Jesus took five steps to cross the threshold from the temporal world into the realm of eternity. These five steps are: his Passover celebration (our first Mass), his passion and death, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven.
In the larger sense, these steps complete the gospel circle of the Son. They began, of course with the Lord’s incarnation. They encompass the meaning of his whole ministry and life. Jesus’ ascension to the Father's right hand is their culmination. One thing is crystal clear: Jesus’ ascension is not an afterthought, it’s not a gloss, it’s not a fiction employed by the early Church to smooth out difficult post-resurrection questions.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the ascension is the happy ending to an extraordinarily dramatic gospel story. Far from being a minor experience in salvation history, the ascension of Our Lord validates the new covenant made in his name. It is the “crown jewel” in God’s plan of salvation for the human race. The new covenant in Christ's body and blood achieves its consummation in Our Lord's ascension. We may understand this more perfectly by recalling the Old Testament figure Noah.
In primordial time, God cleansed the world by sending forth a great flood which destroyed sinful humanity and all living creatures except the faithful Noah, his household and the animals housed on-board the now legendary ark. As an affirming sign to Noah and his descendants, God placed a rainbow in the clouds. He promised that flood waters would never again purge all flesh-and-blood creatures from the earth--especially human beings.
But what about death? Isn’t death the inevitable “flood” which destroys all life? And from the ages of ages, to Jesus of Nazareth God entrusted this colossally important concern of fallen human beings. The Book of Acts recounts with superb precision how Jesus has defeated death once and for all . . .
. . . HOW GOD anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
THEY PUT him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
AND HE commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. [Acts 10:38-42]
As the sign of the death of death itself, this Jesus who was resurrected from the dead was set in the clouds by God the Father as the everlasting celebration of his holy sovereignty over all things. Hence Jesus’ ascension to the father’s right hand is become the rainbow of divine mercy bridging both the temporal and spiritual realms with its splendid radiance.
To Peter and the gathered Church privileged to witness the Son's exaltation, and all who await the good news of redemption in Jesus’ name, this is the sign of the new and everlasting covenant which abolishes the power of death forever.
Absent Our Lord's ascension, his rising from the dead (no matter how spectacular) would be devoid of essential meaning. The ascension of Jesus Christ is man's assurance that the resurrection is credible. What was initiated at the moment of Mary's conception has achieved its fulfillment.
Christ's being raised to heaven is mortal man's definitive proof that a heaven awaits those who are faithful to God’s love and the path he has marked out for them. We have been purchased by the great price of Jesus’ passion and death and promised a share in his glory . We are heirs to the ultimate benefaction, Christ's resurrection from the dead!
