Resurrection and Ascension

            When we were in Israel, we went to the top of the mountain outside of the city where Jesus was reputed to have ascended into Heaven.  There was a stone with a footprint in it, which our guide solemnly told us was certainly Jesus’ footprint as he leaped off this earth and arose into the presence of His Father and the angels.  There was also another stone with such a footprint at another location which I have forgotten.  All of this was presented to us as incontrovertible fact that was proof of the ascension.  On a couple of levels, I have a problem with that.

            First, is the role of faith in all of this.  Without faith, we have nothing in regard to Jesus’ promises to us and the way that his life ended and the resurrection took place.  We have no facts to back these things up.  Certainly, the medieval church produced pieces of the “true cross”, which has been lodged in various places and the Shroud of Turin is purported to be the cloth that covered Jesus’ body in the tomb.  We are hungry for proof that all of this took place.  We want to know, not suppose that our Lord did all that he promised.  Faith is what makes this possible.  Facts are hardly proof of much of anything.  Look at the way that “facts” are used by politicians to prove what they want us all to believe.  So often, these “facts” have turned out to be either false or overstated.  Science can only go so far.

            The second thing that bothers me about all of this is that my religion is intensely important to me.  It secures me in this life and in the life to come in the fellowship of all of the saints, and of my God.  I really don’t want to muddy it all up with dogma that has to be believed if we are going to be true to our faith.  One of the things that I love about the Episcopal church is the recitation of the creed as a statement of our belief system.  Thankfully, the creed is vague enough to encompass all of our notions about our God and we are free to worship as we please.  I think that the Council of Nicaea was full of genius and gave us a gift that we have embraced and used to our advantage through all of the doctrinal wars that have been fought in the name of religion .  Thank God for this great gift.

            During countless funerals, the whole notion of resurrection and ascension has been very important to me and to the families of those who lie in death, and whose lives we celebrate.   We are able to assure them of the wonderful truth of rising from the dead and the possibility of reunion at some point.  That has always been a wonderful truth to me.  I have preached it over and over again and hold it to be true in the depths of my being. 

            Jesus’ final prayer with his disciples is a beautiful statement of his relationship with his Father and his hope for his disciples.  He prays: Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

            What a beautiful statement of love and care for all of us.  It helps that we continue to worship our risen and ascended Lord until the time comes for us all to join Him in the court of God.