On Thursday, we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension.  It came just as I was also preparing to discuss the Resurrection in my Intro to Biblical Literature courses at Furman. Thinking about both, and reading again the gospels’ accounts of the Resurrection, reminded me of both the importance of the Ascension, and our faith’s uncertainty about it.

Only the Gospel of Luke (and its related work, the Book of Acts) clearly report on the ascension. Luke 24:51 reads in part “he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. Acts 1:9 says much the same thing. What I find interesting is that in contrast to Luke, neither Matthew or John say anything about the ascension. John uses the language of “being lifted up” throughout the gospel, but it always refers, at least in part, to the crucifixion.

What Matthew and John agree on is that Jesus appeared to his disciples in Galilee and that he gave them some final instructions. Matthew’s version is what we call the Great Commission. Jesus sends his disciples out into all the world, to teach, make disciples, and baptize. And he concludes that commission with the promise, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What intrigues me is that this promise of Christ’s continuing presence with his disciples is in some way a direct contradiction of the notion that in the Ascension, Jesus returned to heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God.

In the end, the Ascension is about both Jesus’ presence, and his absence from us.