Where is Christ? (Ascension Sunday - Acts 1:1–11 & Ephesians 1:15–23, Ephesians 4:7-12)
Many modern people, shaped by science and a modern worldview, struggle with the story of the Ascension. Jesus seemingly beams upward like some kind of ancient astronaut, disappearing somewhere above the clouds, while the disciples are left standing below, staring upward, wondering where he has gone. And honestly, we should not be surprised that many people today find that difficult to accept literally.
But what if we do not have to take the story literally to find meaning in it? What if, in fact, it was always meant to be understood symbolically? How might the symbolism of the Ascension speak to us today?
An important key to the whole story may lie in the question the disciples ask Jesus just before the Ascension in verse 6:
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It is a fascinating question. Even after everything they have experienced with Jesus…
even after his teachings… even after the resurrection… the disciples still seem to imagine the Kingdom in rather conventional political terms. They are still thinking in terms of a visible kingdom: a restored nation, a restored throne, restored national borders, a restored political order.
They are still imagining something outward, geographical, visible, and dramatic.
But throughout Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been gently reshaping the meaning of the Kingdom.
Again and again, expectations are overturned. The Kingdom belongs not to the powerful, but to the poor. Not to the self-important, but to the humble. Not to the the special, chosen, and exclusive few, but to outsiders and strangers.
And in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus even says: “The Kingdom of God is within you”, also sometimes translated, “among you.” The disciples are still looking outward. But Jesus has been pointing inward all along.
And perhaps that is part of the meaning of the Ascension. Notice carefully: Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question directly. He does not say: “Yes, the Kingdom will soon be restored.”
Nor does he simply say: “No.” Instead, he redirects the whole conversation.
The disciples ask about: political power, national restoration, and political fulfilment. Jesus speaks instead about: Spirit, witness, and mission. “You will receive power [a different kind of power – an inner power] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Kingdom suddenly expands outward beyond all their narrow expectations. And then Jesus is taken from their sight. The disciples stand staring upward into the sky. There is almost a touch of gentle humour in the scene.One can imagine them standing there with mouths open, gazing upward, still searching for something external, still wondering where Jesus has gone. And the angels ask:
“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” – gently reminding them that they are looking in the wrong direction.
Perhaps that question is aimed not only at them, but also at us. Why are you still looking “up there”? Why are you imagining God’s presence as something distant, somewhere else?
Because in the ancient world, while many people saw heaven as somewhere above the sky, for more sophisticated religious thinkers and mystics, heaven was not primarily understood as a physical location somewhere above the clouds. Heaven referred to the realm of Spirit, the deeper Divine Reality that surrounds and sustains all things. The word heaven literally means ‘sky’… but that language if interpretted symbolically might give us a deeper clue as to the nature of the heaven. The sky is formless and empty in a conventional sense, and yet it surrounds all things, providing the air in which all physical things can exist. Just so, the realm of the Spirit, the Divine Conciousness is formless, containing everything and the source from which the world of outward form arises.
And this is where the letter to the Ephesians gives us a profound insight. Paul prays: “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened…” Not merely the eyes of the mind. Not outward sight alone. But the eyes of the heart.
For the spiritual life begins not simply with external observation, but with inward awakening as Jesus says in Luke ‘The Kingdom of God – the realm of the Spirit of the Etternal - is within you”. .
And later in Ephesians we read that Christ ascended “to fill all things.” (Eph 4:10). Not to abandon the world. Not to escape the world. But to fill all things with Divine Presence. Or perhaps rather, opening the eyes of our hearts that we might perceive that the same Divine Presence, the Same Divine Logos, Mind of God, or Mind of Christ that was seen and known in Jesus has been present all along, filling all things.
Perhaps the Ascension can be understood as Jesus returning to the Source: the infinite life,
the eternal Spirit, the Divine Consciousness, the sacred Mystery from which all life flows and by which all life is sustained. The life that was visible in Jesus now becomes diffused through all creation. The Presence that once walked in one human life is now perceived as filling all things.
And if that is true, then the Ascension invites us in two directions at once: inwardly and outwardly.
First, inwardly. Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive “power from on high.” The spiritual life cannot be sustained by activism alone, nor merely by beliefs and doctrines. It requires inward connection: silence, prayer, awareness, the opening of the eyes of the heart. For unless we remain connected inwardly to the Divine Source, our lives become shallow, anxious, reactive, and exhausted.
