All the Gospels agree in broad terms about the death and resurrection of Jesus. However the picture after the resurrection is less clear. There are big variations between accounts in how long Jesus remained visible to the disciples, where they went, and what they did. Only Luke has the stories of the Ascension and Pentecost (Mark has just a passing reference to Jesus being “taken up to heaven”).
The Ascension marks the end of Jesus’ interaction in his bodily form with his disciples. Even here there are differences between the description in Luke’s Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, both of which we hear today (Acts 1:1-11 and Lk 24:46-53).
Those of us brought up on Star Wars movies, stories of UFOs, and such like, are fascinated by the idea of people disappearing up into the sky. So were the Renaissance painters, although in their case the attraction was also in the opportunity to paint clouds, which they clearly loved doing, and were very good at!
For the evangelists, and by implication the early church, what exactly happened at this time is really not of much importance. Luke, writing for those Romans who liked the details, much as we do, goes as far as to point out that despite the details he provides of Jesus’ departure, all the disappearing upwards is of no significance. The disciples are told to stop doodle allying about and get on with life in the real world.
The central features of Luke’s account of Jesus’ departure are that the disciples were to be his witnesses (not to his ascension but to his life and death); that they would receive power (strength) to do this; and they were happy about all this – very different from the confused and fearful people they were immediately after his death. Luke links these elements in his account of the Ascension, but they are common to all the gospels in some form or other.
In this, as in everything, the evangelists were not writing the news, they were telling the story of Jesus in a way that would connect it to the experience of their audience.
Luke explains how it was for the first disciples, and so it is for us. When we believe, we receive power, we are joyful, and we witness to that reality revealed in the life of Jesus.
The Ascension isn’t a story about flying through the clouds, it’s a recognition that even though Jesus is no longer physically visible to us, he is still present and active, and his life changed everything for all time.