46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 50 When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. 52 Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53 And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
As mentioned previously, the Ascension is the central event in Luke’s two-volume history of Christ and the Church. It ends Luke’s gospel (as we see here) and begins his Acts of the Apostles (as we saw in the first reading). It provides narrative continuity showing how the long lasting mission of the Church is part of God’s plan and grows out of Jesus’ relatively short time on earth. It also shows the fulfilment of Jesus’ mission for now he is exalted at God’s right hand, the true ruler of the world.
This passage begins with Jesus’ last speech to his disciples where he opens their minds so they can fully understand scripture (what we would call the Old Testament). They need to fully comprehend Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection as necessary elements in God’s plan to save humanity and that this has been laid out for centuries by God in scripture, in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. Once they have understood this, Jesus can give them a mission. They are to be witnesses to God’s saving plan and how it has been put into effect so that others will repent and believe. And they are to begin immediately in Jerusalem. This mission, of course, is not just limited to those first disciples, for each generation of Christians must take up the challenge again and witness to what happened in Jerusalem so many years ago.
In verse 49, Jesus promises the disciples “power from on high”, which refers, of course, to the coming descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Watching Jesus’s ascent, the disciples are filled with joy and they return full of praise, worshiping God with joy. They have made great progress for they are no longer hiding or quaking in fear but they still need a further gift before they can actively preach the good news. And so the stage is set for Pentecost. Jesus’ ascension does not mean that God abandons us but rather that his care takes a new form and one in which we play an even more central role.
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