out to be a perennial issue for our faith. A question many of us often ask is whether God is still in power.
But Jesus established a new rule. As Brueggemann writes, with his ascension into heaven "the world is under new management". It may sound utopic. We may even run out of patience waiting for this new heaven and earth to materialise.
But it all depends on how and to what extent the power of the Spirit within us is made manifest to the world. "You are witnesses to this", today's readings repeat insistently.