Jesus’s Easter story ends with the Ascension. At least it does in Luke’s telling. As with the beginning of the Easter story, the Resurrection, each of the evangelists takes a different approach on how to describe these events. Mark has a brief reference to Jesus “being taken up to heaven”, Matthew and John have no mention of an Ascension event, and Luke gives two versions with very different timings.
For those of us who grew up believing firm historical truths were foundational in understanding the world, this is very frustrating. Surely if the Ascension happened then all the Gospel writers would mention it and it would be clear when it happened.
Whether we like it or not that is not the way God’s revelation works. It’s not about what happened at some point in the past and some “historical” facts. Revelation is about a relationship with God that we have now, at this moment in time. The purpose of Scripture is not to bombard us into believing by a stream of historical details, from Adam, to Abraham, to Moses, to Jesus. Rather, it’s to encourage us in a belief that we already have, which God planted in our hearts, by telling of all the other people and situations in which that belief was validated – in so many different circumstances.
The encouragement that Luke is providing in his two versions of the Ascension story has two different flavors. In his Gospel (Luke 24:46-53) everything happens in a blur after the Resurrection. It’s a breathless rush from the empty tomb to the meeting on the road to Emmaus to his final meeting with the disciples and then he’s gone – maybe all within 24 hours. The finale however is not his departure but the state in which he left the disciples: “they returned to Jerusalem with great joy”. From confusion and bewilderment to joy and certainty. What happened so suddenly? Jesus explained the scriptures (again) – both to the iconic figures (random individuals) on the road to Emmaus, and to the disciples (the church). Understanding the scriptures leads to the Christian life that follows after Jesus leaves this world.
In the Acts of the Apostles Luke sets out a classic 40 day period for the post Resurrection transition (Acts 1:1-11). Throughout scripture we hear so often of 40 days as a period of transformation, moving from one life to another, from slavery to freedom, from disaster to recovery. The process that Luke describes is the same as in his gospel, but more measured – Jesus demonstrates his new reality, he explains: “speaking about the kingdom of God”. Luke also makes explicit the continuing presence of Jesus via the Holy Spirit. In this Luke aligns with John’s perspective, which is so focused on the Spirit that he has no need of any other details. The final twist Luke provides is a gentle kick (to all of us), not to spend time looking up into the sky thinking about what had happened and what might happen. Leave all that to God. Just get on with using that power of the Spirit to demonstrate that God loves us. That’s how the Easter story ends – which is really not an ending at all.