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“He ascended into heaven”
(More important than some might think…)
Today is Ascension Day, a public holiday in France where I live, and in many other countries as well. Even so, what it celebrates is not often remarked upon, although some churches will hold services today. The feast is much more important to the churches of the East, it seems, than to the western churches.
But it is crucial. Without the Ascension, Jesus’ death and resurrection would have happened only to him. There would have been no Pentecost, as he would not have sent the Holy Spirit. In other words, no salvation for you and me, for any of us. That he “went into heaven” is the missing link, which is why celebrating it is so important.
Check out the Scriptures
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…
