On the Ascension of our Lord

Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they sat at supper, and upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he was risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The person who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but the person who does not believe shall be damned. These are signs that will follow those who believe: they shall cast out demons in my name, they will speak with new tongues; they shall take up snakes and if they drink a deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick and they will recover.” And after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them he was taken up into heaven, and took his seat at the right hand of God. And they set out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming their message by signs that accompanied it. Amen.

Mark 16:14-20

As the disciples were so slow to believe in the Lord’s resurrection, the Lord showed them in their doubt many proofs of His resurrection. What happens to us when we read and acknowledge them is that we are strengthened as a result of their doubt. Mary Magdalene, who was quick to believe, has helped me less than Thomas, who remained so long in doubt. While doubting he touched the scars of the wounds, and cut out of our hearts the wound of doubt.

Let us see what Luke reports in order to teach us the truth of the Lord’s resurrection: While he was eating with them he told them not to depart from Jerusalem. After a little, as they were looking on he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Note the words; mark the mysteries. While he was eating with them he was lifted up. He ate and he ascended, so that the reality of his body might be disclosed as a result of his eating.

But Mark recalls that before he ascended into heaven the Lord rebuked his disciples for their hardness of heart and their lack of belief. What are we to think of this, except that the Lord rebuked his disciples at the time he left them physically in order to fix his parting words more firmly in the hearts of his hearers? Let us hear what he told them to do after he had rebuked their hardheartedness: ‘Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.’ Is the holy Gospel to be preached to inanimate things and to brute animals, that the disciples were told to Preach to every creature? But ‘every creature’ means human beings. Stones have being, but neither life nor feeling. Plants and trees are alive, but they have no feeling. I say that they are alive, not because they have a soul, but because they are green and Paul says of them: O foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it first dies. They are alive, then, since they die in order to come to life. And so stones exist but are not alive; trees exist and are alive but have no feeling; brute animals exist, they are alive and have feeling, but they have no understanding. Finally angels exist. They are alive, possess feeling and understanding. Human beings have something in common with every creature. They share existence with stones, like trees they are alive, like animals, they feel, and like the angels, they have understanding. If human beings, then, have something in common with every creature, in some sense human beings are every creature. And so the Gospel is preached to every creature when it is preached only to human beings, since those being taught are they for whose sake all things on earth were created, and to Whom all things are related by some kind of likeness.

‘Every creature’ can also refer to every nation of the Gentiles. It was said earlier, Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, but now, ‘Preach to every creature,’ so that after Judea had rejected the preaching of the apostles, it might help us. Judea in its pride rejected their preaching in testimony to its own condemnation. When the Lord sent his disciples to preach, what was he doing but scattering seed throughout the world? He scattered a few grains of seed in order to receive the produce of many harvests from our faith. No such harvest of believers would have risen throughout the entire world if those chosen grains, his preachers, had not come from the Lord’s hand upon an earth endowed with reason.

‘One who believes and is baptized will be saved; one who does not believe will be condemned. Perhaps each one of us may say to himself, ‘I have believed, I will be saved.’ What he, says is true, if he possesses faith with works. That faith is true which does not contradict its words by its conduct. That is why Paul said of certain false believers: They profess that they know God, but they deny him by their deeds, and why John said: He who says that he knows God and does not observe his commandments is a liar. Since this is so, we must acknowledge the truth of our faith by having regard for our lives. Then we are truly believers, when we fulfill by our works what we promise by our words. On the day of our baptism we promised to renounce all the works of our ancient enemy and all his pomps. Let each one of you recall this to mind; if he is sure that he is preserving after baptism what he promised before it, let him rejoice that he is a believer. But you see how he has not preserved what he promised, how he has fallen to doing things he shouldn’t do, to desiring the pomps of the world. Let us see if he can weep for his misdeeds. He will not be held dishonest in the eyes of the merciful Judge if he returns to the truth even after lying, because almighty God puts away our misdeeds in his judgment when he gladly accepts our repentance.

