One of my favorite movies to watch during the Easter season has become the movie, “Risen”.  The story is a fictionalized account of a Roman soldier assigned to investigate the claims that a proposed Jewish messiah by the name of Jesus had risen from the dead after being put to death by crucifixion.  In the course of his investigation and tracking down of the apostles, the Roman soldier comes face to face with the risen Jesus and his world and all his beliefs are turned upside down.  The soldier begins to follow the risen Lord and his disciples and (spoiler alert) eventually becomes a follower himself. 

Even though a fictionalized story, there are many things that the movie does right.  One of the elements I enjoy is how the movie portrays many of the resurrection appearances.  A few times, the risen Lord is with his disciples even as other people (people who are not followers) are around going about their day.  For these people – it seems – all they see is a group of people talking and walking together, unaware that in the midst of that group is the risen Lord himself.  These people do not notice, even as Jesus is right there in their midst. 

In Matthew’s account of the Ascension, we hear the risen Jesus assure his disciples that he is with us always, “…until the end of the age.”  In the first reading from Acts, we hear that the risen Jesus, “…presented himself alive to “his disciples … appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  The disciples want to know if God is now going to restore the glory of Israel but Jesus responds that they should not concern themselves with such things.  As the Lord is being lifted up, two men appear and ask the disciples, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” 

Do not concern yourself about such things.  Why are you standing there looking at the sky?

The truth of the Ascension of our Lord is grounded in the truth of the Incarnation of our Lord.  The transcendence of God is made known not despite of the incarnate but within the incarnate.  There is a danger in the spiritual life that we can get stuck in our “looking to the sky” or pondering things beyond ourselves that we fail to recognize the risen Lord within our very midst.  Even how the Lord comes to us every day!  When Jesus says that he is with us “…until the end of the age,” he means it. 

Where else do we find the truth of this connection between Ascension and Incarnation expressed?  Throughout the season of Advent.  In Advent, we proclaim the three comings of Christ – his birth, his return in glory and how he comes to us each and every day!  In faith it is not so much a matter of either/or.  Rather it is both/and.  Jesus is risen, he has ascended to the Father and he is with us, “…until the end of the age.”

Going back to the movie “Risen” …  Even though other people did not recognize him, the risen Lord was in the midst of his disciples, and he remains in the midst of his disciples.

Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians,

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.  May the eyes of your heart be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call … for us who believe … (Eph. 1:17-18)