ASCENSION OF JESUS

ASCENSION OF JESUS: THE END A BEGINNING

Today, Jesus brings his earthly ministry to a glorious end. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven in a bodily manner in the presence of his disciples. He was the person that invited them to Mount Olives to witness his last action in his earthly ministry. There, he empowered for missionary work, admonished them, bless them and off he went. They could not believe what they were seeing. A human being lifted up from the ground into that air without any physical assistance. What is happening? Could it be true? Before they knew it, Jesus had disappeared into the thin air and his next appearance was at the right hand of the Father. The welcome party in heaven was already going on when Jesus saw them still standing, looking upwards like sheep without shepherd. He then dispatched one of the waiting angels to go and dismiss the apostles with the word that ‘as you saw him go today, you’ll see him return’.

Imagine the mood of the apostles as they were going back home. I know that they would be devastated and dispirited that they have been left alone again. They had barely recovered from the shock of the crucifixion but Jesus rose from the dead. Since then, he had been moving about for the past forty days, they thought that he will always be around. But that is what will happen to you when you do not pay attention to admonition and instructions or not taking them quite seriously. Jesus had not stopped reminding them that he must depart finally. He once told them, “Now, I am going to Him who sent me. Yet, none of you had asked me, ‘where are you going?’” (Jn 16: 5).



But he must go. This is because everything that has a beginning must have an end. He has done his part, leaving no stone unturned for the sake of our salvation. He has come, lived, suffered, died, resurrected and now he has to go. Who would not want to go? What if he was feeling home sick? Away from the Father and from the throne of his Sonship for the past thirty-three years. Really, it is time to go home. The Father and the angels will be missing him. He will also be missing the heavenly environment where there is a lot of love, peace, tranquility, no death, no sickness, no insurgency, no militancy, no banditry. There, there is no fear of being kidnapped, robbed at gun point, beaten up by thugs who have come to rig elections, detained in the hospital for not paying bills or bribery in the temple of justice, oppression of the poor and crass injustice.

Yes, he must go to prepare a place for us as he promised after which he will come back. He had to go to give a report to God the Father about his mission on earth and how he fared in his earthly commission and project given to him. He had to go to receive the reward and commendation from his proud and delighted Father who is very happy pleased with this worthy Son of His. He had to go to arrange the coming of the Holy Spirit which he promised the apostles that will sustain the work he had handed over because success without successor is failure in disguise.


He had to go so that his apostles could mature on the on the job and learn to live an independent life of their own. They have to see how all that Jesus taught them would come to reality one after the other, from the least of his instruction to the greatest. What he said about persecution, about having to be killed for the kingdom, about being aware of the yeast of the Pharisees, loving one another, and the power in keeping his commandments. Yes, their faith will be put to test and casting out of devils and deliverance are what they will start and end on their own using the Name of Jesus. They will now learn how to pray on their own without waiting to be woken from sleep by Jesus. From today, they begin to see what it takes to be a man of your own, defend yourself, give instruction and enforce it and take decisions on your own. They are now literally ‘on their own’. They have to. They will later see why Jesus had to go and then thank him.


Do not expect that your parents will always be there for you. One day, you will wake and you may not see them. All that they told you will begin to come to you. There many you did to them that you will regret. There must come a time you must leave the family after graduating. That time, you will begin to look for a city where go to search for job and to settle down on your own. You will not be a student forever just as you will not an apprentice forever. One day, you will become your master and begin to manage.


You will not always be the girl of the house. Prepare for a time you will become a wife, a daughter-in-law, a mother, a teacher, housekeeper all at the time without anyone to supervise you. You can only see one who will come to inspect and criticize what you have done. What he says you may not like but there is nothing you can do because you are in an entirely strange environment like fish out water surrounded by strange neighbors. If you prepare very well now, such a time will not catch you napping.

It was the physical Jesus that ascended but the spiritual Jesus is always here. He is always with us when sleep, work, walk, build, take examination, buy and sell, travel, pray, even when we are sick, old, abandoned or served disappointment. For the apostles, they had to start learning how to relate with the spiritual Jesus but for us, that is the Jesus that we have ever known. We never saw him when he was moving about in the land of Israel more than two thousand years ago. We are the gentiles who never saw him but we believed. We know that he is our provider and our all in all. We call on him when we are threatened, depressed, abandoned, pressed to the wall, deprived of our right and persecuted. It is he gives us the grace to appreciate what is good and beautiful, calms down our heat and sooths our frustration. He gives us the grace to say the truth, to help others, smile in suffering and the burden of life entirely.



Jesus ascended right there before the apostles and they could not do anything about the situation. They did not want him to go but they could not do anything about it. Some of us often boast that such a thing will never happen before me. ‘If I were to be there’ is what they will say or ‘If I were to be in his shoes’. Don’t mind them. They have never seen this world. There are many things that can happen before you and you will see yourself doing nothing or being able to say anything. Your junior sister who lives with you in Lagos can become pregnant right inside your house and there is little or nothing you can do. The touts can invade your car where you packed it and remove your plate number right in front of you and you cannot do anything about it. Your landlord can use soldiers to eject you out of his house and you will not be able to do anything. You can only boast in Jesus.

Many businesses are lying flat and some people’s health condition is pointing downwards. Some families are in disarray and some persons have lost the compass of their lives. Others have rotated in the same social and economic position for too long without being able to ascend to the next level, motion without movement. Even our country Nigeria appears to be comatose for more than half a century. For all these, it time to ascend to the next level for Jesus promised that when I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself.

Let us wipe our tears, console ourselves and come down from the mountain because as soon settles down in heaven, things will turn around for good in our lives. Only keep being upright, keep his commands and help the poor. Your condition is about to change.

He will never forget you.

From the Village Elder,

Okenye

(Rev Fr Dr. F.O.F Onwudufor)

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