The banner that has been hanging in the sanctuary this Easter season is not a banner of the Resurrection, as is obvious, but of  the Transfiguration.¹ Note the book recalling the Law and the Prophets: Moses and Elias with whom Jesus spoke of His coming Passion. Note the lack of wounds. And yet it is quite appropriate when you think on it, for the Transfiguration was a preparation for the Passion, Death and Rising – which is what the three spoke of among themselves. And for the disciples, a warning, a strengthening, a preparation for what lay ahead.

And today we come to the end of that triad: the Passion, Death and Rising. And the odd thing is that for all its enormous significance, the event shows up in only one Gospel² and not at all in Paul. And yet references to it in the Word are very many, for it is a truth basic and elemental. And the references spell out that elemental quality.

But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into Heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. “Look! I can see Heaven thrown open,” he said, “and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” [Acts 7:55]

Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus who died – yes, even more, who was raised from the dead and is at God’s right hand – and who is adding His pleas for us? [Romans 8:34]

How extraordinarily great is the power that [God] has exercised for us believers. This accords with the strength of His power at work in Christ, the power which He exercised in raising Him from the dead and enthroning Him at His right hand in Heaven, far above every principality, ruling force, power or sovereignty, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things under His feet. [Ephesians 1:20]

But God, being rich in faithful love, through the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and gave us a place with Him in Heaven, in Christ Jesus. [Ephesians 2:4-6]

It would seem on the one hand too great a truth to deal with, and on the other, a truth that cannot be passed over.

After all, God coming from heaven to earth and becoming man is one thing. That is the opening of the story and breath-taking enough.

And that at the end, man in Christ should be taken up to Heaven is even more amazing. That God becomes man is one thing; that man, on the other hand, in some way becomes God dwelling in Heaven, is another.

That flesh and spirit, body and soul, should dwell together on earth in each human, now becomes materiality raised to the world of the spirit. It is as when a soldier goes to war overseas, and the war over, marries a local girl and brings her home as his bride – a woman of another world, raising at first consternation and alarm and hopefully, in the end, acceptance and embrace. So God came to earth, was engaged in our war with the power of darkness and then was wed to us and took us home with Him to the Father.

A stunning truth. And thus not easy to handle. Perhaps that is why we have the truth almost indirectly, as it were, rather than head-on –as the young soldier may hint of his new bride and only slowly reveal her origin. So, the truth of the Ascension is clear and obvious, but the expression of it rather subtle. Maybe that’s the only way we can digest it.

Often the procession of wonders seem overwhelming: The coming of Christ as man among men, born of woman and the Holy Spirit. Endowed with a ministry of power and light, ending in the tragedy of Calvary, followed by the Resurrection, completed by the coming of the Spirit. That it should culminate with His passage to Heaven, body and soul and our promise of doing the same is indeed a wondrous expectancy.

This flesh of ours – our mind, our senses, our memories – will be in the Kingdom with the Lord. And through Christ our Lord.

We do indeed “stand looking up to Heaven” and hear the same angels who were with Him when He came, and hear them now say: “He will come again as you saw Him go, for He will come to bring you where He is, take you with Him into eternity.”

This is indeed a great feast.  Amen.

1. The banner,  pictured here, is the creation of the late Brother Lavrans, Nielson, OCSO, former monk of Gethsemani. It is hung above the sanctuary of the abbey church each Easter season and also on special occasions.

2. Fr. Matthew probably alludes here to theAscension episode in Luke's Gospel. Scripture scholars today claim that the final section of Mark's Gospel [16:9-20] is not originally part of  his Gospel since the best Greek manuscripts do not have it, and there is no evidence that Clement of Alexandria or Origen knew of it. And, they state,  St. Jerome and Eusebius claimed it was absent from all the Greek manuscripts known to them in their day. Therefore modern scholars speculate that it may have been added by a 2nd century scribe as a better completion of the narrative. But we must recall that the Church — guided by the Holy Spirit — has always proclaimed it in Her liturgy as an integral part of the Mark's Gospel.