Jesus did not go somewhere to the stars, but to God’s dimension …The scene of the Ascension may seem mythical and unreal to some. What do we believe in this article of faith? Jesus did not ascend in some spaceship to a distant part of the universe; he did not go to the stars. He passed into another plane of existence, into the mystery of God. Pope Benedict XVI reflects on the Ascension in his book Jesus of Nazareth not only as a departure, but as a new arrival, a new type of closeness. Luke’s Gospel ends with a description of Christ’s Ascension: “As he blessed them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They were continually in the temple praising God” (Luke 24:50-53). Such a farewell is astonishing. The Lord left forever, and the disciples were filled with great joy. In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI bases his reflections on the Ascension precisely on this joy: “The joy of the disciples after the ‘Ascension’ corrects our idea of this event. The ‘Ascension’ is not a departure to a distant zone of the cosmos, but a constant closeness that the disciples suddenly feel so intensely that it fills them with lasting joy.” In the past, I wondered for a long time how to understand Jesus’ ascension into heaven. In our culture of science fiction films, in the era of modern Star Wars fiction, some people imagined that Jesus left on a spaceship and was taken away by aliens. This is how some superficial readings interpret the scene of the Ascension, where a cloud is mentioned. Even St. Thomas Aquinas, who, by the cosmology of his time, primarily inspired by Aristotle’s vision of the celestial spheres, perceived the Ascension in the sense of spatial movement, nevertheless understood that the cloud should be interpreted theologically, not physically. Joseph Ratzinger explains: “In this context, we must also understand the words about the cloud that enveloped Jesus and took him away from their sight. The cloud reminds us of the moment of the Transfiguration, when a bright cloud descended upon Jesus and his disciples (cf. Mt 17:5; Mk 9:7; Lk 9:34-35). It reminds us of the moment when God’s messenger Gabriel visited Mary and announced that she would be “overshadowed” by the power of the Most High (cf. Lk 1:35). It also reminds us of the holy tabernacle of the Old Covenant, where the cloud was a sign of the Lord’s presence (cf. Ex 40:34-35). During the journey through the desert, the Lord also walked before Israel in the form of a cloud (Ex 13:21-22). The words about the cloud are theological language. However, when I return to the sci-fi ideas of cinema of the last decades, I have always been addressed by the fictions of „parallel worlds“, „black holes“, and „stargate “. These fictions count on „a’s dimensions of reality“. Philosophy and metaphysics were discussed many centuries ago. Neoplatonists and then especially Thomas Aquinas talked about „degrees of being“. Even a person without an excellent philosophical education can see that when I say that a plant is a higher form of existence than an inorganic piece of mineral, the animal is a higher life form than the plant. That intelligent man is the highest life form known in this universe. If man is the only form of intelligent life in this material universe, then despite his greatness and immensity, the universe is incredibly empty, and our tiny earth is the most interesting in terms of degrees of being, the wealthiest and most amazing corner of the universe, and is the center of it.
But let’s go back to the degrees of being. Like the philosophical speculation of the ancient Greeks or other cultures, Christian Revelation also talks about other dimensions of reality beyond material space-time. The Greeks called them „separate substances“, Christians „anjeli“, other cultures spirits, or demons. It is an even higher form of intelligence than man. When Revelation speaks of “heights”, it thinks of the height of perfection in the degrees of being. In this sense, the New Testament texts repeat that Jesus “descended”, so that “descended”. Descent indicates Incarnation, earthly life in secret, public performance, suffering, death, and descent to the dead. The performance, in turn, indicates his Resurrection and Ascension. So this is about “movement” in a different sense than just physical. From where he descended, there he also ascended – into God’s mystery, into the mystery of the inner inaccessible life of God. In this sense, we could happily use other symbols of physical dimensions, such as depth. Jesus calls „draw to the deep“, Revelation speaks of the depths of God. And so Jesus’ “ascension” at the Resurrection and Ascension must be understood essentially, not physically, as the elevation of Christ’s human nature to other dimensions, to other possibilities of life, which Revelation refers to as, “celebration”, Jesus has „celebrated in the power of God’s love. Saint Paul develops his reflections in this direction when he prays „ that Christ dwells in your hearts through faith, so that you, rooted and established in love, can understand with all the saints, what is the breadth, length, height and depth and know also the love of Christ, beyond all knowledge, so that the fullness of God fills you “ ( Ef 3, 16-21).
