05/14/2026
Today is Ascension Day, when we mark the ascension of Christ to be "be seated at the right hand of the Father." Ascension Day always occurs on a Thursday, forty days after Easter Sunday. Partly for this reason (not occuring on a Sunday) it is almost a forgotten day in the Protestant church, including among Lutherans. It is nevertheless an important point in the life of the church. We find Luke's account of the Ascention in Acts 1:5--14:
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of
James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Jesus meets with his followers one last time during his earthly ministry before going to his place beside the Father. The disciples (“apostles” here) seem to persist in their belief that Jesus' mission is to restore an earthly, Davidic, kingdom of Israel. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Even the resurrection and Jesus’ teaching afterwards didn’t set the record straight, it seems, for the disciples. Sometimes, strongly held beliefs die a slow and hard death. Jesus assures his closest followers that the “Holy Spirit” would soon empower them to be his “witnesses” throughout the world. The disciples appear slow to leave the place of the Ascension, as they continue to look upward into the sky as Jesus departs. In Luke 24 we find the location of Jesus’ Ascension as being near Bethany–the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. I like to imagine that Jesus may have dropped in on his friends in Bethany before he departed.
Two “men in white robes” move the disciples along by promising the Lord would one day return “in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” The disciples go back to the “room” in Jerusalem where they were hiding out following Jesus’ crucifixion. Along with the disciples were “certain women, including Jesus’ mother, and the Lord’s brothers. It appears that Jesus’ brothers, who were at one time skeptical of his ministry, became believers after the resurrection.
While we can relate to other important festivals of the church, such as Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, the Ascension is more difficult to understand. This isn’t helped by the fact that for Protestants, at least, it isn’t commonly celebrated. Few of us are darkening the church doors on the Day of the Ascension (this year it is today, May 14). But there are some important aspects of the Ascension that relate to our role as believers and followers of Jesus.
We must realize that for Jesus to minister to the church as a whole, he had to leave his earthly ministry behind, one that was limited by space and time. Jesus also promised to send the “Advocate,” the Holy Spirit, to his followers to empower them (which he could do from heaven). After all, had Jesus remained on earth, would his disciples have taken up the commission to be his witnesses in the world? Also Jesus, “at the right hand of the Father,” serves as our heavenly advocate with the Father.
