The Ascension can be a strange story to make sense of. There are so many technical details that just don't make sense. Where did Jesus go after he disappeared into the clouds? But I think this story, set at Bethany, is communicating a deeply important theological point. Mainly, that our human bodies matter to God.
The story of the Ascension reminds us that the holy and the human are not as far apart as we imagine because Jesus didn’t shed his humanity before returning to God. The Ascension tells us that Jesus carried his humanity with him as he journey back to heaven. The scars, the skin, the laughter, the tears, all of this fragile human existence was taken up into divine life.
Our humanity matters to God. This has always been the underlining message of the entire Jesus story. God enters into our human existence as a fragile baby in a manager and then Jesus returns to God without shedding his human body.
May we be people who respect this gift of humanity because we know that it deeply matters to our God.
The story of the Ascension reminds us that the holy and the human are not as far apart as we imagine because Jesus didn’t shed his humanity before returning to God. The Ascension tells us that Jesus carried his humanity with him as he journey back to heaven. The scars, the skin, the laughter, the tears, all of this fragile human existence was taken up into divine life.
Our humanity matters to God. This has always been the underlining message of the entire Jesus story. God enters into our human existence as a fragile baby in a manager and then Jesus returns to God without shedding his human body.
May we be people who respect this gift of humanity because we know that it deeply matters to our God.
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