OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT - A: ASCENSION OF THE LORD

First Reading: Acts 1:1-11 (21 May 2023)

“Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

The book of the Acts of the Apostles begins by recounting the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, even if the title of the book directly points to the actions performed by the apostles. This recollection of an event in the life of Jesus serves as the basis of the subsequent missionary actions of the apostles. In Acts 1:9, Jesus explicitly directed them to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” before “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.” This marching order from no less than the founder of the Church was translated by the apostles into a plethora of conversions in the next days: initially three thousand persons (2:41) but increasing to five thousand men (4:4). In fact, “every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (2:47) and “believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them” (5:13).

Many communities blossomed in new places, regions, and nations via the tireless efforts of the apostles over time.

We may say, then, that Luke’s purpose in recounting Jesus’ Ascension at the onset of the Acts is to endorse the apostles to the public, declaring that these men had been officially authorized by Jesus to continue his mission on earth. Similarly, we see the same dynamics in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, which is written by the same author. Here, an introductory episode on the family life of Zachariah, Elizabeth, and John was recounted (Lk 1:5-25; 39-45; 57-80). Its crux is to present John to the Jewish public as the precursor of Christ, saying: “I am baptizing you with water but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire” (3:16). It is placed at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel to indicate that Jesus was officially endorsed by John the Baptist to the public as the long-awaited Son of God (3:22, 38).

Given this connection between John the Baptist and Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, it can be similarly established that the apostles continued the very mission of Jesus in Acts. In Luke, this was brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit through the participation of Mary and Elizabeth. In Acts, this was realized on the feast of the Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Acts 3:1-13).

This occurrence did not only endorse the apostles to the public but emboldened them to go out into the streets and the ends of the earth to proclaim the good news to everyone.

The Acts of the Apostles should be appropriately titled the Acts of the Holy Spirit because it is the Spirit that has acted as the catalyst for the rise of the Jesus-movement. Additionally, similar to the Baptism of Jesus that commenced his public ministry, it was the baptism of fire of the apostles that catapulted them out of the Upper Room and boldly witness the truth about Jesus. The Ascension of Jesus teaches us that he would never abandon humankind. After his departure, the Holy Spirit was immediately sent to the apostles, transforming them into instant evangelizers. May we possess the same docility to the Spirit to lead us, too, into the missions.

- Rex Fortes, CM