The Ascension of Our Lord 2021, Sunday Gospel Reflection

 May 16^th 2021.  The Ascension of the Lord

GOSPEL: Mark 16:15-20

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL: Mark 16:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . At the Ascension, Jesus gives his missionary commandment to the disciples, but his discourse can also be read as a description of the unique characteristics of the Christian way of life. The first thing Jesus says is to preach the Gospel to every creature. Every man and woman was created for the Gospel. As Chapter 8 of the Letter to the Romans states, creation awaits with longing the appearance of the children of God. Humanity was created for the Gospel, to be saved and loved by God. We have a natural compatibility with the Gospel. Jesus goes on to say, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned”. This highlights the seriousness of the Christian message, but it does not follow that the Gospel should be imposed on people to ensure their salvation! The Gospel must be received with freedom. The Church must propose, not impose. The Gospel message proposes the love of God for all humanity, and love by its nature CAN BE REFUSED. It is an incredible thing, but Christ asks our permission before entering our lives. The passage then tells us that those who believe are accompanied by five signs. These signs are not to assist us in our faith but become present as a result of our faith. Let us consider the five signs one by one. Firstly, the driving out of demons. Aside from exorcisms, the fathers of the desert in the fourth century realised that the most common driving out of demons involved the combat against evil thoughts. We see when a person believes in the Gospel because he begins to drive evil out of his heart as he resists the suggestions of the evil one. Secondly, the speaking of new languages. On an ordinary level, this refers to the capacity of the evangelizer to speak in a new way, to speak of new life rather than death. The Gospel, in fact, is naturally apprehended by each person as if it were their native language being spoken to their hearts. Thirdly, they will pick up serpents. Christians will not be a timid race. They will be able to handle difficult things and enter into the horrors of life, as many saints and others have done. Fourthly, they will not be harmed by deadly poison. This refers to the poisonous external circumstances which surround us. John Paul II spoke of a “culture of death”. This culture of death reappears in history but Christians survive in its midst without losing the faith. Fifthly, they will heal the sick. This refers to the capacity of the Gospel to heal interiorly as well as exteriorly. The final lines of the passage speak of the synergy between the Lord and his disciples. In all of these matters – the capacity to speak to the hearts of people, the capacity to bring healing, the capacity to survive in poisonous circumstances, the capacity to handle difficult matters – in all of these, Christ is working with us. We do not do these things ourselves but by the grace of Our Lord Jesus, who has ascended to heaven and given us his power.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

The Ascension has little to do with the triumph over gravity and everything to do with the culmination of Jesus’ journey back to his Father

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. The first reading narrates the actual event of the Ascension, but let us concentrate on the Gospel, which this year is from Mark. The sixth article of the Creed is that Jesus ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. But what does this mean? Is it concerned with the bodily victory over gravity and the transportation of Jesus to another place, a place that is not a place at all in the sense of our conception of space and time? What is sometimes forgotten is that this is the culmination of a pilgrim journey by Jesus to the Father. He came from the Father and now he returns to his origins. And this also is the goal of all human life: to return to the Father. The notion of Christian “ascent” is not concerned with people trying to achieve some sort of perfection with respect to personal integrity. Rather it is a movement towards God the Father. The Ascension teaches us to follow Jesus, in all the events of our lives, in his journey to the Father.

It is a journey to the right hand of the Father. And “right hand” symbolizes Lordship. The Ascension is all about Jesus becoming Lord

And it is not just a journey by Jesus to the Father, it is a journey to the right hand of the Father. The right hand is a symbol of action and power. As the psalms say, “the Lord’s right hand has triumphed, the Lord’s right hand has worked marvels”. To be seated at the right hand of the Father means to be the executor of his power, to truly be Lord. As the letter to the Philippians says, it is to receive the name which is higher than all names. What does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord? Does it mean that he is seated on a special throne that everyone can recognize is the highest position of all? Is it a seat like the seats of power in our human structures of bureaucracy? No, it is something different altogether.

What does it mean to say “Jesus is Lord”? Does it mean he sits on a special throne? No, it is all about Jesus exercising dominion

We are sent out into the whole world to announce the Gospel, and it is here that Jesus reveals himself to be Lord. “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” The Lord confirms the preaching of the disciples with the signs that accompany their preaching. He manifests himself as Lord in these signs. What exactly are the signs in question? The capacity to drive out demons refers to the ability to free people from the grip of the deceiver, from the devil who separates us from God. How many times throughout history people have been liberated from the grip of the deceiver. The ability to speak new languages refers to speak in a way that is new with respect to all other languages. It is the speaker that has been renewed by the new and eternal covenant, and he can now communicate that which is fresh, that which springs from God. Whoever has the love of God in their hearts is able to speak this new language. There are people who can speak eloquently with flawless logic and with an outstanding grip of the language, but often the content that they communicate is empty. And how often a child can talk in simple terms and touch your heart because they are able to speak with love. It is not about perfect articulation, but about having the capacity to communicate with love. We can listen easily to those who have love in what they say, who communicate effectively the maternal care of the Church. This is the new language spoken by authentic Christians.

The power of the Gospel liberates people from the power of Satan, it makes people recognize and reject the poisons inherent in our culture, and it brings peace and healing to those who are sick

We are told that the faithful will be able to take serpents in their hands. Some people try to live by escaping from reality, but serpents must be taken in hand. The serpent, the liar, who tries to sow confusion in our hearts, must be taken in hand and drawn out. In confession we name our sins and state clearly the ways that we have been deceived. This is what it means to take serpents in our hands. Their poison no longer has any effect on us because we consign them to God. “If they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them”: generally in our time we are very conscious about not exposing ourselves to any poisonous substances. This is all very good, but the real poison that the Christian is not affected by is the poison inherent in our culture. “Everything is pure for the one who is pure” says St Paul. When our hearts have been touched by the truth, we recognize deceit. Its falsity becomes very apparent to us. We must remain small and humble, clinging to the Lord, so that we can be preserved by him. And the final sign of the Lordship of Christ is that the sick will be healed when hands are laid upon them. The Holy Spirit is transmitted by the imposition of hands and people are healed, some of them physically, whilst it is the heart that is healed more often. The riches of the Church – the Holy Spirit – can be transmitted by this gesture of laying on of hands, placing into the hearts of people peace, acceptance, freedom and love.