Why Ascension Day Matters
Today is the day in the liturgical church that we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord. Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus ascended back into heaven. And that holds great significance for us today, especially as we grieve alongside the people in Uvalde county.
This week we learned of yet another mass shooting in our country, this time in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in their classroom after an eighteen-year-old high school student shot his grandmother in her house and then proceeded into the elementary school to forever change the lives of these innocent families.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much my heart is grieving today. My heart goes out to each of the families and to this community whose lives have been forever changed due to evil and violence. To the parents of these children, I’m so very sorry for your loss. Words cannot describe the depth of pain and suffering that you are going through, but I want you to know that you’re not alone. Jesus is with you and his people stand with open arms to hug and love you with his eternal and everlasting love. (I would be honored to pray with you. We can pray together by clicking here.)
On this Ascension Day, the good news of Jesus’ ascension brings us hope. In fact, it reminds us of two main things: Jesus is still in control and he will make all things right.
Jesus is Still in Control
In a world that looks out of control, Jesus is still in control. This is the first thing that the ascension teaches us. In the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess: “...on the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” This is very good news for us as we mourn as a nation. Why? Because when our world is out of control, Jesus remains in control.
The right hand has often been associated as the hand of power and blessing. It is the dominant hand for most people – the hand that a majority use to write. When we confess that Jesus ascended back to the right hand of the Father, we are confessing that Jesus is still in control.
We are not saying that Jesus’ work is complete and therefore he has taken a seat next to the Father, as if he’s tired and needs a break. No, we are saying that the ministry of Jesus continues in and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which is to say, that God is still on the throne and reigns and rules over all things he has made. I know it doesn’t look like it and I know it doesn’t feel like it, but our faith tells us that Jesus is still on the throne, that Jesus is still working, and that Jesus is still blessing.
All Wrongs Will be Made Right
The second main reason why Ascension Day matters is because Jesus is in the redemptive business, making all wrongs right. Let me just say how angry I am that we have allowed such easy access to assault rifles to anybody, including teenagers. This is absolutely ludicrous. This makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Things have to and must change. How long will we stand by and watch our children die at the hands of evil?
As many of us are, I am upset and deeply angry at our response as a nation to the many challenges we face. However, the ultimate problem is not reform to gun laws; the problem is not the man who presides over the presidency in the White House; nor is the problem our elected leaders who each hold various opinions about what is the right track for our nation.
These, and other things, may indeed be a part of the problem, but the real, core problem is a lack of fear of Almighty God through a recognition of the Imago Dei. That is, we do not love, fear, and trust God above all things. We do not see all people, who have been created by God, as made in the image of God. And because of this, we have opened the door for the evil one to penetrate our culture and to kill our innocent children.
We have chosen to take God out of our schools. We have chosen to slaughter sixty-four million babies in the womb of their mother. We have chosen to fight and bicker between political parties. Simply stated, we have lost our way. As a Christian nation founded upon the principles of Holy Scripture, we have gone off course.
Jesus is the God who promises that “every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord” (cf. Philippians 2:10-11). Therefore, we can trust that the wrong we see in our world will in fact be made right when Jesus returns. And he is the God who is making all things new, creating a new heaven and earth – a new Jerusalem – where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (cf. Revelation 21:4-5). Take heart, Jesus is making all things new.
Stand firm church. Let the light of Jesus shine through you. And may the power of the Holy Spirit fill our churches on this upcoming Pentecost Sunday to stand in the gap and intercede on behalf of the living and the dead.