Sunday, May 29, 2022

29 May 2022 - it is not for you to know the times


He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.

Our celebration of this season of joy in the resurrection of Jesus himself is drawing to a close once more. In this season we have been offered new assurance of faith and hope that death has been definitively defeated. Hopefully we have taken these proofs more deeply into our hearts in order to fully celebrate this victory of Jesus together with him and his people. But here we reach a point where we acknowledge that the visible presence of the incarnate word seemed to withdraw from the world, as we celebrate his ascent into heaven. As he was about the depart from the disciples they noticed that the world was still unfinished, fragmented, and not entirely under the Lordship of Jesus himself.

When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Isn't this our perpetual question? Lord, people are still suffering, still neglected, still deeply hurting! Surely you will now, or at least soon, establish a political reign of power where you impose the correction of these flaws upon the world! Surely you will reign in the fashion of an earthly king, and make impossible all that does not please you. 

He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.

The response of Jesus is not a rebuke. He does not say that we are wrong to desire the time when all things are set aright. His response is rather that it is not yet the season for his will to be imposed. It is still the season for it to be proposed. It is not yet the season for his Kingdom to be restored through the destruction of his foes. It is the season for the winning over of those foes by the power of his Holy Spirit.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”

Because of his ascension Jesus is no longer visibly present to the Church on earth. She must indeed continue on in a world replete with visible evidence that sin and death is not yet finally defeated. But his ascension does not make Jesus absent from his Church. It is rather the case that his ascension is his enthronement, in his human nature, as Lord. Because this is so his reign can already be present on earth for those united to him by his Holy Spirit, who become priests, prophets, and yes, kings, in union with him. From the reign of Christ on the throne of heaven the Church receives power to spread the Kingdom, not by violence, nor necessarily by political victory, but first and foremost by conversion of heart.

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power
for us who believe
in accord with the exercise of his great might

We don't seem to have much regard for the hope that belongs to our call. In the face of worldly suffering we dismiss the surpassing greatness of his power as merely pious devotional language. As proof of that this is how we feel, we would gladly trade the Spirit we have been given for the power to effect what we imagine to be real change in the world. We seem unhappy with the system Jesus established and unimpressed by his promises. This is why Paul prayed so intensely that his readers would truly realize what they had received. At a superficial glance, yes, the powers of darkness were still running the show in the world. But a deeper look would now reveal the Kingdom moving forward inexorably, and the powers of the world powerless to slow it down. Even death would not deter Kingdom progress for it was built on the fact of the Father of Jesus "raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens".

Today in commemorating the feast of the Ascension we celebrate the enthronement and reign of Jesus as the Lord of heaven and earth. Because of his ascension we know that we too have been seated with him in heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:6) and are therefore equipped with his heavenly gifts to spread the Kingdom.

When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men (see Ephesians 4:8).

However, it remains clear that we are unpersuaded of our "confidence of entrance" into the sanctuary of heaven. How can we receive the confidence of the reality that the King is truly on the throne and that our high priest is over the house of God? The readings offer two directives.

but stay in the city
until you are clothed with power from on high.

We need the power of his Spirit to have the faith, hope, and love, to know and spread the Gospel. It is not enough to wish for these things upon a star. We are encouraged to prepare our hearts to receive more of the gift of the Spirit this Pentecost. There is always more that God wants to give, but as with all things in his Kingdom, he will not force us to receive it. We are weak, and our desires are feeble, but he will himself will help us to open ourselves what he himself desires to bestow.

The second place we can find more assurance and confidence is "through the blood of Jesus" and "his flesh", in other words, his ongoing presence with us in the Eucharist. This combination of Spirit and Sacramental presence forms a virtuous cycle where the Spirit enables us to recognize Jesus ever more clearly though veiled behind bread and wine, though veiled in the sufferings of the world. And receiving the presence of Jesus himself opens us more to sharing in his reign, receiving his Spirit, and functioning as the hands and feet of his body in the world. 

Come Holy Spirit!



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