“TO FILL ALL THINGS”
Saint Mark 16: 14-20
The Feast of The Ascension of our Lord: 25 May Anno Domini 2017
Father Jay Watson SSP
Thou hast ascended on high; Thou hast led captivity captive. Hallelujah! Yes. The Word of The Lord is true.
But also, “and lo, I Am with you alway, even to the end of the world;” and “for where two or three are gathered together in My + Name, there Am I in the midst of them;” and “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you…at that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you…if a man love Me he will keep My words…and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” And again: “for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of The Godhead bodily.”
To think or believe that Christ ascended vertically off the Earth which He “The Word” made out of nothing is heresy. To believe that Christ is somewhere “off in a distant heaven” sitting on a throne patiently abiding and counting time until He can return at the Eschaton is false teaching. Thinking that Jesus is only present here this evening in Spirit, in your hearts, minds, and memories would mark you as an errorist—you would have the wrong Confession of Faith and the wrong parish. No soup for you—no Sacramental meal of mercy for you.
More than “liking” Johnny Cash, I love Johnny Cash. But when he sings the song “Amen” whose lyrics go: “Lord Jesus, up in heaven…will be returning…” he repeats the tragic mistake of Protestantism—the denial of The Word’s power, the Sacramental Union, the very Verba (Words) of Jesus’ own last testament…the very Gospel itself. As Flannery O’Connor said: “it it’s only a memorial, than to hell with it.”
And thus, The Ascension.
This is not a day about systematic doctrine, Biblical exegesis, or creedal nuance; though to be sure, Biblical churchmen of the Historic Catholic West are more than able to engage and defeat the errant followers of Geneva’s falsehoods. Today is the third…Trinitarian…great Feast Day in the life of the Church. The great third Mass that feeds into its own culmination in the glorious Gospel outreach unto eternity in 10 days more when Pentecost arrives. The Ascension is what actually makes The Nativity of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ: “for you.”
You were not at Bethlehem. And most assuredly you were NOT THERE when they crucified your Lord. But you’re here because of The Ascension—and later Pentecost…the Holy Spirit calling and gathering. And Jesus is HERE not because of the Christ Mass or Easter morning, but because of The Ascension—His Ascension.
Where is Jesus? He’s where He wishes to be. He’s on the “right hand of The Father.” The Father is Spirit and has no literal right hand. The Father is worshiped in Spirit (the Holy Ghost) and Truth—Christ Who is The Truth. The Father is omnipresent. The Second Person of The Trinity is omnipresent. But Christ Jesus “for you” is present in His Word for you—killing in Law, giving life in Gospel, binding, soothing, + absolving, restoring and strengthening till life eternal. Had Jesus not ascended, and thus held Himself from your physical eyesight, we would be left with either a weird, and devilishly creepy situation of myriads and myriads of Jesus’—like the Matrix’s “Agent Smith,” or, we would have only one visible Jesus and wherever that was, would be where all Christians would try to gather. But that’s not The Faith. The Faith says that Christ is bodily present, albeit invisible as the Galilean God/Man, wherever His Word is anchored. He anchors His word in His Scriptures and in His Sacraments: PERIOD. He anchors this word for His precious Holy Bride, Mother Church—with all her Sainted Children, in His Office of The Holy Ministry.
Look at the cover of the worship folder. You see Jesus’ feet? Good. They are the feet that crushed the serpent; the feet that kicked the prison house’s gates off of hell. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that publisheth salvation.” (Is. 52.7) How glorious are the feet of The Lord—the feet of The Lord’s anointed—His prophets and apostles. Paul quotes this word Christ first gave to Esaias when he places it into the midst of “…how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard; and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10. 14). As Peter had his feet washed by The Lord, so too all of his successors have had their feet washed in ordination to continue carrying forth His Word and Sacraments for the flock gathered around the living and PRESENT Word. Here, now, at this place, at this hour, is Christ Ascended. He is Ascended from Olivet, Judea, 1st century Palestine, the Disciples, to this + Font, this Pulpit, and most beautifully, this Holy Altar and the Sacrament which will soon be upon it before being eaten and drunk by you His disciples. He fills all things. That means something.
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven…ye shall be witnesses unto Him…unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Kansas—ye men of Shawnee, why stand ye “gazing” up into heaven, to your works, or to your sinful hearts…ye shall be witnesses unto Him at this altar—His Holy High Altar—witnesses to His death, resurrection and Ascension Presence.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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