‘These are the signs that will follow those who will believe: they will cast out demons in my name, they will speak with new tongues, they will pick up snakes, and if they drink a deadly thing, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover.’ Do you not believe, my friends, because you do not perform these signs? These things were necessary at the Church’s beginning. For the faith of believers to increase it had to be nourished with miracles. When we plant trees, we water them until we see that they have taken root in the ground; once they have taken root we stop watering them. This is why Paul said: Tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers.’ There is something about these signs and powers we ought to consider more deeply. The Holy Church does daily in a spiritual way what it did then materially through the apostles. When its priests impose their hands on believers through the gift of exorcism, and forbid the evil spirits to dwell in their hearts, what else are they doing but casting out demons? And what are believers doing who give up the secular words of their former life and speak of the sacred mysteries, and describe as far as they can the praise and power of their Creator, speaking with new tongues? 

When they remove malice from the hearts of others by their good words of exhortation, they are picking up snakes, and when then they hear dangerous advice but are not drawn toward wicked deeds, they are indeed drinking something deadly, but it will not harm them. As often as they catch sight of their neighbors faltering in their good works, and they gather round them in all their strength, and by the example of their own deeds fortify their wavering lives, what are they doing but laying their hands on the sick to heal them? Surely these miracles are all the greater to the extent that they are spiritual; they are all the greater to the extent that it is not bodies but souls which are being raised up.

And so, dearly beloved, you perform these signs, if you wish to, by God’s power. Those external signs cannot produce life, but it can come from those who do them. Material miracles sometimes demonstrate holiness but they do not create it, whereas the spiritual actions performed in the soul do not make the power of life evident to the senses but create it. Even the wicked perform the former; none but the good can perform the latter. Hence Truth said of some people: Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, do main mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I do not know you; depart from me you workers of iniquity.’ Dearly beloved, do not love signs which the wicked too can perform; love those miracles of love and devotion, which I have just now spoken of. The more they are hidden, the safer they are; and the less glory that comes from humans, the greater will be our recompense in the eyes of God.

And after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them he was taken up into heaven, and took his seat at the right hand of God. We know from the Old Testament that Elijah was taken up into heaven. But the aerial heaven is one thing, and the aetherial heaven another. The aerial heaven is near the earth and so we speak of the birds of heaven because we see them flying about in the air. Elijah was raised up to the aerial heaven so that he could be led suddenly to a certain hidden region of the earth, where he could live in great tranquility of body and spirit, until his return at the end of the world to pay the debt of death. He only postponed death, he did no avoid it. Our Redeemer, since he did not postpone his death, overcame it; by rising he destroyed it, and he declared the glory of his resurrection by his ascension. We note too that we read of Elijah’s ascending in a chariot, sc that it is made clear that he was only a human being and needed help from outside. We are shown that it was done with the help of angels, since one who has weighed down the weakness of his nature could not ascend to the aerial heaven by himself. But we don’t read of our Redeemer that he was raised up by a chariot or by angels. He who made all things was borne above all things by his own power. For he was returning to his own place, going back to a place he had never left, since when he ascended into heaven through his human nature he bound together heaven and earth through his divine nature.

Just as Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, prefigured our Redeemer’s betrayal for money, so Enoch who was transported, and Elijah who was raised to the aerial heaven, symbolize the Lord’s ascension. The Lord had forerunners and witnesses of his ascension, the one before the law, the other under the law, so that when he came, he was able truly to penetrate the heavens. The order of the raising up of these two is also distinguished by certain degrees. Enoch is remembered as having been transported and Elijah as having been carried up to heaven; he who came after them was neither transported nor carried up to the aerial heaven, but he penetrated it by his own power.

The Lord showed that he would bestow purity of body on us who believe in him, and increase in us over time the virtue of chastity, by transporting from here those who, as his servants, symbolized his ascension, and by his own ascent into heaven. We read that Enoch had a wife and children, but that Elijah had neither. Consider, then, how holy purity increased by degrees, as shown by his servants who were transported and by the Lord himself who ascended. Enoch, who was born as a result of sexual intercourse, and begot children through sexual intercourse, was transported; Elijah, who was born as a result of sexual intercourse, but did not beget any children, was taken up; the Lord, who neither begot children through sexual intercourse nor was begotten that way himself, was assumed into heaven.

We must consider why Mark said that He took his seat at the right hand of God, while Stephen said, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. 

