While they (the disciples) were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Think of the extraordinary events that the disciples experienced. They traveled with Jesus as he taught, healed, and performed miracles like the feeding of the 5000 and the calming of the storm at sea. Then they witnessed Jesus’ arrest, torture and execution. And, then, the crème de le crème event, Jesus rises from the dead and interacts with them again. Is it any wonder, that as Jesus ascended into heaven, they stood their gawking into the sky? Yet, the angels gently reprimand them by saying essentially, “Quit your gawking and twiddling your thumbs. You’ve got work to do.” The angels’ gentle reprimand is addressed to us, as well.
I remember arriving at the hospital shortly after my father had died. My dad was the wisdom figure of not only my own family, but of all our extended family on the East Coast. Dad was constantly being called and asked for his counsel. As I sat next to my dad’s lifeless body, I thought to myself, “The wisdom figure of my family has died.” Then it suddenly dawned on me, “Oh my God! Now I am suppose to be the wisdom figure of the family! Man, everyone is so SOL!” The torch my father had carried in life had been passed on to me at his death. The time had come for me to grow up and carry on the legacy of my father.
It falls not only to a small group of individuals to carry on the saving mission of Jesus. The mission of Jesus has been passed on to all of us! It is now our responsibility to allow God’s Reign to enter our world through us. Our “mission field” is our homes, our places of work, and our communities. Jesus has no use for “lazy” disciples who sit around “twiddling their thumbs”. The Feast of the Ascension reminds us that it is time for us to “grow up” and carry on the saving mission of Jesus.