The spiritual journey is, in part, the gradual awakening to the Divine Presence already dwelling within and among us.
But the Ascension also moves us outwardly. Notice the movement in Acts: Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Spirit always pushes outward beyond fear, beyond narrow tribalism, beyond narrow political and national identity into something much wider and bigger. That is why in Ephesians Paul speaks of Jesus mission as breaking down walls of enmity and his secret purpose to reconcile all things back to God the Source.
And so the Ascension is not an invitation to escape the world. The disciples as they stare up into the sky are looking in the wrong direction. Their question to Jesus about the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel as a political entity is again a looking in the wrong direction. When our religious commitment is too closely aligned to our national aspirations we are looking in the wrong direction… we fall short of the wider vision of Christ. When the disciples ask, “Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel” Jesus speaks not of the restoration of Israel, but rather the restoration of the whole of humanity.
And so the Ascension is not an invitation to escape the world or to shore-up a narrow nationalist agenda. It is an invitation into the opening of the eyes of the heart to see the Divine Presence that fills all things and is silently present in all people. It is also a commissioning to serve the world.
For if Christ now fills all things, then the Spirit of Christ seeks expression through human lives.
Through our acts of compassion, our acts of courage, our acts of justice, and integrity, through our acts of forgiveness, and above all through our acts of love.
There is a story told from the aftermath of the Second World War. A church had contained a beautiful statue of Christ, but during bombing raids the hands of the statue were blown off. After the war, people discussed restoring the statue completely. But eventually they decided to leave the hands missing.
And beneath the statue they placed words inspired by Teresa of Ávila:
"Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours."
Perhaps that is the deepest meaning of Ascension. Christ is no longer confined to one place, one body, one nation, or one moment in history. The Spirit of Christ now seeks to live through us. We become the hands through which compassion touches the world. We become the feet through which love walks into places of suffering. We become the eyes through which kindness sees the forgotten.
And so the angels still ask us today:“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
For the Christ we seek is not absent, the Spirit of Christ fills all things. And the invitation of the Ascension is not merely to look upward, but inward, with the eyes of the heart opened, and outward becoming the living presence of Christ in the world.
Amen.
Many modern people, shaped by science and a modern worldview, struggle with the story of the Ascension. Jesus seemingly beams upward like some kind of ancient astronaut, disappearing somewhere above the clouds, while the disciples are left standing below, staring upward, wondering where he has gone. And honestly, we should not be surprised that many people today find that difficult to accept literally.
But what if we do not have to take the story literally to find meaning in it? What if, in fact, it was always meant to be understood symbolically? How might the symbolism of the Ascension speak to us today?
An important key to the whole story may lie in the question the disciples ask Jesus just before the Ascension in verse 6:
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It is a fascinating question. Even after everything they have experienced with Jesus…
even after his teachings… even after the resurrection… the disciples still seem to imagine the Kingdom in rather conventional political terms. They are still thinking in terms of a visible kingdom: a restored nation, a restored throne, restored national borders, a restored political order.
They are still imagining something outward, geographical, visible, and dramatic.
But throughout Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has been gently reshaping the meaning of the Kingdom.
Again and again, expectations are overturned. The Kingdom belongs not to the powerful, but to the poor. Not to the self-important, but to the humble. Not to the the special, chosen, and exclusive few, but to outsiders and strangers.
And in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus even says: “The Kingdom of God is within you”, also sometimes translated, “among you.” The disciples are still looking outward. But Jesus has been pointing inward all along.
And perhaps that is part of the meaning of the Ascension. Notice carefully: Jesus does not answer the disciples’ question directly. He does not say: “Yes, the Kingdom will soon be restored.”
Nor does he simply say: “No.” Instead, he redirects the whole conversation.
The disciples ask about: political power, national restoration, and political fulfilment. Jesus speaks instead about: Spirit, witness, and mission. “You will receive power [a different kind of power – an inner power] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Kingdom suddenly expands outward beyond all their narrow expectations. And then Jesus is taken from their sight. The disciples stand staring upward into the sky. There is almost a touch of gentle humour in the scene.One can imagine them standing there with mouths open, gazing upward, still searching for something external, still wondering where Jesus has gone. And the angels ask:
“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” – gently reminding them that they are looking in the wrong direction.