Why does Mark testify that he is seated, and Stephen that he saw him standing? You know, my friends, that one is seated to judge, and one stands to fight or bring assistance. Our Redeemer was assumed into heaven; he judges all things now, and at the end of everything he will come as judge. Mark describes him as sitting after his assumption, since we will see him as judge at the end after the glory of his ascension. Stephen, who was still engaged in a painful struggle, saw the one who was his helper standing, because his grace was fighting for him from heaven so that he could overthrow the unbelief of his persecutors on earth.

And they set out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming their message by the signs that accompanied it. What must we see in this, what must we remember, except that obedience followed the command, and signs followed their obedience?

With God’s support I have completed a brief explanation of the reading from the Gospel. It remains for me to say something in regard to such a great festival. First we must ask why angels appeared when the Lord was born; but we do not read that they appeared in white garments, whereas we read that at his ascension the angels who were sent appeared in white garments. This is what is written: As they were looking on he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. And while they were gazing at him as he was going into heaven, behold, two men in white garments stood beside him. The white garments reveal the joy and festivity in our hearts. Why did the angels not appear in white garments, at the Lord’s birth, whereas they did when he ascended, if not because it became an occasion of great festivity for the angels when the God-man penetrated heaven. When the Lord was born his divinity seemed to have been humbled, whereas when he ascended his humanity was exalted. White garments indeed are more fitting for exaltation than for humiliation. At his assumption it was right that the angels should be seen in white garments because he who appeared as God made humble at his birth was revealed in his ascension as a human being on high.

But on this festive day we must particularly consider this, dearly beloved, that our decree of condemnation has been cancelled today, our sentence to corruption has been changed. The nature which was told, You are dust and into dust you shall go, today went to heaven. In respect to this raising up of our body Job referred to the Lord as a bird. He beheld Judea not understanding the mystery of his ascension, and he expressed this by saying of its unbelief: It did not know the path of the bird. The Lord is aptly called a bird, since he launched his body into the air. Anyone not believing that he had ascended into heaven did not know the path of this bird.

Of this festival the psalmist said: Your splendour has been raised above the heavens; and again: God has ascended with a shout of joy, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet; and again: Ascending on high he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men. Ascending on high, he led captivity captive since he swallowed up our perishable nature by the power of his imperishable one. He gave gifts to men, because after sending the Spirit from above he gave to one the utterance of wisdom, to another the utterance of knowledge, to another the gift of virtue, to another the gift of healing, to another various tongues, to another the interpretation of utterances. He gave gifts to men.

Of the glory of his ascension Habakkuk too spoke: The sun was raised up, and the moon stood in its place. What does ‘sun’ signify but the Lord, and what does ‘moon’ signify but the Church? Until the Lord ascended into heaven his holy Church dreaded the world’s adversities in every way; after being strengthened by his ascension it openly preached what it had secretly believed. The sun was raised up, and the moon stood in its place, because when the Lord sought heaven his holy Church grew in the authority of its preaching.

And so the Church says through Solomon: See how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills. It pondered the height of his great works and said: See how he comes leaping on the mountains .By coming for our redemption the Lord gave some leaps, if I may say so. Dearly beloved do you want to recognize those leaps of his? From heaven to the womb, from the womb to the manger, from the manger to the cross, from the cross to the sepulchre; and from the sepulchre he returned into heaven. You see how Truth, having made himself known in the flesh, gave some leap , for us to make us run after him. He exulted like a giant to run his course, so that we might tell to him from our hearts; Draw me after you; let us run in the fragrance of your ointments.

Dearly beloved, it is fitting that we should follow him in our hearts to where we believe he has ascended in his body. Let us flee earthly desires. Let nothing here below delight us who have a father in heaven. We must consider very carefully that he who was mild at his ascent will be terrible at his return. He will demand from us with great strictness whatever he has commanded of us with gentleness. Let no one take lightly the time of repentance granted us, let no one neglect to have concern for himself while he can do so,, because our Redeemer will come with great strictness in proportion to the great patience he has shown us before the judgment.

Reflect on these things, my friends, constantly turn them over in your minds. The disturbance of things may still be driving your hearts to and fro, but fix the anchor of your hope now in your eternal home. Establish your mind’s attention in the true light. We have heard that the Lord has ascended into heaven. Let our belief be the subject of our meditation. If the weakness of our body still holds us here, let us follow him by the footsteps of our love. He who gave us our desire will not fail us, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity, of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.

Amen.

SOURCE : Forty Gospel Homilies (Homily 29) – Gregory the Great