Dear brothers and sisters,

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said at the Last Supper, “it is to your advantage that I go away. If I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

These may be among the strangest and most confusing words that Jesus ever uttered. Remember the setting. At the Last Supper, the forces of darkness were closing in. The end was near. The disciples had concluded that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah; that Israel’s hopes for liberation were soon to be fulfilled. But now a conspiracy hatched between the religious leaders and the Roman governing authorities would soon bring an end to their hopes. The Last Supper had a funereal feel to it. So Jesus’ words must have been particularly shocking. “It is to your advantage that I go away.” Really? Why, Lord? Why can’t you stay? Please don’t leave us behind!

Much later, the disciples would realize what “going away” actually means. The immediate reference is, of course, the crucifixion. Just hours after the Last Supper, Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced, tortured, and killed. His death seemed like final separation. But then, following his resurrection, he would “go away” once more – the event known as the Ascension. According to the Book of Acts, following his resurrection Jesus “presented himself alive to [his disciples] by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). In his final appearance, he told his disciples, “’You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.’ . . . When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (1:8-10).

Christians don’t quite know what to do with Ascension Day. Years ago, back in the 1960s, a group of irreverent seminarians got themselves some attention in the press (and, I hope, some well-deserved trouble from their bishops!) when they released a life-sized Jesus-shaped helium balloon on Ascension Day, while they sang (this really dates me) “Up, up and away!” Medieval painters, trying to capture the meaning of Jesus’ Ascension, depicted the disciples on the Mount of Olives gazing up at two feet sticking out of a cloud above them. Is that what the Ascension is all about – Jesus “blasting off” like a rocket, the disciples left behind, bereft of their Lord?

Not at all! The Ascension is not about the absence of Jesus, but quite the opposite: it’s about his presence, his universal presence. During his earthly ministry, Jesus was limited by the restrictions of time and space. He ministered during a particular period of time (in the early first century), in a particular place (the Holy Land is about the size of the state of New Jersey), speaking a particular language (Aramaic) to a particular group of people (Jews) during a particular period of history (when the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean Basin). This is as it should be. “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). Theologians call it the “scandal of particularity”. God took human flesh not as a human being in general, but as a human being in a specific time and place.

When he ascended, Jesus made a promise: that he would send the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Spirit would make him universally present. He’s everywhere – in every place, in every time. There are no nooks and crannies where he is absent. Ascension Day and Pentecost are one continuous action. Jesus ascends and sends the Spirit. The brief ten-day season between Ascension (this year, May 17) and Pentecost (May 27) is a time to pray for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who empowers us to know Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to serve Jesus. Our risen and ascended Lord goes “to prepare a place for us” (BCP, p. 379) in his heavenly kingdom, and to empower us with his Spirit today.

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

- Collect for the Sunday after Ascension, BCP, p. 226