Ascension of the Lord (Fr. Simham)

Go and Get on with your life

Today we celebrate the Ascension Sunday. Remembering a great event in the life of Jesus. How he assumed into heaven body and soul and made to sit at the right hand of the father, and given dominion, power and sovereignty. Something we can be proud of and celebrate. But to stop with that is like seeing only one side of the coin and forgetting the other side. There is another side of the story which is also important. Today is the day when the disciples or the church is asked to assume responsibility to the mission as adults. Stop being children and start being adults. Let me explain.

For the disciples, to be honest, the ascension of Jesus was not so much a moment of glory. After all they were human beings, not angels. They had feelings , emotions and attachments. In their three years of relationship with Jesus, they became so attached to him. In the process of learning so many things from him they also built their dreams and life around him. And his leaving them now surely was not a moment of joy. I remember my leaving my dad before my ordination to priesthood was not a moment of joy for me or for my dad. And my dad leaving me and this world just before few months of ordination to priesthood was not a moment of joy. We are human and we are attached to things and people. And when they leave, it hurts us deeply. Parting is always painful. We feel a sense of loss, betrayal, and abandonment when our beloved ones leave us. I felt all these things myself. And so I can perfectly understand the feeling of the apostles at this point of time. Look at the way they were gazing into the clouds and remaining like that for hours till the angels disturb them. They were completely lost.

This is not the first time this kind of abandonment was happening to them. When Jesus was crucified and buried they felt abandoned and betrayed. And just when they are about to go back to their old lives, Risen Jesus appeared to them again and said he is risen and death has no power over him. This filled them with new hope and helped them to dream new dreams and form new hopes. Now again, he is leaving them and going away. New hopes and dreams lasted only forty days. Again the same feeling of abandonment and loss. Not knowing what to do.

I remember, when I had the same feelings after my dad’s death, I went to see my confessor and spiritual director and shared with him, how I felt abandoned and lost. He said, “simham! What are you doing here? Get on with your life. Fulfil what dreams your dad had for you. Your dad will be more closer to you now than ever. Now that he has no physical body to restrain him to one place and time, he will be with you all the time” Are these not the same words the angels tell the men who were gazing into the sky with a sense of loss. ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky.’ it like saying ‘Go! get on with your life. Do what you are supposed to do. Do what he commanded you to do. Go and share the Good News. And as he promised, he will be with you un till the end of time.’

Abandonment is a painful thing for both; those who abandon and those who are abandoned. Because there are emotional involved. But true love goes beyond these emotions and thinks of the holistic good of the other person. True mother or master (teacher) is one who teaches the child everything and lets him/her go. Maturity comes only when they go out and live on their own. This also true of animal kingdom. I have seen the life of Cheetah on National Geographic Channel. Mother Cheetah teaches the cubs as they grow how to hunt. How to wait in ambush, how to attack and how to kill. But when they grow up and become adult it deserts them. When they try to follow her, she chases them away. She does not even hesitate to hurt them; not because she does not love them, but because she wants them to go and get on with their life and be mature.

So also Jesus, as a true master wanted his disciples and us to get on with their mission as adults. If Jesus is there still with them, they will be depending on him to do everything and prefer to be like children depending. Or they will be like a care-free young man who has parents to do everything. No responsibility or maturity. But Jesus wanted his disciples and us to be mature, to be responsible. So he left them and ascended unto the Father.

That does not mean that he abandoned them completely. But he was and is with them and us even now more closely in spirit than ever. This is what he promised. Lo! I will be with you un till the end of time.

And as I feel my dad’s presence so closely now than ever, so also the disciples felt his presence more closely than ever, especially when they were put in prison and were led to execution. So Ascension day is the day when we called be more mature Christians and take responsibility of the mission he left for us. Amen.

Fr. Showreelu Simham