Disciples Sent to Speak God’s Word of Love to a Cold World.

In the days following Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples of Jesus locked themselves away in self-isolation for fear that the Romans and Jews might arrest them for being followers of Jesus. This self-isolation was very similar to that which many people today have had to experience due to fear and anxiety. Throughout the entire time of the disciples’ isolation, Jesus appeared to His disciples and strengthened them with assurances of His resurrection, peace, and the gift of the Holy Spirit by which He would always be present in their lives.

Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension, we see that a huge change takes place in the life of the Apostles and disciples. We are given a hint as to what the nature of this change might be in the first line of this Sunday’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, as we read: “In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day He was taken up to Heaven” (Acts 1:1). Up until this time, the story of the Church was basically the story of the disciples as they lived and physically walked with Jesus. While He was with them, Jesus led the way and was in charge. The disciples lived with Jesus and did not need to take responsibility for the community of the believers or the direction that community might go. Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven marks a new beginning for the life of believers. They will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the disciples of the Lord will be called upon to take responsibility for the Church as they are directed into the world by the Holy Spirit as to how to serve the Lord in different situations. This new responsibility of discipleship is also sometimes called stewardship.

The Ascension of Jesus must have been a time of great fear and transition for Jesus’ disciples. They had been used to having Christ with them to comfort them and show them the way. Now, as He had promised to send them the Holy Spirit, they must learn to listen to hear Christ speak to them in a different way through the power of the Holy Spirit speaking to them in their hearts, and through the community of the Church. What is so fascinating about the Acts of the Apostles, is that it is a powerful testimony to the way in which the first believers were transformed in the Church. By receiving the Holy Spirit, these individuals are formed into the living Body of Christ in the world, and each disciple takes on the identity of a living member within this Body. All are immediately made, as a result of this gift of the Holy Spirit, co-workers with Christ, sent to do Christ’s work wherever each one goes in the course of her/his journey. As a result of the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s disciples received after His ascension into heaven, the disciples have the courage to claim their identity as living members of Christ’s Church and embrace the changes in their lives that will allow them to carry the Gospel message around the world.

We see in this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew how it is that Jesus intends His disciples to continue His work around the world and in different situations and times. In the Gospel of Matthew, before He ascends into Heaven, Jesus gives the great commission to His disciples to go into the whole world “and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the ages.” The great commission to baptize is a call to make new disciples so that Christ’s work might be done in every age and land. The hope that we, the baptized, are called to have as we face the different challenges of our time is found in Christ’s promise: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the ages.”

The challenge that faced the early Church was huge. As a new community of believers in Jesus, the disciples had to go out into the world, for the first time without Him at their side, and take His message to strangers who had never heard the name of Jesus. These disciples were bold enough to travel around the world telling strangers of the love of a God who had conquered sin and death and wished to share eternal life with them. Often, because of their effort, they suffered and were violently rejected by the people to whom they had brought this Good News. Yet they never lost hope, because they knew the Lord had indeed risen and destroyed death and was with them through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the days which followed Christ’s Ascension, the disciples re-invented themselves and by the power of the Holy Spirit became the Church that the times required them to be as the Spirit worked within each one of them.

In our own times, many people speak of the fear that they have about the world’s political situation and what they describe as a worldwide hardening of hearts. As world leaders threaten one another and the cost of living rises, a coldness seems to be entering into all human relationships. Like the disciples who had hidden themselves in the upper room after the death of the Lord, a kind of despair has set into the hearts of many Christians. Into the uncertainty felt by all, Jesus wishes to appear in our midst and encourage us with the same assurances with which he strengthened the first disciples. As were His words in their time, so they are to us today: “Have courage, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).”

One of the powerful ways in which Christians have acted against the forces of evil that have threatened to paralyze and overcome good, is by acting against them through deeds of love and kindness in the name of Christ. This past Lent, the parish council produced a number of videos on the Corporal Works of Mercy. These were put forward as suggestions as to how you and I might act against the forces of evil active in the world today in order to be voices of compassion speaking against the fear and isolation that so many have felt to be overtaking their lives. The Corporal Works of Mercy are: Feeding the Hungry, Giving Drink to the Thirsty, Clothing the Naked, Sheltering the Homeless, Visiting the Sick, Visiting the Imprisoned, and Bury the Dead. As the videos done by the parish council attempted to show, there are simple ways in which each one of us may incorporate these loving actions into out daily routine. Each of these are ways in which we as a parish community can continue Christ’s work in the world following His Ascencion into Heaven. As we celebrate Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, we ought to be aware the beautiful words of St. Theresa of Avila, which remind us of the work entrusted to each of us through baptism: “Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world…”

The Ascension of the Lord marked a new beginning for the early Church. Those disciples who had been locked in the upper room in fear of the authorities were confronted with a new reality. They were not expected to face the future alone. The Holy Spirit would give them the confidence and wisdom to discern the way forward. Through our baptisms, you and I are disciples of the same Lord and received the same gift of the Holy Spirit. As many are now anxious about the present circumstances and attitudes shaping the world today, let us ask the Holy Spirit to show each of us the path to discipleship that He invites us to embrace, so that we might continue the work of the Risen Christ in these new and challenging times. Last week, we heard in the second reading from Peter, the call to be always be ready to give a defence for the hope that is within us. Our hope is Christ and the love that He has shown us, invites us to share that love with others in the world today.

In the days to come, may every baptized disciple of the Lord be prepared to embrace her/his role of discipleship as we work together to continue the mission given by Christ to be stewards in our parish community.

Rev. Michael McGourty
Pastor—St. Peter’s Toronto—Toronto.

This reflection based on the readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; and Matthew 28:19-20.