Ascension - Year C (Luke 21: 44-53)

The shear physicality of our redemption in Christ, his death on the cross and his bodily resurrection, has at times been a source of embarrassment for Christians. When talking about the Ascension, the return of Jesus, including his body, to the right hand of the Father, the embarrassment becomes even more pronounced. This is because, it would stand to reason, if Jesus’ body is ascended then it is up there, or out there, or over there, but definitely somewhere. If our technology was just sophisticated enough then we should be able to find him, right? An odd thought at best, even a little embarrassing.

Throughout its history the Church has struggled with those within and without who would prefer a more “spiritual” religion. Orthodox Christianity, rooted in Judaism and not Greek philosophy, has tenaciously refused to give up its radical connection to the human body and the physical “stuff” of creation. Despite evidence to the contrary over the past two millennia, the Church has always clung to its affirmation of the basic goodness of creation and of the embodied human person. Earth does not stand between the soul and heaven. Earth is the very stuff of which heaven is made. The idea of disembodied souls sitting on clouds playing harps has no basis in Christian theology.
I am neither a theologian nor a physicist. I cannot speak with any certainty as to “where” the physical body of Jesus now resides. And, if you will excuse the pun, that is ultimately neither here nor there. What does matter is that human beings, including our bodies, are important to God and that this earth of ours has an eternal destiny. Given the number of bodies brutalized by poverty, abuse and war, the Ascension reminds us that Christianity’s response to these issues is not a promised disembodied future but remedies in the here and now. Justice and peace must begin now! With the gulf oil spill only the latest in a long line of injuries inflicted on the earth, the Ascension reminds us that this lovely planet is not ultimately destined for the garbage heap or the incinerator. God’s covenant love extends to animals, plants, land, sea and air.