Pope Benedict also interprets the Ascension in this sense when he writes: „ Jesus’ disappearance is not presented in it as a path to the stars, but as an entry into God’s mystery. It means a completely different dimension, a different dimension of being.“ And he continues to explain another expression of this article of faith about the Ascension, about God’s right hand: „ New Testament – starting with the Acts of the Apostles and ending with the Letter to the Hebrews “, where Jesus was taken by the cloud, following Ps 110, 1 refers to the term „sit (chi standing) on God’s right. What does that mean? This does not imply a distant cosmic space where God would have so to speak, built his throne and assigned the same quality to this throne as all other spaces. God is God – he is the prerequisite and basis of every spatially that exists, but does not belong to it itself. God is the Lord and Creator of all spaces. His presence has no spatial but exclusively divine character. „Sitting at God’s right hand“ means participating in God’s power over space. So Jesus saying goodbye is not going somewhere to a distant star. It enters into the community of power and life with the living God,, it enters into God’s super space.“ In the language of modern sci-fi fantasy, I dare to say that Jesus opens the „Heaven’s Gate“ with his Ascension, which was indicated at his death when the curtain in the temple behind which God dwelt was torn. It was only a foreshadowing of that real curtain, that curtain, the endless gap between God and man, which Jesus definitively overcame and opened a new gate of communication between the infinite God, dwelling „ in inaccessible light“, and he, Jesus, is the mediator, the mediator of this new communication, who is our supporter, our ambassador to God, who intercedes for us as our High Priest. This means that Jesus’ departure means his new presence among us, from the very core of reality: God, who maintains everything with his creative divine power.
In this sense, Benedict XVI continues his reflections: „Therefore he did not go away“, but with the power of his own God, he is always here with us and for us. This is exactly what Jesus says to his disciples in farewell speeches in the Gospel of John: „ I am leaving – and I will come to you“ (Jn 14, 28). The special character of this Jesus’ “departure” is beautifully expressed here, also “adjourn”. At the same time, the mystery of the cross, resurrection, and ascension also receives its interpretation here. Jesus’ departure is precisely because of the arrival, a new kind of closeness, a permanent presence, with which John also connects “joy”, which we heard about in the Gospel of Luke. Since Jesus is with the Father, he is not gone, but close to us. Now, he is no longer in one place in the world like before the ascension. Now, with its space beyond power, it is present and attainable for all throughout history.“
Jesus indicated a new type of “contact” with him after the Ascension in dialogue with Magdalena, who wants to touch the Risen One, but he stops her: „ Don’t hold me anymore ( don’t touch me anymore, after all, I have not yet ascended to the Father.“ (Jn 20, 17) Later, St. Paul develops this when he writes: „ Even if we knew Christ according to the flesh, now we no longer know him that much. Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.“ Ascension allows for a whole new type of “contact” with Jesus. Saint Thomas Aquinas develops the theme of this new approach to Christ in connection with the Ascension. He emphasizes that it is only possible through faith, hope, and love, divine virtues, new abilities, which are activated in baptism, which is thus stressed in the Gospels in connection with the Ascension. By baptism, the disciple activates the divine virtues of faith, hope, and love, which enable him to experience God’s Presence everywhere. „Inquiring about times and deadlines is expressly rejected by Jesus. The disciples’ attitude should not rest on historical speculation or on the search for an unknown future. Christianity is anchored in the present. It is a gift and a mission. In it, we receive the gift of God’s inner closeness and, thanks to it, we fulfill the role of witnesses of Jesus Christ.“ (Benedict XVI.) Baptism and other sacraments are signs of this presence of Christ, who said at the Ascension: „ I am with you all the days, until the end of the world“.
With divine virtues through “channels” sacraments, the inner transformation of the disciple, his deification, begins through the created gift of grace. A Christian, thus in his soul, invisibly but realistically, is drawn into „God’s zone“, „God’s dimension of eternity“. This can only be done in the present. That is why it is emphasized so much in the Eucharist “presentment”. Even the Greek word “parousia”, with which Revelation refers to Christ’s definitive coming at the end of history, means “presence”. As at the Ascension „ disappeared from the eyes“, so at the end of the world, “appears” in glory to be God „all in all“. The history of the Church is the history of salvation, the history of gradual hidden transformation, which has its own mysterious rules that do not fully correspond to the development of the history of the world and society. However, they mysteriously and covertly intertwine with each other. And the mysterious presence of Christ in history will be definitively revealed at his definitive coming. But Christ already has the world’s destinies „firmly in his hands“, that’s why we worship him as King, because he participates in God’s power, he is after his “right”.
Saint John Paul II. in the book Crossing the threshold of hope he exclaimed: „At the end of the second millennium, we need to hear the words of the resurrected Christ more than ever before: „ Don’t be afraid!“ The nations of the whole world need them. It is necessary to restore in their consciousness the certainty that there is Someone who holds in his hands the destinies of this transitory world. Someone who has the keys to death and the underworld. Someone who is the Alpha and Omega of human history. And this Someone is Love. Love that became man, love crucified and resurrected. Love constantly present among people.“
Visitors counter: 67
