The 7th Sunday of Easter - May 4, 2008
Acts 1: 6-14, Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36, 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-1 and John 17:1-11
The Sunday between Ascension Day and Pentecost is also a day marked by biblical allusions to splendor and magnificence. In the Gospel today John grants us the wonderful privilege of "overhearing" Jesus' prayer to the Father: "And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, the very splendor I had in your presence before there was a world." These words of Jesus are not addressed to us, dear friends; they are addressed to God and we are unintentional "eavesdroppers," listening in on this marvelous monologue, Jesus' words to God, words with which he entrusts our common life to God. These are some of the last words of Jesus - before his death. And isn't it interesting to note that they are not addressed to us at all. They are not last minute instructions to us about how we are to organize our life together; they are not even a kind of last will and testament. Rather they are words addressed to God, bold words reminding God of God's promises to the community. In overhearing these words we might well be humbled - perhaps even embarrassed - that Jesus does not entrust the future of the Church to us, but to God. Now there's food for thought and prayer, sisters and brothers! In all of our commitment, yes even passionate commitment to the Church,and to this part of it here at Epiphany, let's not forget the words we over hear in Jesus' prayer to God. Demographics, metrics, marketing strategy and grounds and building beautification - important as these things are - they alone are not going to "do it." God is at play here and God's bag of surprises is never empty. Isn't that why - Sunday for Sunday - we join our prayer to the one we've overheard Jesus pray? We want "to be in on" God's unfolding promises and surprises!
The ascension of Christ into heavenly splendor! How easy it is for us Christians to think that this poetic image is unique to Jesus Christ and to our faith. But, you know, it isn't unique at all. In fact the idea of ascending into heaven predates Christianity by a long shot. In ancient mythology Hercules is deified through an ascension into heaven and Ganymede becomes immortal when Zeus lifts the beloved into heaven to serve as cupbearer to the gods. But even in Judaism, out of which our own faith has grown, there are reports of ascensions. The Hebrew scriptures knows of two who have ascended: Enoch and Elijah; other ancient writings also claim ascensions for Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and Ezra. In our own day Pope Pius XII declared the dogma of the assumption of Mary into heaven, which is hardly different than an ascension The idea of ascension is not unique to Christianity; it's found in all metaphysical three-tiered world-views. Heroes and heroines are made timeless by being deified, assumed into heaven. So is Jesus just one hero among many? Right up there alongside Hercules and Mary?
Sisters and brothers, I think we need to admit that there's a sense in which Jesus is just "one among many." Heaven surely consists of a "whole company," angels and saints, non-corporeal beings as real and immaterial as a beam of sunlight and redeemed sinners like you and me. Heaven is not just Jesus and God in splendid isolation, intimate and profound as that union between Jesus and God may be. Heaven is populated, incorporates a whole spectrum of humanity and, we may well assume, non-human consciousness as well. That's the witness of all of scripture, dear friends. And in that great celestial orchestra it doesn't matter if I'm playing the tuba or the triangle. Both are important; something would be missing without either. In the prayer for this Sunday we ask God to exalt us (all) to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before. We believe what we pray - here as elsewhere - lex orandi, lex credendi - that's how our forefathers and -mothers came to call it - what we pray is what we believe. Ascension is not just something that "happened" to Jesus; it is our own sure hope that God will also exalt us, that we will have our own apotheosis in God, that we will be deified, taken up into the bright splendor of heaven. This can never be cause for a sort of snooty triumphalism; but it can be cause for great thanksgiving and joy. Christ is ascended into heaven. Alleluia. That he might draw us all to God's radiant splendor. Alleluia. Amen.
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