Grace and peace to you
Thursday past was Ascension Day. The “beam me up Scotty” moment in the Christian Calendar. Well actually not really. Ascension Day has more to do with theology than geography. In other words Ascension addresses the question of ‘who is Jesus?’ rather than ‘where is Jesus?’. An Anglican priest, Keith Ward has said: “We now know that if Jesus began ascending 2 000 years ago he would not yet have left the Milky Way — unless he attained warp speed.” I find that hilarious to imagine!
You will know that it was only in 1543 that Copernicus corrected the false cosmology of his day by revealing that the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way round. And today we have the Hubble Telescope which some hail as the most productive scientific instrument ever invented revealing to us the wondrous ever-expanding cosmos as it is able to see 4 billion times further than the naked eye and enlightening for the first time to our 13.7 billion year old cosmic self.
So we should unlock Ascension from the false cosmology of ancient time. Ascension is not about Jesus defying gravity but rather defying and defeating the principalities and powers that weigh down on the shoulders of the marginalised poor and vulnerable of society with a force heavier than gravity.
Ascension Day is a radically (deep rooted) political day as the early disciples of Jesus reached the conviction to start singing that Jesus, and not Caesar, was Lord. It was a very disturbing day for the powers that be! And of course it was a very dangerous day for the followers of Jesus who were now deemed a great threat by the powers. But more than dangerous it was hope-full. Full of a hope that was able to disperse their fear and despair and en-courage them to face the danger. Their hope rested in trusting that Jesus reigns — that Jesus is the power above all other powers. That’s why we continue to have hope for our land and world because the powers that oppress have been checked by a greater power. The early disciples knowing they were on the winning side were released to imagine a new world and creatively live it out.
Grace, Alan
