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The Ascension of the Lord, Year B

Gospel, First Reading & Psalm

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Second Reading

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GOSPEL, FIRST READING & PSALM TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):

The Solemnity of the Ascension for Year B takes us to the ending of the Gospel of Mark, an ending known as the longer ending of the Gospel of Mark, which gives us a very brief account of Jesus's ascension into heaven. This is in Mark 16,:15-20. So, before I read this, just a quick note about it. This passage is interesting because it comes from a section of Mark’s Gospel called the longer ending because there are a couple of different forms of the ending in the ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark. So some of the many ancient manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark will end with verse 8, where the women go out from the tomb and they don't say anything to anyone because they were afraid. Other copies of the ancient manuscripts of Mark have a longer ending, verses 9 all the way down through 20. 

SECOND READING TRANSCRIPT (Subscribe or Login for Full Transcript):

…and that Christ already sits at the right hand of the Father.

It's not something that's going to happen at the end of time. It's not something that we're waiting to be accomplished. It already is the case because it happened when he raised him from the dead, made him sit at His right hand. And for that reason, here's the key, this is really fascinating, Christ already is

far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named.

All right, pause there. What does that mean? He's above every "rule and authority and power and dominion.” Well, in a first century context, those terms that Paul's using are all words for describing the angelic powers. They are different terms that were used in Jewish writings to describe angels. There are different categories, different kinds of angels. You'll see this in the later medieval tradition develop into the different choirs of angels. It's not that refined yet. There isn't a kind of distillation exactly of it, but thrones, powers, dominions, rules, those are all names for invisible angelic powers.

And what Paul is trying to say here in Ephesians 1 is that when Christ ascended into heaven, he wasn't simply vindicated as the messiah, He was also exalted in his humanity, this is really crucial, above all of the angels. He was given a place above all of the invisible angelic powers. Now, the reason that's important is that if you look at Sacred Scripture as a whole, in the order of creation, the angels are superior to human beings. Human beings are creatures of earth. They have bodies, after the fall in particular, they're going to be mortal. So they pass away. They die. Angels are invisible, immaterial, spiritual beings that are immortal. They’re higher in nature. They're superior to human beings. But what happens in Christ is that the eternal son, who is superior to all the angels, in a sense, condescends to empty himself, take on a human nature that's beneath him, that's lower than the angels and then in his passion and death puts that human nature to death, raises it up and doesn't just vindicate it, but actually exalts it into a heavenly place above the angelic powers.

So that now, in a sense, the ordered creation is turned upside down. And whereas the angels in the order of creation are superior to humans, now, in Christ, humanity has been elevated above the angels. This is why Paul will say in 1 Corinthians 6 to the Corinthians:

Do you not know that we are to judge the angels?

Well, you can't judge your superior, right? You can only judge those who are below you or subordinate to you. The mystery of those who are in Christ is that by being in Christ, we've actually been elevated above the angelic powers. That's the first aspect of the Ascension that's really crucial for us to understand. In the Ascension, one of the aspects of the mystery that's being revealed is that human nature is now above the angels, above the angelic powers. Christ isn't just the king of Israel. He's not even just the king of the world, or the king of humanity. He's the Lord of the angels. He's above the angelic powers. That's the first point.

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