We do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Today we celebrate the Ascension of Christ, the least appreciated of the events we celebrate in Christ’s life. We all know about the birth. Fast forward to his death and resurrection. But must creeds or Eucharistic Prayers don’t stop there. Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension. Or today’s verbiage, “he ascended in to heaven.”
So what is this about his ascension? First, it’s not about May 30, lest anyone guffaw at the precise calendar date. But since we believe it happened, we need to celebrate it somewhere between his resurrection and the return of the Holy Spirit which happens about 50 days after Easter, this is as good a date as any.
So in Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, we see Jesus’ full humanity. Born of a woman. Leader, teacher, healer. He was tried, tortured, and executed. Very human. And from those experiences, this son of God fully experienced what we as humans experience. But during his life, he was also fully God, so God, while walking on earth as Jesus experienced all of our humanity, the beautiful and the horrible. Jesus, fully divine, showed us on earth what the divine might look like. What perfect love is, and how to love God and our neighbor in our particularly human way.
In this morning’s reading, we see this said another way. For a little while, Jesus was made lower than the heavenly angels. He was made human. Now, God can experience all of humanity through Jesus ascended.
Through Jesus’ birth and life on earth, we see and experience everything truly divine. Now, as Jesus fully human returns heaven, God can see and experience everything truly human.
This morning, I’m thinking about what the Ascension means to me in my world. I believe that God is in all people around me. I have a model of how to treat those people, how to love those people, through Christ’s life and teaching. The Ascension means that the infinite God has experienced good people, mean people. God has struggled with the illness of loved ones. This isn’t just the fact that God has seen it through me and others. But through Christ, God has lived it.
So the God to whom I pray, has intimate experience with this messy human experience. Has had experience with people who are hard to love. With illness that’s hard to cure. God knows I fall short in my desire to seek and serve Christ in all people. And God loves me anyway, maybe in part because God’s experienced how hard it is here on this messy planet.
Today, I want to remember that God is present in all those places and all those people through the Spirit. Maybe more poignant, I want to remember that the things I do, the people I experience, God has experienced first hand, when God walked the earth as Jesus Christ. And with Christ’s Ascension, Christ brought all that messy, beautiful life back to God.
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