He ascended

This day on which Jesus returned to Heaven we call Ascension Day which means ‘Going Up Day’.  So we say in the Creed that he ascended – that is, went up – into Heaven.

Although we know that Heaven is simply the place where God is seen and so is not really “above the bright blue sky”, yet we often talk of it as if it were.  This is because we think of what is better or more important as being ‘up’.  At school you go up to a higher class until one day you are at the top of the school.  When you leave school you may rise to a high position in your work. In the same way we talk of the good and bad fortunes of life as the ‘ups and downs’.

We also think of what is happier as being ‘up’.  If you are feeling miserable you are downhearted and need cheering up.

“I am with you always”

So, when we say that Jesus ascended or went up to Heaven, we mean that he went to Heaven which is a better and happier place than this world.  We do not mean that it is a long way away.  Since Heaven is where God is seen, how could it be far away when God is not far away?  As St Paul said, “…he is not far from each one of us.  For ‘in him we live and move and have our being’ ” (NRSV, Acts 17:27,28).  So on Ascension Day Jesus in his risen and glorified body took his place in that heavenly life which surrounds us on every side.

And ever since then he has been with all faithful Christians, men and women, girls and boys.  When he was on earth, he could be in only one place at a time – such as Jerusalem or Nazareth – but now he is with us always and everywhere all through our life.

SUMMARY

1. Forty days after Easter, on Ascension Day, Jesus appeared to the Apostles for the last time and for that reason left them in a special way.  He went up towards the sky for a little way and then disappeared.

2. Ascension means ‘going up’.  We talk of Heaven as being above simply because it is a better and happier ‘place’, and so on Ascension Day Jesus went back to Heaven and took his place in that heavenly life where God is seen and which surrounds us on every side.  That is why he is always near us wherever we are.