Eastertide #35

He who descended

is the same one who ascended

far above all the heavens,

so that he might fill the whole universe.

(Ephesians 4:10)

Christmas, when the Son of God descended, leads us to Ascension Thursday, when the Son of God ascends to his “Majesty on high” (Hb 1:3). Both Christmas and Ascension require angelic explanation. We cannot sort it out of ourselves. Gabriel and the whole angelic host help us through Christmas: “Fear not Mary …for you will conceive…” So too with Joseph, “Fear not to take Mary as your wife…” So too with the Shepherds, “Fear not …for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior…” And now again, as Jesus departs for his heavenly home, the angels, explain things that nature of itself cannot explain: “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Ac 1:11).

The big surprise is that, when the Son of God returns to his heavenly home, he maintains his humanity. The incarnation lingers into the Godhead so that we refer to Jesus today in Glory as “the human Christ Jesus” (1Tm 2:5). This same Jesus who walked among us lives today.