Perhaps that question is aimed not only at them, but also at us. Why are you still looking “up there”? Why are you imagining God’s presence as something distant, somewhere else?
Because in the ancient world, while many people saw heaven as somewhere above the sky, for more sophisticated religious thinkers and mystics, heaven was not primarily understood as a physical location somewhere above the clouds. Heaven referred to the realm of Spirit, the deeper Divine Reality that surrounds and sustains all things. The word heaven literally means ‘sky’… but that language if interpretted symbolically might give us a deeper clue as to the nature of the heaven. The sky is formless and empty in a conventional sense, and yet it surrounds all things, providing the air in which all physical things can exist. Just so, the realm of the Spirit, the Divine Conciousness is formless, containing everything and the source from which the world of outward form arises.
And this is where the letter to the Ephesians gives us a profound insight. Paul prays: “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened…” Not merely the eyes of the mind. Not outward sight alone. But the eyes of the heart.
For the spiritual life begins not simply with external observation, but with inward awakening as Jesus says in Luke ‘The Kingdom of God – the realm of the Spirit of the Etternal - is within you”. .
And later in Ephesians we read that Christ ascended “to fill all things.” (Eph 4:10). Not to abandon the world. Not to escape the world. But to fill all things with Divine Presence. Or perhaps rather, opening the eyes of our hearts that we might perceive that the same Divine Presence, the Same Divine Logos, Mind of God, or Mind of Christ that was seen and known in Jesus has been present all along, filling all things.
Perhaps the Ascension can be understood as Jesus returning to the Source: the infinite life,
the eternal Spirit, the Divine Consciousness, the sacred Mystery from which all life flows and by which all life is sustained. The life that was visible in Jesus now becomes diffused through all creation. The Presence that once walked in one human life is now perceived as filling all things.
And if that is true, then the Ascension invites us in two directions at once: inwardly and outwardly.
First, inwardly. Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive “power from on high.” The spiritual life cannot be sustained by activism alone, nor merely by beliefs and doctrines. It requires inward connection: silence, prayer, awareness, the opening of the eyes of the heart. For unless we remain connected inwardly to the Divine Source, our lives become shallow, anxious, reactive, and exhausted.
The spiritual journey is, in part, the gradual awakening to the Divine Presence already dwelling within and among us.
But the Ascension also moves us outwardly. Notice the movement in Acts: Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Spirit always pushes outward beyond fear, beyond narrow tribalism, beyond narrow political and national identity into something much wider and bigger. That is why in Ephesians Paul speaks of Jesus mission as breaking down walls of enmity and his secret purpose to reconcile all things back to God the Source.
And so the Ascension is not an invitation to escape the world. The disciples as they stare up into the sky are looking in the wrong direction. Their question to Jesus about the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel as a political entity is again a looking in the wrong direction. When our religious commitment is too closely aligned to our national aspirations we are looking in the wrong direction… we fall short of the wider vision of Christ. When the disciples ask, “Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel” Jesus speaks not of the restoration of Israel, but rather the restoration of the whole of humanity.
And so the Ascension is not an invitation to escape the world or to shore-up a narrow nationalist agenda. It is an invitation into the opening of the eyes of the heart to see the Divine Presence that fills all things and is silently present in all people. It is also a commissioning to serve the world.
For if Christ now fills all things, then the Spirit of Christ seeks expression through human lives.
Through our acts of compassion, our acts of courage, our acts of justice, and integrity, through our acts of forgiveness, and above all through our acts of love.
There is a story told from the aftermath of the Second World War. A church had contained a beautiful statue of Christ, but during bombing raids the hands of the statue were blown off. After the war, people discussed restoring the statue completely. But eventually they decided to leave the hands missing.
And beneath the statue they placed words inspired by Teresa of Ávila:
"Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours."
Perhaps that is the deepest meaning of Ascension. Christ is no longer confined to one place, one body, one nation, or one moment in history. The Spirit of Christ now seeks to live through us. We become the hands through which compassion touches the world. We become the feet through which love walks into places of suffering. We become the eyes through which kindness sees the forgotten.
And so the angels still ask us today:“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”
For the Christ we seek is not absent, the Spirit of Christ fills all things. And the invitation of the Ascension is not merely to look upward, but inward, with the eyes of the heart opened, and outward becoming the living presence of Christ in the world.
Amen.
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