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“He ascended into heaven”—up, up and away?
Of all the doctrines of the Church, the Ascension is usually overlooked or at least, hardly considered as important as the Incarnation or the Resurrection. This is a mistake: it is crucial, so to speak. It should help comfort and strengthen us, in fact, for it says that Jesus has opened the door and is waiting for us to join him.
Each in his own way, the four evangelists record that Jesus Christ went “into heaven.” Mark implies it: “he has been raised, he is not here”, the angelic young man says to the frightened women. (16: 6b). Matthew adds more detail, but ends on the note “Know this, I am with you until the end of the age.” (Matt. 28 :20b) That certainly means that the disciples will no longer see him but Jesus will be with them always, after a spiritual manner, so to speak. Many have read John as implying that Jesus began ascending in chapter 16, the “table talk”, and slowly kept on, stopping on the cross “to be lifted up” (3: 13–15) and on straight “up”.
Luke has other material and his own agenda, namely, to connect the earthly Jesus who proclaimed the Good News (“Luke”) with the exalted Jesus Christ who is head of his Church (“Acts”).[1] Like John, and to a lesser extent Matthew,[2] Luke has specific physical appearances to the disciples. Like Matthew, the Risen One gives a missionary charge, though in Jerusalem, not Galilee.
