Friends
Peace be with you.
As you’re undoubtedly aware, commenting on social media has got to be the worst invention in recent history. I saw a video recently by a little league parent criticizing the calls of a little league umpire. The parent wanted people to comment if they thought the umpire had done a good job on one particular close call at the plate. There were several thousand comments, most comparing the umpire to either Ray Charles or Adolf Hitler. Nonetheless, some were critical of the person who uploaded the video, asking if this rises to that level of scrutiny. Many of these people reminded the “poster” that the point of little league is that everyone is learning something, including the umpires, and that no one is a professional. But these even tended to receive response comments that were ad hominem attacks on the person or on the person’s grammar.
Today, we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord, which took place, according to St. John and St. Luke, forty days after Jesus rose from the dead. There is not much description of what the Ascension looked like. The First reading came from the Acts of the Apostles, which was written as a follow up book to the gospel reading, the Gospel of Luke. I feel like you can hear some criticism of St. Luke’s description of the Ascension between the Gospel and First reading. In the Gospel, it merely says, “”he was taken up to heaven”. How? What did it look like? What noises did they hear? Unfortunately, we don’t get many of these types of questions answered in the first reading but we do hear that “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight”. So, does that mean he rode the cloud to heaven or that he was there until a cloud came and overshadowed him and then he was gone. This pales in comparison to the Old Testament description of Elijah, for instance, in Second Kings 2:11. It says that a fiery chariot came down and took Elijah up into the heavens. You would think the Messiah would merit at least a fiery chariot.
Why not have a more detailed description of what happened to Jesus at the Ascension? I can think of two reasons. First, St. Luke most likely wasn’t there. He’s a convert of St. Paul so he’s writing down other people’s memories rather than his own and maybe people’s descriptions weren’t great. Second, I tend to believe the most striking part of the Ascension wasn’t Jesus being taken up body and soul into heaven. Even as important as this was, from the vantage point of the apostles, something even more important took place that day. Up until this point, they were followers of Jesus. They could ask him questions. And they had to rely on Jesus to correct them when they made mistakes. Think of Jesus calling St. Peter “Satan” when he questioned whether Jesus really needed to suffer and die. Or, think of Jesus teaching the apostles for forty days about the fact that he had to suffer but that his suffering would end and he would resurrect and ascend and, forty days in, they still ask him when he’s going to restore the kingdom to Israel. They’re still thinking that Jesus the Messiah was going to be a political messiah. He gently reminds them that his kingdom will come but that they have work to do beforehand. They need to witness to the world about his death and resurrection and the incomparable mercy associated with this singular act. However, they still need the final ingredient, the Holy Spirit to make them witnesses.
Up until this point, they have been passive observers and occasional foot-in-mouth commentators of Jesus’ ministry. Now they are going to be his body, as St. Paul said in the second reading for today. By the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, they will spread the gospel to all the nations.
But here’s the thing: we are their successors. Not just the bishops and priests, who are their successors in leadership, but every person who is baptized is meant to spread the gospel. We aren’t meant to merely be commentators and proof checkers of what the bishops and priests are saying and doing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to correct a priest or a bishop and be disappointed, especially if they behave in a way that is scandalous or disrespectful or ignorant. But our primary job is to spread the gospel, not merely passively listen and critique the evangelist. We need to be evangelists.
Critics comment. Evangelists witness. Who most needs to hear you tell them the Good News that Jesus died for their sins in mercy and loves them to glory?
