THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD (YEAR B)
Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47; Eph 4:1-13; Mk 16:15-20
COMMENTARY
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”
The solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension invites us to reflect again on this mysterious event and, in its context, on the very last words that the risen Christ left for the disciples before ascending to heaven, as the evangelists narrated. The Gospel of this liturgical year A invites us to meditate more deeply on the episode of Christ’s ascension according to the account of Saint Mark, on the “missionary mandate” of the risen Lord to his disciples at the moment of “farewell.” We will focus on three details in the evangelical story.
1. “The Lord Jesus […] was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.” The mystery of the Ascension of the Lord
With the concise phrase quoted above, Saint Mark tells us about the Ascension of Jesus, characterizing it as being taken up into heaven and sitting at the right hand of God. Saint Luke, author of the Acts of the Apostles, tried to offer a more “picturesque description” of what happened, as we heard in the first reading (which is read every year regardless of the liturgical cycle A, B, or C): “When he had said this [last discourse], as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” The cloud here indicates not so much a physical place as the transcendent sphere of divinity, in accordance with the biblical-Jewish vision (as, for example, is seen in the theophany on Mount Sinai when God descended in the cloud). Two clarifications arise from this.
On the one hand, the fact that “a cloud took him from their sight” does not mean that if someone has the possibility of flying higher than the clouds, he or she will necessarily have to find Jesus and God. Hence the misleading and arrogant statement of some atheist astronaut of not having seen God once he went above the clouds outside the earth’s orbit. This man knows nothing about God or the Scriptures! On the other hand, the very image of the cloud into which Jesus entered helps us to understand the meaning of the mystery: the Risen One has now definitively returned to the divine transcendence from which he descended to earth in the mystery of the Incarnation. Thus, paradoxically, by physically distancing himself from the disciples in that mysterious moment, the Risen Jesus, in his divinity now “sitting” next to God, becomes closer to them wherever they are and wherever they go, because God is everywhere, omnipresent. In other words, with the Ascension, the Lord Jesus will be able, mysteriously but truly, to be with every man and every woman in every corner of the earth, from the West to the Far East! From this perspective, his disciples are asked to go and evangelize there, where their Lord has already preceded them with his mystical presence. Each new place of the evangelizing mission becomes a new Galilee where the disciples can meet again the Risen Lord who promised to “precede” them to Galilee after the resurrection and to always accompany them with his strength, when they try to fulfill his last words relating to the missionary sending.
2. “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” For a universal mission of proclamation
Here we are in front of the “missionary command” of the Lord, in which every expression, indeed every word, must be engraved in the hearts of all his disciples. Faced with the richness and depth of this last message from the Risen One to him, we feel unable to offer some concise comment due to limited time. We only underline the imperative “go!” that Pope Francis highlighted in the Message for this year’s World Mission Day 2024:
Mission, we see, is a tireless going out to all men and women, in order to invite them to encounter God and enter into communion with him. Tireless! God, great in love and rich in mercy, constantly sets out to encounter all men and women, and to call them to the happiness of his kingdom, even in the face of their indifference or refusal. Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and messenger of the Father, went out in search of the lost sheep of the people of Israel and desired to go even further, in order to reach even the most distant sheep (cf. Jn 10:16). Both before and after his resurrection, he told his disciples, “Go!”, thus involving them in his own mission (cf. Lk 10:3; Mk 16:15). The Church, for her part, in fidelity to the mission she has received from the Lord, will continue to go to the ends of the earth, to set out repeatedly, without ever growing weary or losing heart in the face of difficulties and obstacles.
Furthermore, to delve deeper into the “missionary mandate”, let us follow the synthetic analysis of the Pope, Saint John Paul II, in the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio (On the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate), a document that is always timely and relevant:
22. All the Evangelists, when they describe the risen Christ’s meeting with his apostles, conclude with the “missionary mandate”: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:18-20; cf. Mk 16:15-18; Lk 24:46-49; Jn 20:21-23).
This is a sending forth in the Spirit, as is clearly apparent in the Gospel of John […]
23. The different versions of the “missionary mandate” contain common elements as well as characteristics proper to each. Two elements, however, are found in all the versions. First, there is the universal dimension of the task entrusted to the apostles, who are sent to “all nations” (Mt 28:19); “into all the world and…to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15); to “all nations” (Lk 24:47); “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Secondly, there is the assurance given to the apostles by the Lord that they will not be alone in the task but will receive the strength and the means necessary to carry out their mission. The reference here is to the presence and power of the spirit and the help of Jesus himself: “And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them” (Mk 16:20).
As for the different emphases found in each version, Mark presents mission as proclamation or kerygma: “Preach the Gospel” (Mk 16:15). His aim is to lead his readers to repeat Peter’s profession of faith: “You are the Christ” (Mk 8:29), and to say with the Roman centurion who stood before the body of Jesus on the cross: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39) […]
The four Gospels therefore bear witness to a certain pluralism within the fundamental unity of the same mission, a pluralism which reflects different experiences and situations within the first Christian communities. It is also the result of the driving force of the Spirit himself; it encourages us to pay heed to the variety or missionary charisms and to the diversity of circumstances and peoples. Nevertheless, all the Evangelists stress that the mission of the disciples is to cooperate in the mission of Christ; “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). Mission, then, is based not on human abilities but on the power of the risen Lord.
3. “The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”
This last sentence of the listened passage and also of the entire Gospel of Mark confirms the beginning of a new stage of evangelization in which the Lord, now transcendent and invisible, acts together with his disciples. He, together with his Spirit given to them, remains the main protagonist of the mission, but his own people are visible “collaborators” in the field. In this regard, the “signs” of the Lord who works with the disciples (including taking the serpent in their hand without harm and immunity from poison) are indicated by the evangelist Mark simply as examples and according to what is narrated in the first apostolic missions in the Acts of the Apostles. They should not be always generalized as perpetual universal rules for every missionary. Of perennial validity, however, is the absolute necessity of faith for salvation, sealed by baptism. The evangelist Mark underlined the point with a double formulation, positive (whoever believes and is baptized will be saved) and negative (whoever does not believe will be condemned). This, obviously, does not aim to condemn or to scare anyone (cf. John 3:15-17), but simply to strengthen the thought expressed in a positive form regarding God’s pressing invitation to faith. This faith with the baptism of the new children of the Church is always a gift of divine grace, and, in itself, will also be the greatest sign of the Lord’s action in His disciples’ mission. This can be seen, for example, in the case of Lidia, the first baptized on European soil during the mission of Saint Paul and companions (cf. Acts 16:11-15).
The Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension is therefore always also the Feast of the missionary sending out of Christ’s disciples. With gratitude for the great mercy and trust that the Risen One had and continues to have for us, his modern disciples-missionaries, tormented often by so many doubts that come from an “incredulous” and “evil” generation, let us feel called to always be faithful to his words in carrying out his mission among all peoples. And that in our life as Christ’s disciples-missionaries we may always raise our gaze to Heaven where our Master-Lord ascended and where He now reigns with “all power in heaven and on earth,” in order to draw strength from Him who is God-with-us every day, “always, until the end of the age.” Amen.
Useful points to consider:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
662 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There, Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him.” As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.
665 Christ’s Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf Col 3:3).
666 Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for ever.
667 Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.