Homily for the Ascension of Jesus

1 June 2025

The Ascension of Jesus is not his going away from us, but rather his coming infinitely closer to us. In St Matthew’s version of the Ascension, Jesus promises, “Behold I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” So, we are not celebrating the going away Jesus, his leaving the earth and his disciples. In his Ascension, he has passed from our sight, not to abandon us, but rather to be closer to all people of all times and all places. As we celebrate this great feast, we are invited to take time to experience the presence of Jesus, to know that he is with us always; to talk to him and to be close to him.

The great theological scandal is that God who is infinite, outside of time, transcendent and all powerful, took on human nature in Jesus. He entered our world at a particular time in human history, into a human family, into a particular religion and culture, and in a particular place, in this case an unimportant village in a backwater province of the Roman Empire.

In theology, this kind of scandal is something that is delightfully problematic, so generous, and good, that it unnerves us and challenges us. The point of using the word, scandal, is precisely that it shocks us, causes us to think, and prevents us from taking it for granted or being too blasé about it. The only reason for such outrageous action on the part of God is that it was done out of love. God is in love with the human race and bends over backwards and turns himself inside out, for us.

That Jesus would return to the Father in his Ascension is far less shocking when we consider who he is, and the much more delightfully surprizing and even scandalous fact that he came to live among us and die for us in the first place. The whole point of Incarnation, the taking on of human nature, and the death and resurrection of Jesus, was that it was mercy mission of love for us, to save us from our sins, to teach us and show us the love of

God for us, and to reconcile us to God. Jesus shows us the way to the Father.

By ascending into heaven to take his place at the right hand of the Father, Jesus returns to the state which he enjoyed from all eternity with God and as God, before his Incarnation, his taking on of human nature. He returns because his mission on earth is complete and what’s more important is that his mission has been effective. God’s purpose for us is heaven, and heaven is now open to us. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he took with him our human nature. The Ascension is our great feast of hope. Where he has gone, we hope to follow. He has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us.

To make that clear, the special preface prayer which is used for the Mass today says that Jesus ascended not to distance himself from our lowly state, but that we, his members, might be confident of following where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before. After living in a particular place and time and among a particular people, he is now present to all peoples of all times and all places. He is present to us here and now as we celebrate this Mass.

As we celebrate this great feast, we can take time to contemplate the outrageous, scandalously generous love of God for us. Let’s allow ourselves to experience the love of Jesus who is close to us.

Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that the Ascension of Jesus is not terribly important compared to the Resurrection of the Lord at Easter, and the Solemnity of Pentecost. We need to start understanding the Ascension of the Lord as a hinge point between Jesus’ earthly mission, which culminated in his Death and Resurrection, and the beginning of the mission of the Church. Jesus, from heaven directs the mission of the Church.

Pentecost then, is the first great act of Jesus directing the mission of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we have a very graphic description of the Ascension of Jesus. Jesus promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to his apostles and then he was lifted while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. Two angels challenge the apostles, saying, “Why do you stand looking into heaven?”

We might well see the angels’ challenge to the disciples as challenge to us. The disciples are asked why they are standing around, just gazing into the sky. In other words, “get on with it; you have work to do; you have a mission.” Today these angels prompt us in the same way.

The Gospel passage from St Luke also tells of Jesus being taken up into heaven right after he had explained to his disciples, how it was written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. He commissioned them to be witnesses to this and promised to send them the Holy Spirit.

Once again, we hear that the disciples of Jesus have work to do; they have a mission. In other words, go, make disciples, baptise, and teach. We, who are the Church, are challenged to get going. There is work for us to do. We are on mission. We can’t just stand around looking into the sky.

Another way of describing the meaning of the Ascension is in terms of a relay race, where in the race the baton is passed from one runner to another. The switch over of the baton is a critical moment in the race. More relays are won or lost at that moment than at any other. The Ascension is the passing of the baton in a relay race. Jesus passes the baton over to his first disciples and to us again today. We are given the responsibility of carrying on the race, the mission, that Jesus began.

We should all be asking ourselves about how we are participating in this mission. How active and engaged are we? We could sum up this mission in terms of missionary discipleship. A disciple is someone who has encountered Jesus, heard the Good News of his life, death and resurrection and chooses to actively follow him. A missionary disciple is one who continues to grow in relationship with God, can easily share his or her relationship with God with others, and goes outward to help others find God for themselves.

As we celebrate Jesus passing on of the missionary baton to us, we can reflect and critically examine ourselves in terms of our activity and engagement as missionary disciples.

The reading from the letter to the Ephesians that we heard, prays that the eyes of our minds might be enlightened so that we can see what hope his call holds for us, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit. Jesus is ascended into heaven; in rests all our hope.

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